Picture or no Picture

I was reading an article in PRweek that was talking about how the pictures of Rihanna after she was beaten that were released. It discussed that in a regular situation the pictures of the victim would not have been released but because of her celebrity standing they were. This made me ask the question, what makes the rules different so that if you are a celebrity the pictures are shown but if you are Joe from down the street those pictures would never be seen. What gives us the right to invade in their lives because of their status? I understand that everyone wants the hot gossip but if the case were different, if it involved someone with not as high of a profile, the pictures would’ve never been shown. Doesn’t she deserve the same respect as any one of us? In my personal opinion the showing of the picture was a poor PR decision for TMZ.com. It wasn’t there picture to show in the first place. The police even said not to show it. “The photo is not supposed to be publicized; the police have made that clear,” says Rob Howe, news editor at People. I think next time instead at looking at the status of the person in the picture think of the person themselves and how it will affect them.