( CNN ) -- Okay , so Alec Baldwin is n't the world 's most sympathetic character . He throws tantrums , smacks the occasional photographer and was once caught on tape calling his preteen daughter a `` thoughtless little pig . '' But he 's still right to vent his spleen at the New York Post . `` Everyone who breathes air knows the Post is the worst newspaper in human history , '' Baldwin declared on Twitter . Well , human history might be going a bit far . Baldwin was responding to caustic columnist Andrea Peyser , who called him a `` bloviating psycho . '' Rupert Murdoch 's paper has obviously taken great delight in targeting the liberal actor . But there 's a larger issue here than just another tantalizing tabloid feud . Baldwin has allegedly been pursued by a stalker , which is no laughing matter . And he has mounted something of a crusade against the stalking photographers known as the paparazzi . So when you strip away the name-calling , as entertaining as that is , this is a debate about the price of celebrity and the limits of privacy . Watch : Did Rupert Murdoch Skate in British Report on Phone Hacking ? Here 's the back story . Baldwin , the star of `` 30 Rock , '' has allegedly been harassed by a Canadian actress named Genevieve Sabourin . She claims they had a sexual encounter , what the Post calls a `` sweaty night of passion , '' in 2010 , and that they maintained an online romantic relationship for months . ( Baldwin says they only had dinner . ) Sabourin was arrested in April after showing up at Baldwin 's Greenwich Village apartment building , according to news reports . She has also allegedly appeared at a Lincoln Center screening where the actor was speaking , hung around his Hamptons retreat and sent him dozens of e-mails , the New York Daily News reported . One had the subject heading `` Defcon 1 , '' according to an affidavit signed by Baldwin , ABC news reported , and said if he did n't talk to Sabourin that she would start a war against him . Watch : Are TV Newsbabes Dressing Sexy for Ratings ? Sabourin was arrested again last week for violating a court order by allegedly aiming a series of tweets at Baldwin and his wife , Hilaria , the 28-year-old yoga instructor he married last spring . Apparently you can just as easily harass someone online as in person . The woman described by her lawyer as `` starstruck '' was released from jail after a judge rejected a prosecution request for $ 5,000 bail . Sabourin is fighting the charges . Watch : Media Embrace Cop Who Bought Boots for Homeless Man . So even if Baldwin is no Jack Donaghy , the suave TV executive he plays on NBC , does he deserve this ? Does being famous mean the privacy laws somehow do n't apply to you ? Baldwin is hardly immune from ridicule , but he 's entitled to the same legal protection as an ordinary Joe . The Post 's Peyser , who can be bitingly funny , has chosen to launch a crusade on Genevieve Sabourin 's behalf . Last April she wrote , obviously tongue in cheek , of her own `` cracked and perverse relationship '' with Baldwin , driven by her `` all-out and disturbingly weird and committed obsession '' with the actor . He got personal as well , tweeting , `` Andrea Peyser , you are as bad a writer as you are filled with self-hatred . '' Watch : Why a Video of a Botched Butt Implant Went Viral . Peyser now writes that `` the blubberous Baldwin '' should drop the charges . Baldwin says the matter is out of his hands , now that the district attorney has brought charges . As for the New York Post , Baldwin tweeted , `` Shame on them for politicizing a criminal case ... and shame on the morally bankrupt partisan trash Andrea Peyser , who demeans all women by inferring that a charge of criminal harassment is overkill when the defendant is a woman . The 'lovesick ' defense . '' Baldwin 's spokesman Matthew Hiltzik confirmed the series of tweets , which the actor later took down , but declined further comment . I do n't mind Peyser using Baldwin as her personal piÃ±ata ; she 's in the columnizing business , and he 's certainly fair game . But there is a mindset in which the press feels free to trample on the rights of celebrities , as when Murdoch 's London tabloid News of the World mercilessly hacked the phones of British stars . The legal system is doing fine in dealing with Alec Baldwin 's alleged stalker . But some in the media seem to be stalking Baldwin as well . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Howard Kurtz .
Howard Kurtz : New York Post has been afflicting Alec Baldwin , who is correct to vent spleen . He says Canadian woman has allegedly stalked Baldwin , was arrested in April , last month . He says Baldwin rages against paparazzi ; what is price of celebrity , limits of privacy ? Kurtz : Post 's Peyser defends alleged stalker ; it seems some in media are stalking Baldwin too .