Doggy teams

I have quite a high disdain for the paparazzi. They invade people's privacy in order to obtain grainy photos of them doing trivial stuff. These items of "news" are the lowest form of journalism to have existed. In the grand scheme of the world, the release of Paris Hilton from prison would rank far below the conflict in Iraq and global warming but even some credible news outlets such as MSNBC deem this item worthy enough to headline their news show.

Yesterday I saw firsthand how the paparazzi can be so intrusive. Lydia Shum, a well-known Hong Kong actress. There were swarms of photographs already at the hospital when the ambulance carrying her arrived at the Accident & Emergency Department. Seeing on the news how hectic her entrance was appalling. Most of the photographers were blocking the way to the Accident & Emergency Department. What if something happened and she started going into shock or dying? Where is her privacy with her doctor? Photographers would argue the A&E is a public setting where they are allowed in and they are just reporting the truth but I think the security should have known beforehand and kicked them out.

As a public, we have tendency to perpetuate this phenomenon. By reading this type of gossip, we are just telling the newspapers we like this kind of "news" and we want you to print more. The irony is that even writing this blog entry will also perpetuate this phenomenon. The few people reading this entry will want to go and try find items regard this piece of "news". Please don't - Lydia Shum should have her privacy and she be able to recover without us having to peer through her hospital window. Just do the decent thing and pray for her. I've tried to be as ethical as possible by not posting any links or photos to this entry about the matter.

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I love autumn - it starts to get cooler and life is not as hectic. The most marvellous fact is my favourite shows are back on air - "Top Gear", "QI" and now "Have I Got News For You".