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E!, ‘Today’ show stand with Kristen Bell’s no-kids photo policy

E! Entertainment president Suzanne Kolb says she and E! stand with the celebrity movement to stop publishing unauthorized photos of celebrity children.
(Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)
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E! Entertainment is the latest to join the ranks of pop culture media outlets that have decided not to publish photos of celebrities’ children taken without parental consent.

The move comes just one day after pop culture site JustJared.com and celebrity magazine People made their own announcements on the matter, following a plea from actress and new mom Kristen Bell and her husband, Dax Shepard.

In January, the actors urged a boycott of media that use unauthorized paparazzi photos of stars’ children, dubbing them the “pedorazzi.” Their plea came after A-listers Halle Berry and Jennifer Garner’s emotional testimony before the California Assembly to pass an anti-paparazzi bill targeting incessant and cruel shutterbugs.

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On Tuesday, Just Jared announced its “#NoKidsPolicy” and People reiterated its editorial policy when it comes to children of newsmakers. NBC’s Matt Lauer also announced Wednesday morning that the “Today” show would make that same pledge and “no longer air” paparazzi photos of celebrity kids.

E! Entertainment President Suzanne Kolb issued a letter on the network’s website titled “We Stand With Kristen Bell” and vowed that E! would be a leader in standing against the pursuit of child images. The decision, she said, came after a sit-down with Bell.

“Here at E!, we share the concerns of all parents to protect children and are committed to heightening our efforts to ensure that we never support or encourage the targeting of children,” she said, adding, “We will not feature photos of children that were taken without parental consent.”

Kolb took the same stance as Just Jared and People when it comes to photos endorsed by celebrities, posted by their parents on social media or taken at red carpet or similar public events, adding the caveat that “if a child is a celebrity in their own right (e.g., an actor or similar), we may also elect to feature them.”

“As a news organization, our editors, producers and writers make myriad decisions every single day that involve using their judgment -- that is the nature of news, including entertainment news,” she continued. “But we also feel a deep responsibility to both the celebrities that we cover, as well as our viewers and readers, and take pride in our balanced approach and credible reporting.”

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Incidentally, the broadcast network, a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, airs the highly popular reality show “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” and its star, Kim Kardashian, has made a concerted effort to keep her daughter with rapper Kanye West off the show.

“House of Lies” star Bell took to social media to applaud E!’s announcement.

“Hooray! I just left a meeting at @ENews & @ENewsNow & found out they’re SO on board w/NO unauthorized pics of minors! Yay! #classy” she tweeted, adding in a video that she was excited that they already had a policy in place and were “completely on board” with her movement.

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