The Independent follows the story that Splash news agency photographer David Stern has quit because he is ashamed by the paparazzi’s hounding of troubled pop star Britney Spears.
Andrew Gumbel reports from Los Angeles, where “200 photographers and television operators” are in pursuit of the former teen idol, who is currently in a psychiatric hospital.
“The rapid downward spiral of Britney Spears’ life marks perhaps the lowest watermark in our tabloid culture,” he says. “An entire industry is feeding off the misery of a former teen idol turned very public basket-case.”
Barbara Ellen in the Observer says the frenzied paparazzi activity is fuelled by our demand.
“Those photographers and journalists are pursuing the likes of Spears for a reason, and that reason is the multibillion, pan-international armchair-stalking industry, otherwise known as ‘Us’.”
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