How are paparazzi not considered harassment?
There was a recent documentary about paparazzi, on the CBC. It’s not necessarily the harassment that it seems. Some celebrities (Paris in this particular segment) will coordinate their schedules with them personally in advance, so the photographers know when and where they can seem intrusive, and when they’re not wanted. Maybe it’s different when the celebrity is famous for actually doing something, but I doubt it. Willnot’s answer is probably the most applicable.
I would also guess (and this is just a hunch I have no actual legal knowledge of this) that since the paparazzi can probably be considered the “press” they can also hide at least a little behind the 1st Amendment. While most celebrities totally feed into the game (there are other places to eat in LA other than the Ivy) I’m sure there have been more than a few who would happily sue some of the more zealous photographers out of existence, I’m guessing this serves as some impediment to doing so.
Just a guess, but I suspect it’s probably important to note that the paparazzi aren’t a coherent group – laws in general can target individuals, or institutions that employ individuals, but often can’t touch people for the behaviour of a vague group that they are part of. Most of the time, while the group as a whole may well be behaving in an harassing manner, no individual is doing anything actionable, and because many paps are freelancers, they’re not there on the orders of a specific employer against whom action could be taken.
Those kinds of paparazzi are a fairly new thing, in the last 5 years or so agencies like X17 have made the numbers jump from a dozen or so to hundreds of working photographers. A lot of it has to do with digital media and the internet making it less costly to shoot thousands of pictures and distribute them. My guess is that evantually some new laws will come out of it but at the moment I think they are stuck going after individual photographers (many of who are felons, wanted on warrants or illegal immigrants) or waiting and suing them when they really know they’ll win. Personally I think that the legislation will come from businesses, cities etc who have to deal with clogged streets, car chases down PCH and answer 911 calls from Britney Spears etc etc. They are becoming a public hazard in parts of LA.
Some celebrities (Paris in this particular segment) will coordinate their schedules with them personally in advance, so the photographers know when and where they can seem intrusive, and when they’re not wanted Yes, as someone who “studies” enough celebrity blogs on a daily basis to see patterns, it is easy to see when a celebrity is courting the paparazzi and when they aren’t. Nicole Ritchie was photographed almost daily for quite some time, until the period when it was rumored she was in the early stages of her pregnancy, and then she was not photographed for weeks and weeks.
