On the function of the United States paparazzi: mosquito swarm or watchdogs of celebrity image control and power

Abstract

One group of media practitioners is consistently viewed more negatively than others – the paparazzi. When the topic of the paparazzi arises, it is usually in reference to their relationship with celebrities and privacy. Rather than examining the celebrity–paparazzi issue through the lens of privacy, the purpose of this article is to reframe the issue by examining it through the lens of self‐presentation theory and image control. This requires thinking of celebrities less as individuals whose privacy is threatened and more as entities trying to present the most unified image possible in order to increase their cultural and economic power. Through this frame, the paparazzi fit squarely within a normative model of journalism, and can be thought of as investigative journalists attempting to uncover another ‘truth’ of celebrities.

Acknowledgements

The author thanks Drs Bonnie Brennen, Carolyn Kitch, Tamra Mendelson and Priscilla Murphy, and an anonymous reviewer for their thoughtful comments on earlier versions of this article.

Notes

1. Privacy refers to both an ethical and a legal concept, whose boundary is malleable, but usually refers to those aspects of a person's life not visible to those beyond friends and family. This article, while touching on legal issues, focuses more on the ethical issues – namely, what journalists and the paparazzi should do. This article is not an exhaustive examination of the legal conceptualization of privacy; rather, it proposes an alternative model regarding the functions of paparazzo images.

2. This analysis focused mostly on American notions of celebrity and journalism. While similarities exist with other countries, differing legal and social contexts make it challenging to universalize these arguments.

3. A negative view of photographers is not new with the paparazzi. Jay (1984) argues that the first snapshooters (individuals with the first handheld cameras) were viewed quite negatively at the beginning of the twentieth century. Similarly, Mensel (1991) claims that the creation of laws protecting a person's right of privacy started in New York State because of citizens' aggravation over the prevalence and the perceived lack of ethics of users of the new Kodak cameras during the same time period.

4. Many argue that Diana consistently and consciously courted media attention even before she wed Prince Charles (e.g. Walls 2000).

5. The role of celebrities as spokespeople in public relations, health communication and advertising campaigns speaks to their rhetorical influences and power (e.g., Friedman and Friedman 1979; Kamins et al. 1989; Kamins 1990; Basil 1996).

6. The use of the term ‘tabloid’ refers less to the format of the paper and more to the historical and present association of this format with more sensational forms of journalism, beginning in the 1920s (Bird 1992; Becker 2003).