February 13, 2008
Holy Moly attacks 'seedy' paparazzi
UK's online celebrity and gossip Holy Moly started life as the website that brought you the celebrity gossip the tabloids would not.
But now it has started self-censoring the pictures it uses in the wake of concern over the paparazzi's treatment of celebrities such as Britney Spears and Amy Winehouse.
In a statement on its website Holy Moly said there had been a "definite change in the perception of paparazzi pictures" and it would no longer publish photos of celebrities being chased in cars or on bikes, celebrities with their children or people "in distress" at being photographed.
Celebrities who attend press launches and premieres and "idiots who go to places like The Ivy ... for a quiet bite to eat" remained fair game, as do "blatant photo opportunities" where the press are tipped off in advance.
... "Both reader and the publisher alike are getting a bit uneasy about it all when you can clearly see two or three people have been driven to the brink of mental illness because of it, said the creator of Holy Moly, who prefers to remain anonymous.
The statement said British photographer Nick Stern, who resigned from Los Angeles-based photo agency Splash Pictures last month in protest at the paparazzi's treatment of Britney Spears, had influenced the decision.
Holy Moly said: "We're going to do our best to stick to this, because let's face it, when one of the biggest names in paparazzi jacks it in due to ethics and morals and the world's biggest popstar gets her knickers photographed by 30 people an hour after being released from a mental institute, you know there's a problem on the shop floor."
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