After Diana, paparazzi in frame over Kate

Published on Wednesday 10 January 2007 01:17

IT WAS hardly the start to her birthday that Kate Middleton would have wanted. As Prince William's girlfriend left her Chelsea flat, she walked into a barrage of more than 30 photographers and five camera crews. While Ms Middleton, 25, is now used to life in the eye of the long lens, yesterday's scenes descended into a near scrum, reminiscent to some of Diana, Princess of Wales, when her relationship to Charles became clear.

News International, the parent company of titles such as the Sun, the News of the World, the Times and the Sunday Times, made a striking announcement soon after Ms Middleton had left for work. With immediate effect, its titles - among them the biggest-selling tabloid and Sunday red-top newspapers in Britain - would stop using paparazzi pictures. However, the newspapers reserved the right to take their own pictures of her.

That decision was welcomed by Prince William. But the debate is whether this signals any real change in Press attitudes to privacy or whether, in the words of the PR expert Max Clifford, it was "an empty gesture" made by Rupert Murdoch's company for public-relations benefit.

Stuart Higgins, the editor of the Sun between 1994 and 1998, said the use of paparazzi pictures "was a very difficult decision for any editor". He said: "It's difficult to turn away something you think may put on circulation. In my time it was very clear on many occasions that a picture of the Princess of Wales would make a profound difference to circulation."

However, Mr Higgins, now a PR adviser to celebrities such as Kate Moss, said he believed public attitudes to PR had hardened since the death of the princess in August 1997. The fact that her car was being pursued by paparazzi on motorbikes almost turned the word into a term of abuse.

He said there was more awareness that large numbers of photographers flocking round a celebrity could be "physically frightening". He added: "If newspapers are going to reflect what the public want, I think they are going to be out of step with [using] paparazzi-type pictures day after day."

Yesterday's parallels with Princess Diana were also drawn by Ken Wharfe, a retired police inspector who led the protection of the princess for eight years. "History appears to be repeating itself, despite claims that lessons have been learned after the loss of Diana," he said. "As far as I can see, the warnings have not been heeded."

The Press Complaints Commission, the newspaper industry's self- regulating watchdog, forbids the use of photographs that breach its rules on privacy and harassment.

Individuals should not be photographed in a private place without their consent, while harassment guidelines forbid "intimidation, harassment or persistent pursuit". Those rules extend not only to newspapers' photographers but also to any freelance whose pictures they use - the editor effectively assumes responsibility for the manner in which photographs are obtained.

The issue for regulators - and editors - is that the paparazzi field has exploded in size in recent years and UK newspapers are no longer the biggest customers. It is increasingly populated by enthusiasts without newspaper or magazine training who set up in business and seek to make money from celebrity magazines, either here or abroad.

A former picture editor of a celebrity photo agency said: "Anyone can walk into Dixons and set themselves up in business with a 250 digital camera. These people don't know the rules."

The photojournalist said the new wave of paparazzi had a misguided idea of the riches on offer. The potential rewards are symbolised by the reported 1.3 million earned by paparazzi, Jason Fraser, for a long-lens image of Diana kissing Dodi Fayed in 1997.

The former picture editor said a photograph of Kate Middleton in a bikini "would fetch six figures" with worldwide syndication, but only exclusivity fetched top price.

"If you get a famous model coming out of a nightclub drunk, that photo will be only worth about 150 because there are certain to be other photographers there," he said.

The biggest market - and also the biggest earner via syndication - is not in the half-dozen British newspapers that pay for celebrity images, but in serving the voracious demand for royal and other celebrity snaps in the United States, Australia, Germany and Spain.

Phil Hall, a former editor of the News of the World and former editor in chief of Hello! magazine, said the sales of celebrity magazines and newspapers demonstrated that there was a major public appetite to see paparazzi-style images - even though those same readers might condemn the practice.

He added: "If you had a survey now, 90 per cent of the public would say, 'Leave Kate alone'. But they are the very same people that read the magazines and spend their 2 buying them to look at Kate Middleton pictures."

Despite Prince William's plea to the Press to leave Ms Middleton alone, Mr Clifford was scathing in his assessment of how the royal press operation handled birthday .

He said: "The whole thing could have been avoided. Kate Middleton didn't suddenly become 25. The Palace has been aware of it for a long time so why didn't they have somebody there organising the media, telling her to come out ten minutes early, stand and have a picture taken, and it would be done?

"They [the Palace Press office] got caught; for some reason they didn't anticipate this. Of course, it is harassment and reminds you of Diana, but it was easily avoided."

SNAP JUDGMENTS IN A COMPETITIVE WORLD

A LOOK over the last seven days in the life of the Sun and the News of the World suggests any photographer following celebrities on holiday or Kate Middleton is unlikely to go short of work.

Miss Middleton appears in the Sun two days running. On Friday 5 January she is seen leaving home with a policewoman under the headline "Cop a load of Kate". The previous day has the story of William's girlfriend receiving a parking ticket. Under the headline "Kate's in a fine mess", it shows a flustered-looking Miss Middleton getting out of her car in a short skirt which has ridden up - hence the separate headline, "Bum deal".

Both the Sun and the News of the World are fascinated by Kate Moss and Pete Doherty's holiday in Thailand. Miss Moss is seen topless on the beach in one spread in the News of the World on 7 January. It is unclear whether she knows the cameras are there. The Sun pictures Doherty in a car on 3 January and looking at a clump of rocks in the following day's paper.

Two "snatch" pictures of other UK celebrities appear in yesterday's Sun. One shows James Bond star Daniel Craig leaving a London hotel under an umbrella, suggesting he left his girlfriend to walk in the rain unprotected. The other shows the former EastEnders actress Elaine Lordan arriving at a Manchester hotel before being "throttled" by a woman in a lift. In both cases, the pictures appear to have been taken in public areas.

The use of paparazzi-style photographs is complicated by the fact that agents for celebrities routinely tip off newspapers that their clients will be in certain locations at a given time - giving the impression they have been snapped unawares when they appear in print. The Princess of Wales herself was claimed to have connived at such arrangements.