The new breed of journalism grew by leaps and bounds after the Watergate scandal first broke in Washington, DC (Petersen's, 57). At first the paparazzi were an annoying group of photographers who were persistent when trying to get the perfect shot of a celebrity so they could sell the image for large sums of money but as technology became more advanced so did the equipment the paparazzi used - telephoto lenses, hi-tech listening devices, and powerful zoom lenses on video cameras.

No major celebrity can avoid them. Emerging from cars, entering glittering parties or trying to take a secluded vacation, the glamour figures of the '90s are hounded mercilessly by the men-and a few women-who wield long lenses and a brazen shamelessness (Maclean, 38). Today, paparazzi's tread on private prop

Michael J. Fox told a story to the Senate about leaving a movie premier with his wife and a police escort when they were mobbed by the paparazzi. The results were photographs of Fox and his wife looking in distress with a police officer assisting them. The tabloids published fictional articles stating that they were being sent death threats and were afraid for their lives. Because of that article, a disturbed woman started sending him real death threats (6,200 in all). She was eventually arrested and served jail time. Fox says "I firmly believe that she would not have acted had the tabloid not provided an irresponsible, fictional precedent. There were stalking laws that protected us from her, but no deterrent or law to protect us from aggressive paparazzi" (Quill, 86). He states that "it's the hunting, not the cooking" that celebrities want protection against.

Some of these photos can be worth in the millions of dollars. A single photograph of Prince Charles seen together with his mistress Camilla Parker-Bowles is estimated to be worth 5 million English pounds. The prince says he "would love to figure out a way for the proceeds to go to charity" (Newsweek, 95).The prince and his mistress usually arrive and depart at different times in order to avoid the paparazzi when they attend a function together.

The California Newspaper Publishers Association has support of the top 3 TV networks in fighting the Anti-paparazzi bill, SB262, including CNN who hired a lobbying firm to fight the bill (Editor, 33). CNPA said new opponents include the California Manufactures Association, law enforcement agencies, private detectives and unions (Editor, 33). The manufactures are worried that the bill would make it illegal to photograph employees playing football while receiving workers compensation. The police are worried they would be sued for spying on criminals and private eyes are worried because they photograph and film people undercover all the time.

People opposed to the new laws that are trying to become passed say that all incidents where a certain member of the paparazzi got out of hand were taken care of through the legal system. Paul McMasters, a First Amendment Ombudsman at The Freedom Forum told the House Judiciary Committee on May 21st that "State and local jurisdictions already have laws dealing with invasion of privacy, intrusion upon seclusion, trespass, harassment, and other problems taken up in the federal legislation (American, 30). To further support this statement McMasters brought up the 1973 trial where a judge ordered free-lance photographer Ron Gatella to stay 25 feet from Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and 30 feet from her children after a period of harassing coverage as an example of how the legal system interfered when a paparazzi went to far. Another case he mentioned

Some common words found in the essay are:
Lee Levine, Michael Fox, Sen Feinstein's, DC Petersen's, Manufactures Association, Pete Wilson, Sonny Bono, Camilla Parker-Bowles, Steven Spielberg, Judiciary Committee, quill 27, sums money, paparazzi photographers, lawyers fear laws, bill protect harassed, protect harassed, celebrity crime, laws affect, crime victim, harassment results, aggressive paparazzi, commercially motivated invasions, motivated invasions privacy, editor 33, celebrity crime victim,
Approximate Word count = 1899
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)