Should Media Respect Privacy of Political Figures - Essay Example

The media, therefore, should respect the privacy of politicians’ children and relatives and restrain from exposing things they did or said when they had no control over themselves, as in times of sickness. In other situations, the media should have the right to investigate and expose what politicians say or do, because it has serious political, economic, social and moral implications for the whole country. Politicians decide the political fate of a country. They make war and peace; they make laws and preside over implementation; they set the rules to reward and punish people for their behavior; they can take away freedom as in preventive detention, take life as in death penalty, or spare life as in presidential pardons.

While doing so, politicians might often have public well being on their mind, but the possibility of private profit and interest cannot be ruled out. For instance, the Republican President Richard Nixon staged the Watergate Scandal using public resources to weaken and defeat the Democrat opponent. President George Bush took America to war against Iraq on the pretext that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, though he wanted to punish Hussein for allegedly trying to murder his father after the first Gulf War.

If politicians could do such horrendous things even when the media could investigate and bring out the truth, and expose them, what could they do without the fear of exposure? The media must help the citizens know if politicians have taken vital political decisions purely to advance public well being, to promote their own personal interest, or settle personal scores. Similarly, politicians also play critical role in shaping the economic policy of the country. They enjoy the power to tax and spend, regulate internal and external trade and commerce, even control the monetary policy indirectly.

Increasingly, political offices are being won with the help of contributions from supporter. Politics, power and corruption have always moved together. Several Members of Congress have gone to jail or been removed from office due to financial crimes, despite the constant fear of exposure by the media. If their privacy were respected by the media, politicians would go after the fast buck and still hold the office. Politicians are also social leaders and many of them are role models. We study their biographies and autobiographies to find inspiration and understand how they become successful.

In addition, politicians frequently convince many people to vote for them, to attack their political opponents, and to become bigots or open-minded. They also quite frequently use their power and position to break social norms, win sexual favors from men and women under them, and tweak the law to stay out of prison when they commit crimes. In every presidential elections, candidates collect money from nefarious individuals and groups of people and return their contribution if the media exposes it.

Members of Congress have lost their office due to their involvement in crime, sodomy, corruption, and sexual affairs. They have done all this despite the fact that the media could expose their misdeeds. If the media were to respect their privacy, many politicians would run amok committing crimes left and right because they can hide such crimes under the pall of privacy. Last but not least, acts and words of politicians have serious moral impact on