Press Snooping for the Public? (both)

Since 2002, speculation about a more-than-professional relationship between Detroit Mayer Kwame Kilpatrick and his chief of staff, Christine Beatty, came one step closer to the truth when the Detroit Free Press published a story stating there had been official document containing a secret settlement agreement between Kilpatrick, Beatty, and two officers. Not only was the document recovered, but 14,000 text messages were retrieved from Beatty's "city-issued paging device" that have been shared with the public as well.

For those of you who don't know, two Detroit police officers sued the city for retaliatory firing when they were investigating the mayor's security team, which could have led to discovery of the couple. Under oath, Kilpatrick and Beatty both denied any allegations of sexual relations between each other., and the court settled in the cops favor.

According to Slate writer Bonnie Goldstein, "Kilpatrick filed an appeal, but after Nelthrope and Brown subpoenaed text messages sent between Kilpatrick and Beatty, Kilpatrick changed his mind and quietly settled, even agreeing to give the cops $2 million over the jury award. Inquiring minds wondered: What was in those text messages, anyway?"

Well, those text messages have been recovered and published; Kilpatrick and Beatty's relationship is a secret no more. It is extremely evident there were sexual relations between the two, but what right does the press have to go as far to release the text messages? It seems more like an invasion of privacy.

What I question is whether the press retrieved the text messages for public purposes or curiosity. This is the first time I've ever heard of salvaging text messages, and it adds to the fact that our lives may be becoming more and more like an open book. Former President Bill Clinton faced a similar situation with Monica Lewinsky in the fact that he lied under oath, and later the truth came out. Even though the press had a right to retrieve those text messages, was it an intrusion into their personal lives once published?