A Los Angeles politician has declared "personal safety zones" must be placed around celebrities like Britney Spears to protect them from paparazzi.

Councilman Dennis Zine has asked the city's attorney to draw up laws to protect targeted celebrities, as well as pedestrians and drivers, who may be put in danger by a 'swarm' of photographers and cameramen.

"We are a celebrity town. We have hundreds of celebrities living here, and they have the right to peace and tranquillity, while the general public has the right to be able to travel down the road without being accosted," he told Sky News.

"Right now it's Britney Spears. I don't know who it will be tomorrow or the next week but it seems that it's growing into a menace to society.

"We want to say, 'These are the rules. Follow them. If not take the consequences.'"

His proposals have been supported by the Screen Actor's Guild, but criticised by a journalist's union, which is concerned the plans may infringe America's constitutional right to free speech.

"We have free speech, but you can't yell fire in a theatre. We have to have a code of conduct and, if these people had some self discipline, we wouldn't be in this boat," Councilman Zine argued.

"Somebody is going to get hurt, someone is going to get killed. Princess Diana, for instance, look what happened to her.

"Whether her driver was intoxicated or not is not the issue for me. The issue is that paparazzi were chasing the car."

The city's attorney will look into how any law could be implemented, such as how large a 'safety zone' would be, and how it could be measured.

The camera teams following Britney Spears have been targeted by passers-by.

While we were filming a group of paparazzi staking out her gated community, two drivers shouted abuse through their windows.

One producer working for a picture agency tried to hide her face as Sky News filmed.

But some caution against blaming the media.

Nelson Aspen, the Hollywood commentator said consumers of the information must shoulder their share of the responsibility.

"You may not think it harms anyone to pick up a copy of the tabloid. Even if you don't buy it, even if you are just looking at it in a supermarket line or looking at it on a website, where there are banner adverts on the side, that's all calculated," he said.

The city ordinance, if passed, could be on the city's books in six months.