Media Watch: Paparazzi Beach Attacks, Woody Harrelson Sued for Breaking Camera, and Misleading “Lost Tribe” Images

We’ve spent a good part of a dark, muggy Monday scanning the global and interplanetary news media for photography news. And there is much to report:

When Surfers Attack:
A 29-year-old photographer trying to get a shot of actor Matthew McConaughey at a beach near Malibu, California was attacked by a group of young surfers on Saturday. The film clip of the incident is making the rounds. I’m still not sure whether the surfers were protecting McConaughy or just guarding their beach from encroachers. I don’t condone any attacks on photographers, though in this case I’m glad we were spared another picture of the shirtless actor.

Woody Sued
In other paparazzi news, Woody Harrelson is being sued by a photographer who says the actor assaulted him and broke his video camera two years ago. The photographer, Josh Levine, filed the $2.5 million suit on Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court. He says Harrelson choked him, broke his camera, and ordered his bodyguards to attack him. Being a paparazzo can be dangerous.

“Lost” Tribe Wasn’t Really Lost
It isn’t pictures that lie. It’s the people who make them who lie. Remember those incredible photos released a few weeks ago that showed an theretofore undiscovered tribe in the Amazon rainforest? Taken from an airplane along the Brazilian/Peruvian border, the images showed shocked warriors launching arrows at the plane. Now the man behind the photos, Carlos Meirelles, has admitted that the tribe’s existence has been known about since 1910. The pictures, nonetheless, are amazing. Go here for details.—David Schonauer