The invasion of privacy is so commonly made now that
some newspaper men openly assert that they have the right to enter a man's house and make inquiries about him if, by any chance or misfortune, he becomes 'news.' There seems to be no decency which certain papers will not out- rage in the interest of 'news' and private sorrow or trouble is not safe from their impertinent questions. . . . The general result of all this published gossip is that a man is obliged to submit to some invasion of his privacy lest he should suffer worse wrong. People permit them- selves to be photographed for picture papers because, if they decline to pose, the cameraman will 'snap' them when they are unaware of his presence, and he will not be too careful about 'snapping' them in a becoming attitude. There is, it seems, no remedy. . . . No: not from a letter to The Times about the latest instance of press intrusion; I found it in an article by St. John Ervine in the Spectator for May 28, 1927. Plus ca change . . .
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