The term paparazzo is defined as “a freelance photographer who pursues celebrities to get photographs of them.” (Definition of paparazzo, 2011) The name originated from the last name of a photographer in the 1960 film La Dolce Vita. (Green) Yet the meaning from the word paparazzo denotes a stronger meaning than just a freelance photographer. The paparazzi are notorious for their persistent and annoying personalities who will go through any measure to get the shot that they wish for.
The main targets of the paparazzi are the celebrities who enchant the public. The public’s obsession with that person encourages the paparazzi to pursue the celebrity and encourages them to participate in acceptable invasive antics. It is only when harm occurs that the public is outraged by the paparazzi’s newsgathering techniques.
A notable example of inappropriate intrusion involved the deaths of Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed, who were killed on August 31 1997 in a high-speed car chase in Paris, France while being chased by the paparazzi. The death brought a lot of criticism to the media and its newsgathering techniques, especially those by the paparazzi. The media’s attention to celebrities has caused a loss of privacy and a skewed view on private and public issues for celebrities. This loss comes from the categorization of celebrities as public figures, meaning their every day lives are subject to an extensive scrutiny unlike an average person. The public thrives on the intrusion into the lives of celebrities because of their obsession with wanting to know every bit of gossip. The paparazzi fulfill this fixation by gathering the information that the public longs to consume.
The methods of the paparazzi are condemned as invading th...
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... the courts and the press.
Works Cited
Definition of paparazzo. In (2011). Oxford Dictionary Online Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Retrieved from http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/paparazzo?region=us
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Nordhaus, J. Celebrities' rights to privacy: How far should the press have to go?. Retrieved from http://www.asc.upenn.edu/usr/ogandy/c734 resources/celebrities rights - nordhaus.pdf
Green, P. (n.d.). Where does the word paparazzi come from?. Retrieved from http://curiosity.discovery.com/question/where-paparazzi-term-come-from
The question of paparazzi threatening privacy and First Amendment rights is often to situational to argue in a conventional manner, but certainly there are many facets of the issue which can be addressed in a quite straightforward manner. Celebrities who feel they have the right to privacy in public places often muddy the waters of this issue. Oddly enough, those celebrities who have chosen to speak out against what they feel are violations of their privacy most always begin their campaigns with a large press conference. In other words, they gather together those people they wish to not only suppress but also berate in hopes that these people will use their positions and skills to carry these celebrity's messages to the public. Is often seems that theses celebrities want it "both ways" in that they appreciate coverage when they have a movie, record, or book coming out, but not at any other time.
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After observing and researching all the sources portraying celebrities I have came into a conclusion that todays society it seems like all we want is to be accepted and we tend to look at other people and judge. Its not right, we all are different and thats what makes the world go round. It would be a pretty boring world if we were all the same. Celebrities deal with this everyday, I think the paparazzi know more about some celebrities lives than they actually do. They judge them for who they are and what they do, it is not right nor fair.
According to Associated Press – Paparazzi becomes target of criminal probe. “the paparazzi are famous for doing most anything to obtain exclusive pictures of those on Hollywood’s A List, but how the celebrity hunters have become prey themselves, targets of a criminal investigation that comes amid complications about their aggressive tactics,” said this new press. Actress Lindsay Lohan, the teen star and a photographer, got involved in a traffic accident trying to escape from the police for felonies such as trespassing to more serious crimes like false captivity and potential conspiracy. “It is my sense that the activities of the paparazzi have grown more and more aggressive over the last couple of years,” said William Hodgman, the chief of the target crimes department of the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. Photographers sell for anywhere from a couple of hundred dollars to several thousand.
Photographing an individual whether famous or not in public will not violate that person’s privacy under the laws in most countries. Assuming the paparazzi isn’t assaulting someone or trespassing or otherwise doing something illegal while taking such a picture, he or she will not be violating the law. Public figures do not ask for a total invasion of their privitness .Few of us lead lives that are not classified into a newsworthy. Just because these people contribute to their profession in front of the world, it does not mean that they should be denied the right to privacy and respect. Therefore Paparazzi should be banned from exposing people’s private lives, any way they want.
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Middleton, Kent, and William E. Lee. The Law of Public Communication. N.p.: Pearson Education, 2014. Print.
The deception of media consumers allows for the abuse of economic infrastructures of society. An obsession with celebrities’ lives passifies ordinary people in accepting the stratification of the elite businesses and the ordinary citizens. Though pseudo-events and celebrity worship may not be exactly complementary, the similarities of both leaves the public to be utterly vulnerable unless they begin to critically think for themselves.
What are celebrities? Today, we live in a society that tends to drown our everyday lives in mass Medias such as tabloids, reality shows, newspapers such as the New York Times and personal-interest magazines, like People and Us, to get a glimpse of the interesting lives of everyday celebrities. Some might say that a celebrity is someone who we idolize while Daniel Boorstin, author of the book The Image: Or What Happened to the American Dream, states that a celebrity “is a person who is well-known for his well-knownness” (Epstein1). But the question still remains… what are celebrities? According to Epstein, A celebrity is something or someone who can be talented and full of achievements and yet wish to broadcast ones fame further through the careful cultivation of celebrity, while one can be the total opposite of achievements and be less talented and yet still be made seem otherwise through mechanics and dynamics of celebrity creation (Epstein2). Celebrity culture today is epidemic; some might agree that it is sweeping up America in a harmful way while one might argue that it is beneficial to our society.
The term paparazzi is defined as a freelance photographer, usually one who takes candid pictures of celebrities for publication. The term originated from the surname of the 1959 Federico film, La Dolce Vita. Now, the connotation that arises from the word “paparazzi” is much stronger than just a freelance photographer. The paparazzi are annoying, persistent photographers who, in essence, stalk their celebrity victims and go to any length necessary to get the photograph they desire. But, the paparazzi are doing their job to please the public. Paparazzi tend to target celebrities that fascinate the public; the public’s obsession encourages the paparazzi in their pursuit. The public never calls out the paparazzi for invading the celebrities’ privacy; they only call them out when harm or threats come to the celebrity (Nordhaus 286).
Puente, Maria. "Are the Children of Stars Fair Game for Paparazzi?" Usa Today 2012 aug 15: D.1. Web. 3 Dec. 2013. .