Is media coverage of celebrity kids ethical, and to what extent?

As far as our Bollywood stars are concerned, we the ‘mango’ people are always curious to know more and more about them and their loved ones. Here’s where media and paparazzi come into effect, and give the daily juice, gossip, or whatever we can lay our hands on, to satiate the ever increasing curiosity of fans. However, in our quest to delve deep for scoops, how much is too much, that is a question no one has asked, and an answer no one would know on a definite basis.

The reason we are probing about it is the fact that we are seeing too many pictures of celebrity kids, having perfectly normal time, splashed across the internet. Be it the bikini pictures of a certain celeb kid, or the six pack ab of another, a tantrum one throws, to the school fight another might have got into, journalists today have made it a habit to sensationalise it into something sinister, and put it into their respective publications.

Celebrities or not, what we as humans should understand that these are normal kids. They might have famous people as their parents, but they still go through the same phases of awkwardness, geekiness, and adolescence, like we do. In fact, they face more pressure due to them being famous, and the fact that they can be snapped and trapped on Page 3 anywhere they go. Don’t you think that they deserve privacy, and should be given a chance to grow like normal kids, till they are ready to take the limelight?

We are media too, and we agree, that till one point of time, we too were obsessed with star kids, but then our conscience took over, and we thought to discontinue with the practice, for good.

How were we as teenagers? Did we not have our first kiss in an awkward way? Were we not shy when we wore a short dress for the first time, a tad uncomfortable, way too aware of the glances coming our way? Did we not face bullies? We did, right? Same is the case with kids of celebrities too. They too grow up in a similar fashion.

However, normal pictures of them having a good time, or a snap or two when they themselves are comfortable with it, is a perfectly good practice. But otherwise, running after them to get an ‘exclusive’ picture, at the cost of one’s ethics, is not a great thing we must say.

It’s time that we take up some responsibility as citizens, and additionally as journalists. It’s time we exercise discretion while revealing a fact or two about the children of our beloved stars, thinking of them like normal kids, who can be affected in a positive or negative way, lest they come across whatever has been written about them. It’s time, we let them be.

Also Read: Is the extreme contrast of Indian beauties in Bollywood and Hollywood justified?

Kadambari Srivastava

Grammar Nazi, word weaver, dreamer, bibliophile, technophile, caffeine addict, foodie, shuttling shopaholic! Mash it in a Bollywood recipe and voila! Pushpa, you’ve got her!