The singer only wants the media to use pictures she pre-approves, and the National Press Photographers Association has a problem with it.
Via: Kauffman / GoldenEye/ Splash News
Concert photographers are bound to snap a few unflattering photos during a show — a pop star with hair momentarily out of place, a lead singer making an awkward face, a rapper mid-blink — but they're rarely photos that get used; no one wants to read a concert review illustrated this way. But Beyoncé isn't taking any chances. Outside photographers have been banned from the singer's Mrs. Carter Show World Tour, which began in April and ends in September. So publications wanting to run photos from the show have to use pre-approved ones her management provides.
The National Press Photographers Association has a problem with that.
"What we are suggesting is publications don't use those photos that are provided as handouts," said Mickey Osterreicher, general council for the NPPA. "If you want to have press coverage, you have to have the press."
No photo credentials have been given for Beyoncé's tour, according to a photographer familiar with the tour. Instead news outlets are directed to download photos provided by Beyoncé's management on photoshelter.com.
A representative for Beyoncé did not respond to questions about the policy. And it's unclear whether news outlets have to pay to use the four to ten photos available after each show. None of the photos show Beyoncé with a hair out of place or blinking or in the middle of making a fierce face.
"It seems these days everyone is trying to control their own content," Osterreicher said. "Eventually, if you have all the artists doing this, everything is going to be more controlled and less free."
A rare photo of Beyoncé's Mrs. Carter Show World Tour that wasn't approved by her.
Via: Kauffman / GoldenEye/ Splash News
The photography restrictions on Beyoncé's tour come after a representative for the singer asked BuzzFeed to remove photos taken during the Super Bowl halftime show that were described as "unflattering."
Osterreicher called the Beyoncé example "innocuous," saying celebrities and performers "can do whatever they want," but warned if media only reports what publicists feed them and does not cover events independently, it threatens the First Amendment's freedom of the press.
"The press should be able to cover these events," he said. "Somebody that doesn't have a conflict of interest."
If Beyoncé was exhausted and fainted on stage, Osterreicher offered, those would be photos the public would be interested in, but it's unlikely she would release those photos, he said. Although unreleased photos of fainting pop stars wouldn't be as important to the public as photos government officials attempt to hide, Osterreicher said the principles are important to defend: "Beyonce's obviously not the government ... but it's the same type of mentality. It's all connected. Things just don't happen in a vacuum. We're just trying to remain vigilant."
In January, House minority leader Nancy Pelosi posted a photo on Flickr of female members of Congress that had been Photoshopped. Four women who were not present for the photo were edited in, along with other minor changes. "Had the press not been there to take a picture to use as a comparison," Osterreicher said, it might not have been revealed the photo wasn't authentic.
