What The Paparazzi Are Doing To Britney Spears Just Isn’t Right, And It’s An Abuse Of Freedom Of The Press

Philip Stone February 22, 2008 Follow on Twitter

A Los Angeles councilman is proposing a city ordinance that creates a “safety zone “for people swarmed by paparazzi, and after seeing what they have been doing to Britney Spears – doesn’t matter what you think of the girl herself -- as human beings we just know the way they hound her just isn’t right.

Now anything that could inhibit the freedom of the press Is seen by some as just plain unacceptable no matter how bad a problem, but it should not be forgotten that we subscribe to a social responsibility theory of the press that says we media not only have rights, but we also have responsibilities.

As Oliver Wendell Holmes, the revered US Supreme Court Justice, pointed out, guaranteed freedom of speech doesn’t protect a person "falsely shouting fire in a theatre and causing a panic." In the same vein freedom of the press doesn’t protect paparazzi crossing the line as they now doing in Los Angeles, London and wherever celebrities gather.

GossipGirls.com had this description of what happened to Britney this past weekend when her father took her out to dinner – a private family occasion and not a “public event”. The web site reported, “According to onlookers, the two were mobbed by paparazzi hoards desperate to get photos of the dolled-up pop star. The situation spun out of control at one point, as photogs jostled for vantage position. From there, a fight broke out leading to the arrest of a belligerent paparazzo.” Naturally the web site had loads of those paparazzi pictures on display.

In the Los Angeles ordinance proposal, the city attorney says he’s studying how a safety zone law could be instituted -- how large should the zone be, how to measure it and the like, and hopefully he will consult with media groups – not to ask if they approve of such a zone but rather how it should be implemented.

The good news is that all the terror that has been directed at Britney is starting to reverberate around the world and the pendulum seems to be swinging to the feeling that all is not right.

That same feeling happened briefly 10 years ago when Princess Diana was chased to her car death in Paris, but since then the paparazzi have gotten far worse. And in Los Angeles there are even stories that paparazzi ranks have been infiltrated by armed gangs who have discovered that such celebrity shots really can bring in the money and they will stop at nothing to get them which could be why paparazzi hoards have become so much more violent.

Some celebrity news web sites are beginning to take notice. In the UK the Holy Moly celebrity site announced that it would no longer accept paparazzi shots taken while pursuing people in cars and on bikes, or celebrities with kids, people clearly in distress at being photographed, and celebrities during their private time.

What has made people really sit up and take notice of all this is because of the very public statements made by British photographer Nick Stern who quit the Splash Photo Agency in Los Angeles because of what the paparazzi are now doing to their victims, especially to Spears.

He explained in media interviews, “I’m used to following celebs, sitting outside their houses, and sometimes it gets pretty heated. But it’s when there’s complete disregard for everybody’s safety, when you’ve got Sunset Boulevard, which is three lanes that goes on for miles, and you’ve got a convoy of 30 cars traveling at 60 miles per hour (90 kms/hour) in a 35 (55kph) zone, jumping the lights, that’s when it’s difficult to see any positive way out of this.”

Spears has been called by paparazzi “the gift that keeps on giving” because her pictures are worth so much – anywhere from $250 for a normal snap up to the $250,000 allegedly earned a year ago for pictures of Spears after she had just shaved her head.

One problem with the paparazzi is that there is no ID system – anyone with a camera can show up as opposed to news conferences and the like where people are checked. Stern explained to The Guardian, “You can go into any store, buy a laptop and a computer and call yourself a photographer. They’re not trained. There’s no camaraderie between you and them. They keep their heads down, won’t even shake your hand when you walk up to introduce yourself. I’m sure that’s why agencies hire those sorts of people because they’re so aggressive, they’ve got nothing to lose. As long as a picture is worth a high value, anything goes.”

And maybe it’s not just unaccredited paparazzi who might be the problem. No less a news source than the Associated Press has told its Los Angeles staff, “Now and for the foreseeable future, virtually everything involving Britney is a big deal,” according to LA Assistant Bureau Chief Frank Baker. The AP in general is putting more emphasis on celebrity news and knows it can make good money globally from all the Britney still pictures and video it can supply.

There was a small victory for celebrities in a British court  earlier this month. Actress Sienna Miller testified how at least five paparazzi were following her at 4:30 a.m. one morning as she left a night club for her new home and the car chase was scary. “The reason they were being that reckless is that they wanted to find out where I lived, which makes you feel quite hunted as a woman,” she testified (remember how Princess Diana’s brother eulogized her as being the most hunted person on the face of the earth?)

On the journey she phoned some friends to ask if they could help by getting their car between hers and the paparazzi. And during one of the times when the cars were stationary the friends got out of their car, went to the paparazzi cars, reached in, and took out the keys and threw them down on the road. And the actress made her getaway.

So naturally the British police charged the friends with criminal damage! But a judge threw the case out saying that neither vehicle had been damaged by having the keys removed.

The paparazzi actually could end up making a lot of money for one celebrity – Heather Mills who is in the process of divorcing Sir Paul McCartney. Mills says the divorce settlement needs to take account of the protection she and her daughter need from the hordes of paparazzi that follow them everywhere. To prove the point she had personal trainer film the paparazzi doing their thing, and she posted the two-minute film  on her web site and also she allegedly showed it to the judge.

There are many who say celebrities bring all of this upon themselves in their quest for publicity that helps their careers. Well, there are “on duty” pix and “off duty” pix and the more the media takes a laissez-faire attitude to the “off-duty” pictures  the more it deserves the various privacy laws and safety zone restrictions that are now bound to crop up.

If the media doesn’t want such restrictions, then take a page out of the Holy Moly book and heal thyself.