Legal News

L.A. City Council's proposed Britney's law may impact news reporters, too

By Jason Siegel

The Los Angeles City Council is considering a law that that would create a buffer zone between celebrities and the paparazzi, apparently to be named after Britney Spears.

Beyond restarting the discussion of pop stars' rights and the culture of the paparazzi, the law may have some legal implications for access to public figures for news reporters and photographers .

"Any kind of law that you try to draft to cover the paparazzi will apply to all reporters," Ramona Ripston, executive director of the ACLU of Southern California, told the Associated Press . "You can't carve out a law that will apply to just the paparazzi."

"With so much money involved in the celebrity industry, it is difficult to say whether [it] would end up helping or harming celebrity circumstances [and] whether it would ultimately be overturned by a court,"  writes Trinity Law School professor James Hirsen.

The proposed law was prompted by and may be named after Britney Spears. Moving the former/current? pop star from her home to a hospital meant a police motorcade and helicopters, costing the LAPD $25,000, to keep aggressive paparazzi away.

City Councilman Dennis Zine, who proposed the ordinance, told the AP that he hopes it will be approved and take effect in about six month, after an upcoming Public Safety Committee hearing.

Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on February 15, 2008 (boomark / email).