Many celebs get hounded by the paparazzi

It's what they do with it that shows them up for who they are.

Madonna gets courted by the media because she is adept at manipulating them and putting herself in the limelight. It is her talent.

She is no more a serious contributer to any debate than Jade Goody or Paris Hilton. She's just a bit fitter and was once a bit more fanciable.

We're supposed to see her as somehow controversial. exactly what has she actually done that has been of any actual impact? can anyone remember?

Playboy? Sex book? songs about herself? films about herself? even her love song about guy ritchie is all about herself -

(This guy was meant for "ME" - many miles have "I" travelled - it doesn't extoll one virtue of his.) - ( oh no - sorry - it was a clever play on words -> this "guy" - wow!)

But nothing genuinely controversial.

And whilst on the subject of mass generalization and misinformation, the kind of "activists" of which I speak, and to which you refer, are not, as you appear to have assumed, busy villifying madonna, they couldn't give a s**t about her, being too busy trying to draw attention to the roots of the problem and actually tackle it in a way that is in line with actual understanding of it, as opposed to grandiose gestures of goodwill.

Do you see Madonna giving up her job as an entertainer to focus on her (apparent) new found responsibilities? do you see her message having any depth in terms of the actual issues?

Do you hear her songs saying anything else other than "Me Me Me" or does she still peddle the same lie in her lyrics that it's each man for himself in a material world, thus encouraging the rest of us to carry on behaving that way, with the result that our society and culture carries on sucking at the livelihoods of people in poor countries like Malawi, whilst they watch her video's in awe of the lifestyle that they can never have (because the planet simply cannot sustain it for everyone) and develop unrealistic aspirations of their own, or turn to violence to get some of what they've been miissing.

The difference between those such as Joanna lumley etc and those such as madonna etc is that the first lot try to assist people who know what they're doing, while the second lot think they're the messiah. In madonna's case, she thinks she's Evita Peron.

Finally, the paparazzi don't write articles, they take photographs.