Living in Hollywood

Paparazzi and celebrity obsession.

On Sunday May 14, 2006 "CNN Presents" aired an action-packed day with 26 year old paparazzi as he pursued Angelina Jolie. The show in some aspects showed how the paparazzi on some levels invade the privacy of celebrities, and also on other levels how they can sometimes be out of control, obsessed and even dangerous. E! Entertainment Gossip Columnist Ted Casablemea commented that "the personal lives of celebrities are the best reality show on television." CNN went behind the scenes in an attempt to find out, who is to blame for celebrity obsession? How far is too far to go for news of the stars' lives? Frank Griffin, a co-owner of the paparazzi agency Bauer-Griffin allowed CNN producer Budd Bultman to drive alongside one of his photographers that is in hot pursuit to get photos of Angelina Jolie after they got a tip. CNN showed how the paparazzi goal is to get the information or the photo before other competing paparazzi, by using any one or any means necessary. The showed how this industry is highly competitive and the tactics paparazzo's use to get their photos without regards to people's right of privacy.
The term Paparazzi was derived from "Paparazzo", the name of a freelance news photographer character in the film La Dolce Vita. In the film, Paparazzo discovers he can earn sixty times his usual fee for the photographs where he provoked confrontation with celebrities. In the media today Paparazzi are photographers who earn their living by taking candid, unflattering and at times compromising photographs of celebrities, usually by relentlessly shadowing them in their public and private activities. The term paparazzi is often used in a derogatory manner, and due to the reputation of paparazzi as an annoyance, some states and countries restrict their activities by passing laws and curfews.
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... [continues]

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