Privacy is essential for not only the citizens but also for the politicians in order for democracy to flourish. In the movie, State of Play, a scene that promotes this is claim occurs right after Congressman Stephen Collins is informed that a member of his staff and his mistress has been killed. After he has been informed he must go directly to a press conference during which he breaks down crying. Immediately, speculations that he was having an affair with the deceased woman begin circulating. In a meeting with some of his staff, Collins is told to "lay low" for a while and that he will be "everything that is wrong with politics" for the days to come. Collins expresses his frustration with the fact that after every positive thing he has done in his job he will be remembered for one negative glitch in his personal life.
The issue here is that Congressman Collins' privacy was disregarded when he made a personal mistake. Even though he had done many progressive things in his work in helping to pass two laws, no one cared. This is ironic because Collins was voted into his position to do the job that he had been doing quite well and the second he made a mistake in an aspect of his life that was no one's business but his own and his family's he suddenly received a large amount of attention. Had Collins' private life remained private, there never would have been an issue. The ordeal in his personal life simply distracted people from what is really important, our government. So, privacy of the politicians is essential for a democracy to flourish so that the focus of the citizens can remain on the political and social issues that truly matter and not on trivial matters like the love lives of congressmen.
Congressman Collins also violated Sonya's privacy. What does that say about him?
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