Los Angeles Puts Paparazzi on the Defensive

LOS ANGELES - Photographs of celebrities taking their children to school or going to a doctor's office would be prohibited under a proposal introduced today by a Los Angeles city councilman in an effort to crack down on the paparazzi.
  
The motion to restrict photography and visual recordings around public and private schools and hospital and medical facilities is Councilman Dennis Zine's latest effort to combat aggressive photographers.

The proposal is intended to address "locations where people have a reasonable expectation of privacy," according to Zine.
  
"Taking advantage of the fact that high-profile individuals must do things like send their children to school, visit hospitals and go to medical facilities, unscrupulous paparazzi frequently stake out these locations in order to capture the perfect photograph," Zine wrote.

Zine is proposing that commercial photography be banned within 20 feet of schools, hospitals and medical facilities. Exemptions would be made if the photography is requested or permitted by the school or hospital, if the subjects consent to being photographed or recorded, or if the photography is a duty of a law enforcement or government agent.

A motion to review how the paparazzi are handled at Los Angeles International Airport will be considered tomorrow by the city council's Trade, Commerce and Tourism Committee. That motion was made after rapper Kanye West was arrested at LAX for allegedly breaking a photographer's equipment.

Zine's motion was forwarded to the Public Safety Committee.
 

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