Photo: BEImages/Jim Smeal.
Last week, we told you about Entertainment Tonight and its decision to join Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard's ongoing crusade against the transmission of unauthorized images of celebrities' children. Well, it looks like the intrepid couple's movement is gaining steam.
Yesterday, the pop-culture portal Just Jared also pledged to stop publishing unauthorized images or videos of celebrity offspring. "Kids of public figures have a right to be respected as private citizens, so unauthorized photos will no longer have a place on our sites," said Jared Eng, the ultra-popular site's editor-in-chief. "As the first blogger to take this stance, I hope other media outlets will follow suit. We plan to work closely with celebrities and their teams to enforce a #NoKidsPolicy."
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The move is a landmark one, since Just Jared and its spin-off teen site Just Jared Jr. have become the Internet's go-to destination for celebrity snapshots, boasting over 18 million unique visitors a month. They've also developed a reputation as one of the few snark-free celebrity blogs, and have been able to cultivate relationships with some of the stars they regularly feature, including Kristen Bell as a result.
"I approached Jared before any other news or entertainment blogs because I personally love his site," Bell said in a statement. "His content has always been classy and fun. I knew his brand would be in line with a no kids policy and Jared was excited to lend support."
According to Eng, he and his brother Jason, the site's CEO, also spoke with Blake Lively and Jamie King before ultimately coming to a decision regarding their new policy. However, the Eng brothers still plan on posting photos of celebrities and their kids, as long as they're consensual. "Public figures with kids on the red carpet, at sports games and concert venues, and pictures shared directly via social media" will all be fair game, says Eng.
The Eng brothers hope that their move might help persuade other media outlets to follow in their footsteps. Well, so far so good.
Shortly after Just Jared made its announcement, pop-culture bible People magazine followed suit. "The editors at People have always been careful when dealing with photos of kids, but in the past few months, our sensitivity has been significantly heightened, and our editorial practices have changed accordingly," said People editorial director Jess Cagle in a statement. "When I took over as editorial director of People in January, I told our staff that People would not publish photos of celebs' kids taken against their parents' wishes, in print or online."
Bell, for one, couldn't be happier with these new initiatives and plans to repay both Just Jared and People in kind. After news of the boycotts broke, the proud new mother tweeted, "I'll be proud do my next interview w/ @peoplemag & I'm planning something special around #veronicamarsmovie w/@justjared ! #nokidspolicy."