Many celebrities publicly court publicity and media attention when it suits them and then complain when it doesn't. They earn a lot of money as a bi-product of this attention. They know what they are getting in to when they pursue lives and careers in the public eye.

Public figures fall into hugely different categories. The lives of government officials are probed far too deeply I agree. Their lives are invaded and judged differently to any normal person.

Yet the world of celebrity relies on the public eye. You could not argue that the newest contestants for The X Factor or Big Brother do not want their lives invaded by the paparazzi, they long for it! Celebrity has become the new role model of our society, children today seem to long to be a 'somebody' rather than to do something career motivated like being an astronaut, or a fireman!

... and therefore the public, not the paparazzi, should be blamed. The paparazzi would not be so intrusive if the public did not create demand for the personal details of celebrities. Therefore this point is not quite relevant to the debate - it could be true or false and not contribute either way to 'whether the paparazzi intrude too much'.

...just because someone has a lot of media attention does not mean that they want to be (or think they should be) role models for how other people live their lives.