In democratic countries any efforts to restrict the freedom of the
press are rightly condemned.However,this freedom can easily be
abused.Stroies about people often attract far more public attention
than political events.Though we may enjoy reading about the lives
of others,it is extremely doubtful whether we would equally enjoy
reading about ourselves.Acting on the contention that facts are
sacred,reporters can cause untold suffering to individuals by publishing
details about their private lives.Newspaper exert such tremendous
influence that they can not only bring about major changes to the
lives of ordinary people but can even overthrow a govemment.
The story of a poor family that qcquired fae and fortune overnight,
dramatically illustrates the power of the press.The family lived in
Aberdeen,a small town of 23,000 inhabitants South Dakota.As the
parents had five children,life was a perpetual strggle against poverty.
They were expecting their sixth child and were faced with even more
pressing economic problems.If they had only had one more child,
the fact would have passed unnoticed.They would havecontinued to
struggle against economic odds and would have lived in obscurity.
But they suddenly became the parents of quintuplets,four girls and
a boy,an event which radically changed their lives.The day after the birth
of the five children,an aeroplane arrived in Aberdeen bringing sixty
reporters and photographers.
The rise to fame was swift.Televsion cameras and newspapers carried
the news to everyone in the country.Newspapers and magazines offered
the family huge sums for the exclusive rights to publish stories and
photographs.Gifts poured in not only from unknow people,but from
baby food and soap manufacturers who wished to advertise their products.
The old farmhouse the family lived in was to be replaced by a new $500,000
home.Reporters kept pressing for interviews so lawyers had to be employed
to act as spokesmen for the family at press conferences.While the five babies
were still quietly sleeping in oxygen tents in a hospital nursery,their parents
were paying the price for fame.It would never again be possible for them to
lead normal lives.They had become the victims of commercialization,for their
names had qcquired a market value.Istead of being five new family members,
these children had immediately become a commodity.