How Paparazzi Work
The worldwide obsession with celebrities spawns one of the most fascinating and feared by-products of pop culture -- paparazzi. Paparazzi are photographers who tirelessly hunt celebrities, public figures and their families for the opportunity to photograph them in candid, unflattering and at times compromising moments. What began as simple "street photography" is now a high-stakes game of cat and mouse that plays out in the everyday lives of the paparazzi's celebrity prey. As our cultures' voracious hunger for celebrity snapshots grows, so do the prices of these photos and the risks paparazzi take to get them. Many ethical, legal and privacy issues arise out of this questionable business.
Read and answer the following questions
1. How do paparazzi get those shots? 5 examples at least!
2. How do they sell their pictures?
3. To whom do they sell them?
4. How do they get away with what they do?
The Hunt
At the most basic level, paparazzi hang out on the streets and in public places waiting for an opportunity to photograph a star. In public, the paparazzi can snap away unhindered by laws. But for a paparazzo who wants to make the big bucks, this method is far too inefficient. Paparazzi must make sure they are in the right place at the right time to get the shot.
Paparazzi work a lot like private detectives. Each paparazzo culls a network of informers to help keep tabs on celebrity targets. These informers can be people who work in businesses frequented by celebrities, such as restaurants, shops or salons. The paparazzo often pays for this information. In many cases, people who work for the star might be bribed to divulge the whereabouts of their employer.
Paparazzi also work with autographers. Autographers basically stalk celebrities, approach them in public places and ask for their autographs. They make their living by selling these autographs to fans and resellers. Paparazzi pay the autographers for information on the celebrity's whereabouts. As an added bonus, when the autographer stops the celebrity on the street, the paparazzo gets the opportunity to take the shot.
The key for the paparazzo is to get the information and get the shot before other paparazzi do. But hunting stars is just one aspect of this highly competitive industry. Once the paparazzo knows where the target is, there are various tactics he or she may use to get a photograph.
Tactics
The tactics of the paparazzi center on this principle: Get a shot by any means necessary. The individual paparazzo is only limited by his or her resources, craftiness and nerve.
Technically speaking, in order to get the photo free and clear, the paparazzo must get the star out in public, away from a private residence or business. If the star is in a private area, the photo must be taken discreetly from a distance and with the photographer standing on public land.
In more extreme cases, some paparazzi have taken photographs from rooftops or tree tops. They have shot private events from rented helicopters or boats. In some cases, if the event is in a sealed building, paparazzi have staged fire alarms or bomb threats to cause an evacuation of the building that forces their subjects onto the streets.
Is that legal? The answer is no. But with the lucrative nature of the business, legal expenses have become part of operating costs and have contributed significantly to the high price tag on such photographs.
Throwing false alarms is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the illegal methods used to get a photo. Paparazzi have done much worse:
· A paparazzo intentionally had a car accident with Catherine Zeta-Jones to force her out of her car.
· Actor Sean Penn was intentionally provoked many times into physical confrontations to get photos and create lawsuits.
· Paparazzi posed as Michael Douglas's family members to gain access to the hospital where his son was born.
· Susan Sarandon found a paparazzi camp hidden on her property.
· Britney Spears and her mother were surrounded at a pet store. Britney's mother injured a photographer fleeing the scene in her car.
· An English tabloid published Gwyneth Paltrow's daily route while she does her household routines, as well as the location of her new house, based on information gathered from paparazzi.
The Laws of Photography
The laws regarding public photography have always been a gray area. In the United States, photographs that are taken for editorial use in a public place generally enjoy Constitutional protection under the right of free speech. There are exceptions, however. Here are just a few of the gray areas:
· While taking a picture in a public place is almost always legal, any public place can become a secured emergency area in the event of a police crime scene, disaster, fire or riot. In this case, photography is not legal without permission.
· Even editorial photographs can come under scrutiny when a caption is added. If the caption implies something false or slanderous about the person in the photo, then it is no longer protected. And the gray area becomes even grayer when you talk about photos as fine art. That is especially true if the artist intends to sell the photograph.
· Photographers cannot take pictures of a person in a public place without permission if that photo is going to be used to promote any goods or services.
Moreover, it is important to note that not all places that seem public are public. Malls, hospitals, restaurants and hotels are all privately owned businesses.
Anti-Paparazzi Legislation
In a 2003 interview with The Guardian, Ewan McGregor spoke out against paparazzi and the publications that buy their pictures:
Heat magazine's a dirty, filthy piece of sh-t and I'd like to put that on record. People shouldn't buy it because it sucks… If a guy comes up and asks me, 'Can I take a picture of your daughter?' that's one thing. But if he's hiding behind a bus and he takes a picture of me and my daughter he's legally allowed to publish that photo in the press. I have no rights to stop him and I think that's wrong. I think we should encourage people to beat up paparazzi.
More and more stars are taking paparazzi to court. McGregor won a case in the United Kingdom on breech-of-confidence and data-protection laws.
Michael Douglas and Katherine Zeta-Jones won their settlement on a separate legal issue. They had official wedding photographers and a deal with OK magazine. When Hello! and The Sun bought and published Rupert Thorpe's photos, they broke trade laws by destroying the exclusivity of the couple's deal with OK.
More and more stars are able to turn to other laws to protect themselves from paparazzi since their rights of privacy are contested. Specific anti-paparazzi legislation has gone into effect in various countries. France has very strict anti-paparazzi legislation. In the United States, California passed anti-paparazzi legislation into law after the death of Princess Diana. That event alone caused many governments to reexamine their paparazzi laws.
The controversy surrounding anti-paparazzi legislation is the question of where to draw the line between legitimate newsgathering and invasions of privacy. If laws are left as they are, a celebrity's privacy and, in some cases, his or her life will continue to be endangered by the ruthlessness of some photographers. On the other hand, if the laws become too restrictive then the freedom of the press could be jeopardized. The solution remains unclear.
So the question arises -- what is the source of the problem?
Opinion Essay
While the tactics of paparazzi are repellent to most people, the same people clamber to buy magazines that carry such photos. Are paparazzi the problem or merely a symptom of a voyeuristic society?
· Minimum 3 paragraphs
· Use 3 quotes/facts from article to support your point of view.
o Point …proof (quote)… example