Last but not least: Cell phone razzis on the rise
For celebrities, the cell phone photo contests held by German newspapers and magazines—which offer attractive cash prizes—are verging on becoming a serious nuisance.
Increasingly, newspapers and magazines are publishing photos taken by amateurs. At present, several German magazines are even advertising for cell phone photos. The magazine Stern, for example, is offering a prize of 1,000 euros for impressive snapshots. The magazine reserves the right to resell the photos and pockets half of the possible proceeds, as the news magazine Focus reports. "5000 euros for a Pope photo" was also announced by the Bild newspaper on its front page last Thursday.
Since the World Cup, the Bild newspaper has been printing snapshots of readers every day. Things went badly for a Berlin police officer, for example, who was photographed in uniform but without a helmet on his private motorcycle. When the cell phone photo was printed in Bild, a police spokesperson assured that they would try to find out who this officer was, Focus reports. For celebrities, the cell phone photo contests of German newspapers are on the verge of becoming a serious nuisance. According to Focus, for example, Harald Schmidt is annoyed by the countless cell phone displays that gaze at him on his way home.
Media lawyer and Burda attorney Robert Schweizer fears that the new generation of cell phone razzis, brought on in part by the countless newspaper contests, could tempt courts to restrict press freedom even further than is already the case today.
Since the World Cup, the Bild newspaper has been printing snapshots of readers every day. Things went badly for a Berlin police officer, for example, who was photographed in uniform but without a helmet on his private motorcycle. When the cell phone photo was printed in Bild, a police spokesperson assured that they would try to find out who this officer was, Focus reports. For celebrities, the cell phone photo contests of German newspapers are on the verge of becoming a serious nuisance. According to Focus, for example, Harald Schmidt is annoyed by the countless cell phone displays that gaze at him on his way home.
Media lawyer and Burda attorney Robert Schweizer fears that the new generation of cell phone razzis, brought on in part by the countless newspaper contests, could tempt courts to restrict press freedom even further than is already the case today.
