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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
California "paparazzi" bill
Jeff Frings, Photographer
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Milwaukee | WI | USA | Posted: 8:59 AM on 06.06.10 |
->> http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/06/03/national/a12403...
"Paparazzi could be arrested for loitering outside a celebrity's home or workplace under a measure moving through the California legislature.
The California Assembly passed the bill Thursday on a 41-12 vote. It would make it a crime for individuals to engage in surveillance to get a photo, image or recording of a celebrity.
Democratic Assemblywoman Karen Bass, of Los Angeles, says celebrities have described paparazzi following their children and surrounding and jumping on their vehicles.
Bass says her bill would provide a stronger deterrent to keep "out-of-control paparazzi from violating a person's right to privacy."
The bill now goes to the state Senate."
This bill seems like a very bad idea as well as constitutionally questionable.
It raises some questions, like who is a celebrity and how long can a member of the press remain on a public sidewalk/street before they are loitering or surveiling?
If I'm waiting outside the state capitol to get a comment or photo of the Governor or other public official will I be arrested as a paparazzi?
A person, celebrity or otherwise has no expectation of privacy once they leave their home or workplace and enter a public space.
If anyone jumps on a celebrity's car there are already laws against that, |
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Nik Habicht, Photographer
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Levittown | PA | USA | Posted: 9:44 AM on 06.06.10 |
->> Loitering's already against the law too --- so if you're hanging out on the sidewalk in front of the state house (or wherever), you can be told to move along or cited/arrested (in some states tickets are issued in lieu of arrest, but arrest remains a viable option for any ticketable offense at the officer's discretion)....
Perhaps the loitering laws just need more teeth? I know if I was living in the vicinity of celebrities, and there were folks staking out a house in the neighborhood for hours or days on end, I'd be annoyed. I might want the cops to run them off...
Freedom of the press doesn't (and shouldn't) give the media a pass on compliance with the rest of the laws and ordinances in a municipality, county, state or country..... |
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Jeff Frings, Photographer
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Milwaukee | WI | USA | Posted: 12:22 PM on 06.06.10 |
->> What if you were the one waiting to take a photo, say for example, of someone accused of doing something illegal, would you want the cops to "run you off" of a public sidewalk?
If I'm in front of the state capitol waiting to photograph someone coming out, what is the time limit before I'm "loitering"?
Don't get me wrong I think that some of the tactics used by the paparazzi are disgusting but this law, from what I've read about it, while targeting "paparazzi", would seriously hamper the freedom of the press.
Also, I couldn't find a law against "loitering" in my state. I know that the city I live in has a loitering ordinance, but
I don't think standing on a public sidewalk waiting to take a photo would qualify as loitering. |
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Mike Strasinger, Photographer
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Nashville | TN | USA | Posted: 1:10 PM on 06.06.10 |
| ->> Jeff, why don't you go inside the building to get your photo or comment? |
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Joe Cavaretta, Photographer
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Ft Lauderdale | FL | USA | Posted: 2:13 PM on 06.06.10 |
->> Mike;
lets just say a member of your local school board was indicted for taking bribes and cash payouts to overbuild schools nobody needs while the district goes broke laying off teachers and employees. I don't think they would just "let you in the building," to get a comment or photo.
Like it or not, the same freedoms that let the paparazzi do thier jobs is what allows the rest of us to do ours.
another hypothetical- lets just say a man in your town has been arrested for child molestation more than once, and is arrested yet again and your newspaper sends you to wait outside of his house to get a photo of him?
Would that make you a paparazzi?
What if his name was Michael Jackson? |
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Israel Shirk, Photographer, Assistant
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Boise | ID | US | Posted: 6:50 PM on 06.06.10 |
->> Seems like it'll only push out entry level paps. Experienced ones with long glass can just wear a ghillie suit and hide in some brush. Probably good for the industry if anything.
While I understand how waiting outside someone's house to get a photo is sometimes just part of the job... It doesn't mean you're not being a creeper in doing so :) |
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Nik Habicht, Photographer
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Levittown | PA | USA | Posted: 5:56 AM on 06.07.10 |
->> Jeff,
enforcement standards are probably different in front of the State House than they are in residential neighborhoods, as well as being affected by how much of a nuisance the press are -- is there one of you, or are there 30 blocking the sidewalk?
Blocking the sidewalk -- that'll typically get the cops to ask you to move, if they notice or if someone calls. That's the point where the rights of the press start to collide with the rights of the public to use the sidewalk to get to their destination unimpeded.
In a residential neighborhood, what sort of story warrants the disruption to the neighbor's lives as a bunch of media descend on the street to watch someone's house? |
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