I Am A Bloodsucking Leech ... Apparently.

Another quick one from the old memory banks here. I have lost count of the amount of times that i have been called a bloodsucking leech, a scumbag and various other expletives that get hurled in my general direction. At the moment, the press seem to have a social status around that of estate agents, politicians and criminals.

But i do remember back in 1997, when apparently, i was in a Paris underpass, where, according to members of the public at the time, i hunted down Princess Diana, and murdered her. Seriously, according to many people that day who approached me and my reporters believed that we, as scumbag members of the paparazzi, had chased her down the underpass and killed her.

Do i look like a Pap? ... Don't answer that.

Listen up people. I was at home in bed with the missus that night in Hampshire. And she can vouch for me. Although as she is fond of reminding me, nothing earth shattering happened that night that she can remember.

Although i have learned to live with what some members of the public think of us, it still rankles with me that while hurling abuse in my general direction, they are often carrying a newspaper, or following said abuse, will walk home, switch on the telly and watch the news.

There are times of course when i will point my camera at someone who did not ask for it. But most of the time they will have been someone who deserved to be exposed for their involvement in some crime or corporate goings on that need to be brought to a wider audience. Generally though, i am filming someone because we have been invited to do so, or asked to film. I don't go chasing celebrities into underpasses looking for the up skirt shot so favoured by celebrity mags these days. No, i'm a news cameraman.

So if you see me out on the road filming, please remember this. I am not out to hunt for innocent people to feed on their life force and suck them dry of their celebrity juices. My life is not that exciting.