Published by Jane Devin on 13 Feb 2008 at 01:09 am
Stalkerazzi Laws May Get Some Teeth
After the taxpayers of Los Angeles shelled out $25,000 in expenses to protect the public and a young celebrity during her recent trip to a hospital, L.A. Councilman Dennis Zine proposed a new “buffer zone” law that will effect the most rabid of paparazzi — namely those who gather in large swarms, blazing flashbulbs within inches of their target — going so far as to stand in front of vehicles, or engaging in dangerous road chases, all for the sake of a celebrity snapshot.
While California does have some paparazzi laws in place, photographers are rarely cited and when they are the charges are usually misdemeanor, rather than criminal, offenses. Zine’s proposal, at this juncture, looks like it would criminalize the ambush tactics used by paparazzi who fail to keep a reasonable distance from their target, or who engage in dangerous chases.
I believe that stronger laws are necessary and overdue. After Princess Diana’s death, the public was treated to a few moments of a tabloid-driven media that seemed to be examining its conscience. Unfortunately, those moments quickly faded. Since then, celebrities such as James Brolin and Barbra Streisand, Pierce Brosnan, and Lindsay Lohan have all had close calls with aggressive entertainment photographers, who have either run them off the road or struck their cars during a chase. It should not take another death, celebrity or passerby, for lawmakers, news outlets, and the public to recognize the danger.
It’s also a matter of respect. While the worst aggressors will lean on the 1st amendment to claim encroachment rights on another’s personal space, there is no constitutional or other legal right whatsoever to harass another person, or restrict their movements, or impede their activities — all of which the paparazzi has done, and continues to do, almost without restriction.
As I wrote last year, being a public figure of any sort should not negate someone’s right to privacy or freedom of movement. Several posters disagreed with me, basically using the argument that celebrities are different: that being ambushed is part of the career they’ve chosen.
I don’t know how that logic works. As far as I know, celebrities are not locked into a 24- hour contract with the public to entertain or be accessible. A successful career in any field, including entertainment, should not make someone a virtual hostage to the whims of the public, or negate their rights as a private individual.
As for the media’s defense that excessive intrusiveness exists because the public demands it — that we “create the need” for aggressive, car-chasing, garbage stealing paparazzi — I can only say it’s an elaborate lie.
First, the public cannot want something it doesn’t even know exists. Most of us don’t know, until the media tells us, what a celebrity’s personal life is like, where they’re dining, who they’re dating, or what tattoos they have on their backside. We don’t know – and most likely would never wonder – what is in a public figure’s garbage can, or how many Jack & Cokes they had at the Viper Room.
The type of microscopic scrutiny and bold intrusions into celebrity lives offered up by gossip outlets and their photographers are less a consequence of public demand than public manipulation. Sensationalism sells, but only because it is produced and promoted. If tomorrow, there were no more photographs of panty-less starlets falling on the red carpet, or close-ups of celebrity cellulite, the public would be none the wiser, and none the less interested in whatever other, less invasive, celebrity news came their way.
It is not the public that demands crotch shots and minute-by-minute coverage of celebrity breakdowns. It’s the media that sets that bar, seeking the most sensational story in the hopes of inflaming or piquing the worst of the public’s curiosity. And unfortunately, it’s that bottom line which informs many tabloid decisions.
Lastly, even if the public had an expressed curiosity in sensationalism — even if they were writing letters by the tens of thousands demanding upskirt shots and ambulance chases — it does not mean that the media should abandon common sense and ethics to cater to the basest tastes. That they do so daily, with or without “public demand,” necessitates the need for stronger, more enforceable laws.
Doris Rose MacBean on 13 Feb 2008 at 10:35 am #
$25K ?! they should be rioting in the streets. We could use some of that fabulous photgraphic talent in Darfur, Bagdad, Kabul or even New Orleans. That’s what we really need to see.
allison on 13 Feb 2008 at 10:58 am #
Jane you are so right about the media setting the bar!
I have been watching aghast at this paparazzi craziness lately and wondering continually why the Los Angeles authorities take such a casual approach to this harrassment.
Part of the problem of course in L A is it’s L A.
They are in thier own warped universe there, I know this for a fact because I am from CA.
Even for CA, Los Angeles is just nuts.
No one even has real hair there.
Part of it is certain celebrities “court the paparazzi”
Tip them off to where they will be etc.
This has been going on forever, but lately it has become dangerous. Britney Spears takes the danger level even higher, by incorporating the photographers into her mental illness. They simply are her celebrity now.
Watching the horror of Diana all those years ago,
just didn’t do it for us. We won’t be happy till we see some celebrity crash, or run over a photographer.
freida on 13 Feb 2008 at 10:59 am #
Although I agree with Doris, $25K is just a ‘drop in the bucket.’