Bojo's media circus pushes his button...

The pitfalls of fame may be getting a little too heavy for Boris Johnson - especially where his family is involved. According to reports made in today's papers, the London Mayor has gone to the Press Complaints Commission after the London Paper published pictures of his children. They were taken during a family vacation in Turkey and even go so far as to use captions that mock Johnson's son for resembling his father. The poor bugger.

Naturally, the news brings up the old debate about press intrusion upon the lives of public figures and whether or not celebrities should have a right to keep their personal lives private. Obviously, in a sensible world, in which people had more important things to think about, nobody would give a fuck where somebody like Boris Johnson goes on vacation and the press wouldn't have to consider such trite as being 'newsworthy'. All cases like this really show is that the press have run out ideas completely.

"I would like to take this opportunity to ask you to recognise that the Mayor is keen that his children should not be subjected to publicity," said an official letter to the press after Johnson's election win at the start of the month. "There can be little legitimate public interest in reporting information about their private lives." Though apparently there is.

Yesterday, Johnson's father was in the news after being declined as a replacement for his son as the Henley MP, showing that the energy surrounding Bojo is infectious, especially for the press who are desperate to sell issues. As political bloggers, we have to admit that Johnson stands as the Britney Spears of the political sphere - with some blogs being devoted to him entirely. Some journalists, or newspapers, should realise, though, that whilst Johnson can be mildly amusing and interesting as a politician, his family life is just as boring as anybody else's.

The complaint to the PCC will be made under the terms of clause 3 (privacy) and 6 (children) of the code of practice.

Photo: Flickr

Written by Oli Anderson on 30 May 2008 2:03 PM. Permalink