Mayor Robert Levy of Atlantic City, NJ had been missing for almost two weeks after taking a sick leave. On Tuesday, October 9, 2007 his lawyer reported that he was in a Somerset County clinic being treated for substance abuse and mental health issues. Levy was already under scrutiny for lying on his account that he was a member of the Green Berets. Even further, this led to a federal investigation of whether he was embezzling money on the behalf that he was war veteran.
This story seems irrelevant to me as a young American. How many politicians are working in the government that commit the same acts as this man has? Politicians are humans and make mistakes as the common person does. To report on a disappearance of man just because he is a politician makes it seem as if the average person’s struggle is insignificant. I believe it was wrong for the reporter to investigate so deeply into another’s man’s life without justification. If anything, he should back off and let the man go to rehab, without media attention, and return to office healed. It’s obviously the mayor has psychological issues and needs medical attention. The medium reporting this story only urges more stress on the life of the mayor. This can be compared to the attention that a celebrity such as Lindsey Lohan receives. If we left her alone and let her heal without the extra attention and questioning maybe she would be normal.
CNN
3 comments:
With regards to the article, it is obvious the mayor was dealing with medical health issues and that's the jist of it. With regards to ethics, when one makes the choice to go into the spotlight, the individual also assumes the responsibility to act accordingly. It was already understood however, that the mayor had gone on sick leave. The bottom line is, the story is regarding his personal life and everyone should be entitled to his or her right to privacy. The same thing happened to George Clooney recently and his girlfriend regarding their medical records, and it is in my opinion unethical for a news writer to make the choice to violate an individual or a group's right to privacy.
In response to the article about the journalist digging so deeply into the politicians personal struggles, I feel the write up on this mans life was not called for. Yes, it is true that when you are in the "spotlight" you are vulnerable to the media, but I feel that journalists should draw a line when digging up personal information such as a persons physical or emotional health. We butcher celebritys, politicians, anyone that is the center of the attention for that specific time, and for what? So that we can go to bed better at night knowing that our lives aren't as fucked up as theirs? We all have problems and I feel no ones problems are any better or any worse than any one elses. It really makes me mad because there are so many things that need media attention such as homlesness, aids, poverty, but yet we focus our energy on stories like a politician that went to rehab or a celebrity that got caught doing drugs. No wonder after all these years we still have not found solutions to problems that belive it or not effect all of us directly.
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