Buzzfeed | Manchester Evening News
Nineteen news organizations have opposed guidelines preventing publications from sending photographers to Beyoncé’s shows.
Mickey H. Osterreicher, general counsel for the National Press Photographers Association, wrote a letter to the firm that handles Beyoncé’s publicity on behalf of the organizations, which include the Associated Press Media Editors Association, the Radio Television Digital News Association, the Society of Professional Journalists and the American Society of Media Photographers.
- Beyoncé in Paris, April 24, 2013. (Photo by Frank Micelotta/Invision for Parkwood Entertainment/AP Images)
“We believe that removing the ban will help, not harm, your client’s image in the long run,” Osterreicher wrote to the Schure Media Group.
Ending the ban is more likely to result in publication of fair, objective and mutually beneficial photographs that serve your interests and ours… We believe such action would be seen as a good-faith effort on behalf of your client to support a free and independent press.
Since Buzzfeed published shots of the star that her publicist didn’t like, her PR squad stopped issuing press passes to photojournalists to tour dates, and instead has required news organizations to register with them for access to pictures taken by the tour’s official photographer. They’ve also contacted media outlets like Buzzfeed to request that certain photos be removed.
The strategy hasn’t worked too well for Beyoncé; news outlets, frustrated about the limitations on their photographers, have used the original offending photos, from Beyoncé’s Super Bowl halftime show, in lieu of the provided photos. The Manchester Evening News ran one of the unwanted photos with a review of her concerts in the city.
Her current tour is scheduled to come to the United States on June 28.
Another problem: Beyoncé’s strategy makes it seem like she and her publicists are unaware that a majority of her concertgoers own camera phones.
Related: Publications can no longer send photographers to Beyoncé shows | Government declines to name Beyoncé in FOIA request | How Washingtonian lost its Beyoncé lip-synching scoop
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