Does the Paparazzi threaten First Amendment Rights and Privacy? 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.The quandary is that some celebrities can't understand that when one is out in plain view of the public, one cannot reasonably expect privacy. Privacy is a right reserved for when one is in private. The rights of paparazzi journalists must be protected to prevent the slow erosion of the rights of all journalists. If we allow the paparazzi to be used as a scapegoat and to be persecuted and regulated it will not be long until the next most radical fringe group of journalists come under fire. This cycle will eventually lead to the censorship and suppression of all journalists.Paparazzi photographers, just like any photojournalists, finding a fraction of a second which summates a whole news event and capturing it on film. Their print journalist counterparts, who are afforded not only the luxury of editing, but also a few column inches within which to develop their perception of the story fall into a different category all together. A photojournalist must ascertain the defi...
