to think that 'the public' is partly to blame for this phone hacking stuff?

[youonlygetonelife]

Just went to buy a magazine and I was looking at all the other tabloid titles and some of the magazines on display. It's all so prurient and prying into peoples lives, judgemental, obsessed with celebrity. What has gone on at the NoW is far worse than most, but presumably they were only seeking to get information by such vile means because there is a market for it.

Every time there is a 'tragedy' there is so much public wailing and gnashing of teeth, huge interest in very personal details, paparazzi chasing people for photos etc. But journalists/papers wouldn't do it if people didn't want to buy it. And with sites like mumsnet, and services like twitter, it all just whips everyone into even more of a frenzy. Just think how any mention of Soham or McCann goes.

There are loads of posters on here shouting about boycotting News International stuff, and generally making a big fuss. I presume that none of them ever buy Heat or Closer, or the Mirror, or watch reality tv shows?

I suppose what I'm saying is that shutting down the NoW is not going to solve the problem of a really horrible culture, is it?

PS I bought New Scientist.

[LaurieFairyCake]

Yes, people who buy gossip mags/trashy redtops are creating the demand for it.

It's revolting. But we all need our bread and our circuses.

[Itsjustafleshwound]

Unfortunately, I would love to say that YABU - It is the horrible truth ...

[CogitoErgoSometimes]

YANBU to point out that there is an insatiable public appetite for scandal. It's scrawled on the walls in Pompeii.... it's human nature. We all know that journos will stoop to some pretty nasty tactics... bribery, doorstepping, hiding in bushes with long lenses... but YABU to infer that public demand gives newpapers licence to break the law to get that gossip. The pressure may be enormous but the law is the law.

Personally, I don't buy sleb mags or newspapers of any description because I'm not interested in who screws whom. I think it's a shame that it's taken hacking the phones of dead kids, bombing victims and soldiers to get the public up in arms. When it was 'just' Sienna Miller and John Prescott it wasn't such a problem.

[Callisto]

Yes, salacious gossip is far more interesting to lots of people than what is actually happening in the world. Goodness knows why anyone would be more interested in a z-list sleb's new outfit over the economy/climate change/scientific breathroughs etc. I think such people must be a bit thick really.

However, I do think that if you court the spotlight you also need to suck up the nastyness that goes with it - I don't have much sympathy for Sienna Miller et al.

[youonlygetonelife]

cogito that's not what I wrote. I certainly don't think anyone should be breaking the law to get gossip. But I can see how a culture of prurient obsession with the lives of others could make an unscrupulous and unpleasant person break the law. And how other unpleasant people would then turn a blind eye to it.

I find all this immensely depressing. I'm glad I'm not the only one.

[purepurple]

I don't watch reality tv. I have never bought Heat, Closer or any other 'celebrity' magazine.
I really don't get the celebrity culture at all.

[Rocky12]

The phone hacking if it is true is absolutely vile. However, how many of us glance of pictures of celebrities not looking their best. Ms Paltrow and some others who claim they eat like horses and do little exercise. I love to see them with their guard down. They are selling a false life. Who I quite like is Madonna (she and I are the same age). Where does she go from here? Does she sleep covered in £500 pots of cream (probably). Has she had surgery even though they ALL deny it (probably). I have botox but when I tell people if the conversation turns to these sorts of subjects - they peer and say I dont need it!!

That's because its in there!!

[CrapolaDeVille]

I'm not sure actually. We all crane our necks to see anything different/gossipy but it's a cycle. Without access we wouldn't read nor demand it. EG Gwinnie and Coldplay Chris don't court the press and I'm not wanting to know what's happening to them.....Cherly Cole does and so I'm a little curious. Who wants to know what the father of a dead service man says or the messages he's received? What's in the public interest there.

Sure if noone bought the crap they wouldn't print it, but laying blame away from the gutterpress is plain wrong.

[CogitoErgoSometimes]

A cultural obsession with fast cars and designer clothes could make an unscrupulous and unpleasant person rob a bank or forge a cheque to get them.... doesn't mean it's the fault of the fast cars or the designer clothes.

[CogitoErgoSometimes]

A cultural obsession with fast cars and designer clothes could make an unscrupulous and unpleasant person rob a bank or forge a cheque to get them.... doesn't mean it's the fault of the fast cars or the designer clothes.

[youonlygetonelife]

You seem to think that I'm excusing this action in some way - I'm not. My point is that this is a whole unpleasant culture - the phone hacking is just an extreme. I'm sure that people who are doorstepped by the tabloid press, have their friends and neighbours bombarded with phone calls, etc equally feel that their privacy and dignity has been compromised. But that happens all the time without a huge public fuss about how awful it is.

[Cocoflower]

I see your point.

However until now people were not aware how the information came about. I suspect many us didnt really give it that much thought. I doubt any of us even thought it could be through such vile means.

Now people know the truth obvioulsy people are not prepared to condone it. Everyone was just far more in the dark and naive before.

[Callisto]

Cogito - would you not though agree that the cultural pressure to have said fast car/designer wardrobe which is enforced massively by the obsession with the wider sleb culture is actually quite destructive? The fast car may be a hunk of metal, but the way it is marketed (it will change your life for the better/give you a bigger dick etc etc) is not entirely blameless? I find it hugely depressing that girls and young women would rather marry a footballer than forge a worthwhile career. This is surely the fault of the sleb culture we live in, and in a smaller way, the fault of the women who buy into this shit in the first place?