Fame and fortune are just two of the most iconic things associated with the celebrity world. Just by taking a quick look around within minutes you are sure to find a familiar face, made that way by our current society’s craving for bit of good celebrity gossip or something to pin point. The media offers a huge spectrum of ways to make a person famous, from the TV in your front room which is owned my almost every household, to the daily papers which circulate the streets every day. Like it or not, your part of it and it’s your opinion and voice what fuels the on-going fame.
In recent years social networks such as Facebook or twitter and celebrity magazines have become the central area for up to date celebrity news and gossip. If you don’t use them, then maybe it’s just a lucky escape, but for those who do its proving to become an increasingly addictive, making the most ‘average Jo’s’ celebrities over night! What exactly makes a celebrity is debatable; generally it involves some kind of skill, but in the social networking world celebrity topics tend to change rapidly with many intermediates.
Most find happiness in the celebrity world, but when things go wrong they can often be disastrous! Media lawyers and court cases can become a regular occurrence when the subject in question perverts the course of justice, or causes some controversy in society. The examples are endless, be it sports celebrities found to have unfair advantages in competition or contrastingly, a celebrity stalker taking their passion too far. Before you know it the local news will be flooded with high profile celebrity gossip and there battles for justice, or criminal activity. This process of exposure in the media can go on for a considerable amount of time, featuring in the papers and on television for many weeks. Large events such as the Olympics are prime examples of prolonged media coverage.
We can’t forget though, that these people we see every day are just like us and behind the scenes of even the highest earning celebrities there are families, friends hobbies to be maintained. The wealthiest of celebrities may need to protect their reputation when their careers are at risk. Cover up attempts can be made, trying to prevent the media publishing the information. One way celebrities can try achieve this would to take out an injunction. This is a law which exists to prevent the media from reporting on issues such as affairs and other immoral behaviour. Celebrities are entitled to privacy, but this is difficult to achieve when paparazzi and fans are persistently at their doorsteps.
As a result, injunctions don’t tend to be very successful. Famously social networks and papers will speculate celebrity gossip, and eventually the truth cannot be covered. Injunctions are not cheap, the costs mount up beginning with the lawyers’ fees and on-going court cases. Overall it’s probably a blessing not being the centre of media attention; you can live your life with privacy and make your own fortune without having to share your problems with the whole world!