Last Updated: May 20, 1999
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ASNE
on the move
Freedom of Information chair Paul Tash testified before the House Judiciary
Committee against the proposed Privacy Protection Act, saying it "would
protect villains, frauds and scoundrels against diligent photojournalists
who would bring them and their activities to light."
The proposed legislation would make it illegal for journalists to persistently
follow or chase someone to capture an image. The legislation was introduced
last fall after the death of Princess Diana, when paparazzi behavior drew
public outcry.
Tash, executive editor of the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times, described
his newspaper’s exhaustive attempts to get a photograph of a camera-shy
embezzler who was involved in a possible fraud against the National Baptist
Convention — attempts that would be illegal under the proposed privacy
act.
The subject stayed holed up in her Milwaukee home for three days, never
venturing into a public place. After waiting outside her home all this
time and getting nothing, the Times photographer asked and received permission
from a nearby business to shoot from its roof. It was from there that he
took a photo that appeared in the newspaper.
"This assignment was expensive for the newspaper and dreadful for the
photographer," Tash said. "We went to these lengths … because it was important
that our readers see her, not just read about what she had done in the
past."
The privacy bill expands the definition of trespassing to cover telephoto
lenses and powerful listening devices. Journalists who use such devices
could be punished if they publish material that could only have been obtained
through trespassing. It would make all journalists’ jobs harder while making
it easier for some villains to stay in the shadows, Tash said.
"(It) would create a new law that is directed specifically toward photojournalists,
and make them susceptible to criminal penalties based upon the ‘reasonable
expectation (and) fear’ of the person being photographed," Tash said. "It
doesn’t matter whether that person is a movie star in Malibu or a convicted
embezzler in Milwaukee."
Tash pointed out that the premise of the bill — protection — is covered
through various state laws. "Laws already exist to preserve personal safety
and public order," he said. "These laws have already been applied to restrain
some photographers and punish their excesses already.
The text of Tash’s statement is available on ASNE’s Web site at http://www.asne.org/ideas/ideas.htm
