Paparazzi /pɑːpəˈrɑːtsi/ (singular: (m) Paparazzo Italian: [papaˈrattso] or (f) Paparazza) is an Italian term used to refer to photojournalists who specialize in candid photography of celebrities, politicians, and other prominent people. Paparazzi tend to be independent contractors, unaffiliated with a mainstream media organization.[1]
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The word "paparazzi" is an eponym originating in the 1960 film La Dolce Vita directed by Federico Fellini. One of the characters in the film is a news photographer named Paparazzo (played by Walter Santesso). In his book Word and Phrase Origins, Robert Hendrickson writes that Fellini took the name from an Italian dialect word that describes a particularly annoying noise, that of a buzzing mosquito. In his school days, Fellini remembered a boy who was nicknamed "paparazzo", because of his fast talking and constant movements, a name Fellini later applied to the fictional character in La Dolce Vita. This version of the word's origin has been strongly contested.
The English usage of the word paparazzi is traced to Italian poet Margherita Guidacci, in her translation of George Gissing’s travel book By the Ionian Sea (1901), in which a restaurant-owner is called Coriolano Paparazzo. The name was supplied by the screenwriter of Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita, Ennio Flaiano, who in turn got it from Margherita Guidacci's Sulla riva dello Jonio (1957). By the late 1960s the word, usually in the Italian plural form paparazzi, had entered English as a generic term for intrusive photographers.[2]
In an interview with Fellini's screenwriter Ennio Flaiano, he said the name came from the Italian translation based on a 1901 southern Italy travel narrative by Victorian writer George Gissing, By the Ionian Sea. He further states that either Fellini or Flaiano opened the book at random, saw the name, and decided to use it for the photographer. This story is further documented by a variety of Gissing scholars and in the book A Sweet and Glorious Land: Revisiting the Ionian Sea (St. Martin's Press, 2000) by John Keahey, and Pierre Coustillas.[3]
A transliteration of "paparazzi" is used in several languages that do not use the Latin alphabet, including Japanese, Korean, Russian and Thai. Chinese uses "狗仔隊", meaning "puppy squad."
Due to the reputation of paparazzi as a nuisance, some states and countries (particularly within Europe) restrict their activities by passing laws and curfews, and by staging events in which paparazzi are specifically not allowed to take photographs. In Norway, Germany and France, photographers need the permission of the people in their photographs in order for them to be released. (see model release).
In Norway it is legal to release photographs when they are relevant and of general interest.[4]
An inquest jury investigated the paparazzi involvement in the deaths of Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed, who were killed on 31 August 1997 in a high-speed car chase in Paris, France, while being pursued by paparazzi. Although several paparazzi were briefly taken into custody, no one was convicted. The official inquests into the accident attributed the causes to the speed and manner of driving of the Mercedes, the speed and manner of driving of the following vehicles, and the impairment of the judgment of the Mercedes driver, Henri Paul, through alcohol.[5]
In 1972, paparazzo photographer Ron Galella sued Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis after the former First Lady ordered her secret service men to destroy Galella's camera and film following an encounter in New York City's Central Park. Kennedy counter-sued claiming harassment. The trial lasted three weeks and became a groundbreaking case regarding photojournalism and the role of paparazzi. In "Galella v. Onassis", Kennedy obtained a restraining order to keep Galella 150 feet away from her and her children. The restriction later was dropped to 25 feet. The trial is a focal point in Smash His Camera, a 2010 documentary film by director Leon Gast.
In 1999, the Oriental Daily News of Hong Kong was found guilty of "scandalizing the court", an extremely rare criminal charge that the newspaper's conduct would undermine confidence in the administration of justice.[6] The charge was brought after the newspaper had published abusive articles challenging the judiciary's integrity and accusing it of bias in a lawsuit the paper had instigated over a photo of a pregnant Faye Wong. The paper had also arranged for a "dog team" (slang for paparazzi in the Chinese language) to track a judge for 72 hours, to provide the judge with first-hand experience with what paparazzi do.[7]
Time magazine's Style & Design special issue in 2005 ran a story entitled "Shooting Star", in which Mel Bouzad, one of the top paparazzi in Los Angeles at the time, claimed to have made US$150,000 for a picture of Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez in Georgia after their breakup. "If I get a picture of Britney and her baby," Bouzad claimed, "I'll be able to buy a house in those hills (above Sunset Boulevard)."[8] Paparazzi author Peter Howe told Time that "celebrities need a higher level of exposure than the rest of us so it is a two-way street. The celebrities manipulate."
In 2006, Daniela Cicarelli went through a scandal when a paparazzo caught video footage of her having sex with her boyfriend on a beach in Spain, which was posted on YouTube. After fighting in the court, it was decided in her favor, causing YouTube to be blocked in Brazil. This caused major havoc among Brazilians, including threatening a boycott against MTV unless Cicarelli was fired from the company. The block only lasted a few days, and Cicarelli did not get fired. The legal action backfired as the court decided she had no expectation of privacy by having sex in a public location.
The E! network program Celebrities Uncensored used often-confrontational footage of celebrities made by paparazzi.
In 2008, a paparazzo sued and lost his case against actor Keanu Reeves claiming that Reeves hit him with his car after he left his friend's house. The photographer also claimed that he was unable to work since the accident stating that his hand was permanently injured and asked the court for over $700,000 in compensation. The photographer was privately investigated and filmed still working using the said injured hand and shown to have many inconsistencies in his story.
In the United Kingdom the actress Sienna Miller and singers Amy Winehouse and Lily Allen have won injunctions that prevent the paparazzi from following them and gathering outside their houses. Miller was awarded £53,000.[9]