TESTIMONIAL
Read this morning at Los Angeles City Hall...
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I am one of the most media-friendly celebrities around, and my being here this morning is not in contrast with that; rather, it's in keeping with it. There is no doubt that the new frontier of entertainment is taking place informally on the street. Sound bites that used to be given on red carpets and in arranged interviews now take place beside a restaurant's valet stand, and there's no changing that. I don't want to beg the city of Los Angeles to give me 1987 back. I love being a famous musician in 2008. I embrace technology, but I also believe in thoughtfully adapting it to fit within a societal framework. And in the specific areas of both tracking and close-quarter engagement by the paparazzi, there are changes that must be made.
I'd like to define the scope of my argument by first defining what lies outside of it. I'm not here this morning to talk to you about the media at large, blogs, tabloid magazines, or entertainment news shows. I'm not even here to talk to you about photography itself. You don't have to ultimately be photographed to have been dangerously pursued in the attempt of getting a shot. The danger exists in methods and tactics having absolutely nothing to do with picture taking. In fact, removing the camera from the equation is a very effective way of looking at this situation candidly.
A scenario:
It's two o'clock in the morning and you're driving home from a friend's house. You notice there is a vehicle behind you that has no license plate and that has been following you for the last 15 minutes. The driver is so brazen that he or she has even taken to ignoring red lights just to stay behind you. As you begin to turn onto a small neighborhood street just blocks from where you live, you now realize this person has definite intentions of engaging you at your house.
The question I ask you is: Are you in danger?
The answer is YES. Not "depends if you're on TV."
It doesn't matter what you do for a living, and it doesn't matter that there might turn out to be a digital camera on the passenger seat. You are IN danger. Danger is defined as the possibility of suffering harm or injury.































