Newsflash: Children Are Not News Items

Yesterday, news of how Paris Jackson was coping with her father’s death was plastered all over news sources — legit and sleazy alike. While I’ll admit the news has been heartbreaking, do we really need to know it?

The video of Paris Jackson saying “I just wanted to say, ever since I was born, daddy has been the best father … you could ever imagine. And I just wanted to say I love him … so much,” would have made it out onto YouTube, Twitter, Vimeo and the others eventually. But it sounds like the only reason we know about Paris’s final moments with her father’s body is because her aunt, LaToya Jackson, wanted us to know it, for some reason I cannot fathom. If you ask me, that’s just wrong. Children should not be news items, they should not be used to sell copies. Miley Cyrus is one thing — she is a celebrity in her own right, as the Olsen twins were, but the Jackson kids are just that, kids.

Is it not bad enough that Joe Jackson wants his grieving grandkids in the studio and out on tour? Does their aunt really need to join in the exploitation of these children?

If the media moguls had any heart at all they would refuse to buy pictures of celebrity children, and would stop writing articles about them too. It’s not the kids’ fault their parents are celebrities — give them a break!

Join me in urging your favourite magazines to refuse to buy, and publish, news and photographs of celebrity children, and to leave the Jackson children in peace to grieve how they see fit. If enough of us do it, we can affect change.