Paparazzi 101

Our "celebrity culture" has spawned a horde of photo "journalists" we call "paparazzi" (a term that comes from the "street photographer" character Paparazzo in Fellini's 1961 film, La Dolce Vita). These free-lance photographers stalk public figures and their families, hoping to document them in unflattering poses or compromising situations and sell the photographs to various publications. Some paparazzi have gone as far as to intentionally provoke their subjects into violent responses they can then document. Others have rented helicopters to spy on private property from the air or even initiated automobile accidents in order to document a celebrity's reaction.

How does U.S. law define and protect "editorial use" and free speech?

Imagine a class in "Paparazzi 101", in which students armed with digital cameras are assigned the task of following "campus celebrities" to their favorite restaurants and relentlessly hounding visiting lecturers. In such a class students might even learn "trade secrets" such as staging a bomb scare or pulling a fire alarm to get celebrities out of a building, or posing as a family member to gain access to a hospital room.

I'm joking, of course, about the class (though not about the excesses of the paparazzi).