To get the story you need, so you can bury me
You’ve got the people confused, you tell the stories you choose
You try to get me to lose the man I really am
You keep on stalking me, invading my privacy
Won’t you just let me be Cause your cameras can’t control, the minds of those who know
That you’ll even sell your soul just to get a story sold
Chorus:I need my privacy, I need my privacy
So paparazzi, get away from me
Some of you still wonder why, one of my friends had to die
To get a message across, that yet you haven’t heard
My friend was chased and confused, like many others I knew
But on that cold winter night, my pride was snatched away
Now she get no second chance, she just ridiculed and harassed
Please tell me why
Now there’s a lesson to learn, respect’s not given, it’s earned
Stop maliciously attacking my integrity
Chorus
Now there’s a lesson to learn, stories are twisted and turned
Stop maliciously attacking my integrity
Chorus x 3
Written by: Michael Jackson, Rodney Jerkins, Fred Jerkins III, LaShawn Daniels and Bernard Bell
(JACKSON, Michael, album: Invincible, Privacy, 2001, pg. 09)
As we can understand from the lyrics, media plays a very important role in celebrities’ lives. The friend who MJ talks about is Princess Diana. Why does the media annoy famous people? Why do they run away from the media? Why do we know all details (true or untruth) about the famous people? Have you ever thought about that? Television, newspapers, magazines, and other media pay too much attention to the personal lives of famous people such as public figures and celebrities.
Think about a standard evening. You are very tired. You get undressed and wear your pyjamas. You repose on your favourite armchair and turn on your TV. You want to watch the news. Oh, what is it? Hülya Avşar’s press conference about Kaya Çilingiroğlu’s debauchery… İbrahim Tatlıses’ arguments with Derya Tuna about Dancer Asena… This is not a magazine programme… This is news bulletin. You turn off your television and start to read your newspaper. What is the headlines today? “One of Deniz Akkaya’s famous accidents”, “Özcan Deniz gets undressed”, “Kadir İnanır’s motivations”, and the like… There are lots of news about famous people. You think that there won’t be any news about them in economy papers and start to read it. “Tarkan’s taxes”, “Sibel Can’s husband’s debts”, and the like… Of course, there are many political, criminal and economy news in newspapers but the biggest news are about famous people. I mean, headlines are mostly about famous people. The other ones are so small that sometimes we can’t see. Everybody wants to learn about their favourite celebrities, of course. After all, they think that there are more important things to learn. They get bored of seeing the same people.
The news about famous people make us sick many times. How about the famous people? Some of them always call the media. Good or bad advertisements are very important for them. This kind of famous people’s best friends are from media, from “Televole”… Sometimes they faint, sometimes they go out with another famous person, sometimes they argue each other, and the like. However, the events aren’t true. If they don’t see any cameras with them, they feel depressed. For example, Metin Arolat tried to kill himself. The reason was lack of bearing. Maybe the suicide event was a lie. According to Haldun Dormen; Hülya Avşar and Gülben Ergen are good friends. He thinks that they argued because they wanted to do advertisement. The evidence is an old “Hülya Avşar Show” programme. In the programme, they are sincere to each other and they eulogize each other: “You are the most beautiful woman in Turkey”, “Thank you, you are beautiful, too. As a matter of fact, you are model who has a beautiful body”, “Your song is very good”, “You are one of the most successful singers in Turkey”, and the like… Now they argue everytime. Another evidence is that they work with the same people. We can give many examples about liar stars. İbrahim Tatlıses hornswoggles Derya Tuna with Dancer Asena. It is a big lie, too. I don’t cook up that. Relations of them assert it. In the Europe, the examples for paparazzi-lover stars are Robbie Williams, Geri Halliwell and Victoria-David Beckham. Beckham couple sold their private wedding photos to a famous magazine.
The other group of famous people are the ones who don’t want the media near themselves. They hate media and think the media makes their lives worse. They escape from the media. As I said before, Princess Diana and her boyfriend Dodi had had a traffic accident because they were escaping from the media. This wasn’t the first time Lady Diana ran away from the media. I can’t forget a photo which was published when she was living. In the photo, she was running as fast as she can and crying “I am bored of you!”… The British media was always following her and everyday they alleged a new story about her. After this tragedy, tabloids apologized because all of the world got angry about them. According to some media, Madonna’s music video “Drowned World – Substitute For Love” was dedicated to Lady Diana. The story of the music video is very similar to the accident. After all, media didn’t become wiser. They still allege a new story everytime, even she doesn’t live.
When media can’t find a real story about famous people, they can lie very easily. Michael Jackson said that he decided to kill himself nine years ago because of untrue news. He composed some songs about media such as “Scream”, “Tabloid Junkie”. However, the media couldn’t get the message.
Media doesn’t care the stars’ lives. In Turkey, Aşkın Nur Yengi and Haluk Bilginer acted together in same TV series. When they first met each other for talking about the series, paparazzis took photos of them and alleged that they were lovers. This affected Haluk Bilginer’s, Aşkın Nur Yengi’s and Zuhal Olcay’s private lives.
Many people think that if a famous person is in the media everyday, it means that they are successful. This is a very wrong opinion. Look at Barış Manço. He wasn’t a mediatic singer but he is still the most successful and unforgettable singer in Turkey.
Nevertheless there is a critical point. The workers of media are humans, too. They have got a heart. They think about their future and family. They want to make a good career and lots of money for the future. I watched a movie many years ago. I don’t remember the name of the movie but this screenplay of the movie is a very good example for this subject. A journalist wants to create a good career. Her best friends are Hollywood couple. One day she writes a fair story about them. However, the tabloid where she works changes the story by giving her name. The Hollywood couple don’t believe that she didn’t write the story and sulk her. Any longer she chooses the other way and become a journalist that the tabloid wants.
We want to know about our favourite celebrities. All the same we want to get information about political, scientific, international, educative, schooling news more… Most of the stars wants to live without curious eyes on them. Henceforth, can’t the workers of media make a good career without paying too much attention to the personal lives of famous people?
Turgay Suat Tarcan
0003020018
IR-IKU
