The public gets what the public wants

As a member of the LA paparazzi quits his job in apparent protest at the press’ hounding of Britney Spears, the familiar cries demonising celebrity photographers can be heard.

Ever since the paparazzi were indicted in the Diana accident, stories about paps and their methods have never been far from the headlines.

When I’m not in the office, I can often be found camera in hand taking photos that appear in a range of media. In the past that’s included red carpet and rarely, paparazzi work. Indeed, my first nationally published picture was Wayne Rooney and his girlfriend arriving at a charity ball.

While I personally would never go to the lengths that some do – climbing into gardens, hounding families or girlfriends and so on – I do find it difficult to blame paparazzi when the demand for their work is generated by the public.

Many have already blamed the savagery of the media for Ms Spears’ decline and I am sure they will hail Nick Stern as a reformed soul. However, the simple truth is that across the globe, the highest value photography remains the product of paparazzi work. To give you an idea, this short film about the Diana inquest covers one photographer’s £300k price tag for his photos of the crash scene.

So how can they demand such price? It’s simple - because the public will pay to see celebrities falling over, relaxing in private or in any shocking scenario. Paparazzi shots continue to sell in their thousands and the front pages remain dominated by splashes of ‘exclusive photos.’

If the public genuinely wants to get rid of paparazzi, then they should boycott the media that pays them. Until then, who can blame someone going after a single photo that could change their life?

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I'm a PR guru, get me in there

So, Lynne Franks – self-styled PR guru – has entered the Australian jungle in this year’s ever-popular ‘I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here’. Initial arguments with the world’s first supermodel and uber-cosmetically-enhanced Janice Dickinson have made excellent viewing and headlines across the country.

Laying herself open to the snakes, spiders, assorted animal appendages nd Ant and Dec’s comedy links, Lynne has perhaps – more so than most PRs are prepared to – opened her true self up to the world.

No-one that I can remember (bearing in mind I watch a LOT of them) has ever left a reality show championing its honest portrayal of their inner beauty. The vast majority become acutely aware of their myriad personality flaws and how they frequently clash with their fellow contestants. Lynne Franks, as a PR practitioner of some years knows all too well, managing a client’s messages is a powerful way of ensuring their target audiences understand their product or service and choose to buy from or engage with that company.

Revealing your most intimate self on national television would certainly go against mine – and I’m sure many other PR professional’s – advice. Once you reveal all, it’s a long and slow road back to discretion and control. When advising clients in handling media interviews and liaising with journalists I encourage a strict adherence to key messages and ‘brand identity’ while incorporating as much personality, personal interest and ‘colour’ to ensure a journalist takes on the story. Ticking off a list of the important points and taking a lead in an interview means clients receive positive coverage and their messages reach their target audiences.

Lynne’s latest incarnation is as a ‘lifestyle guru and visionary’- offering the world advice on the changes is today’s and tomorrow’s world as well as encouraging and supporting women in enterprise. Admirable aims and no doubt her raised profile will allow her a louder voice in getting out those messages. But it puzzles me that someone who is so tuned in to the workings of international media, the merry-go-round of our modern-day celebrity circus show and how to orchestrate and manage all of that would throw themselves into the lion’s den so willingly.

I look forward to being proven wrong by Lynne Franks as she succeeds in accomplishing a win-win from her rumble in the jungle. Her spats with Janice Dickinson – and the consequent negative media interest – may reveal otherwise.