Voices
SUZANNE
ELY
HUFFINGTON
09.30.12
The Royal
Peep Show
JUST A COUPLE of weeks after
the 15th anniversary of Princess Diana’s gruesome death
in Paris, the French edition of
Closer magazine splashed topless
pictures of the Duchess of Cambridge and future Queen of England across its cover, with a fivepage lascivious spread inside.
The official reaction was swift
and decisive. The Palace first
reprimanded, then sued. Welcome to the 21st Century debate
ILLUSTRATION BY ALEX NABAUM
over newsworthiness.
Here we are, once again, facing age-old, apparently unanswerable questions about when
our public thirst for private images and information will be
quenched, who should police
mob morality and how far the
right of free press should extend.
In more general terms—just be-
Suzanne
Ely is a Los
Angelesbased writer