Celebrity journalism, the public and Princess Diana.

• Author: Saltzman, Joe

The Stink of the hypocrisy surrounding Princess Diana's death was overwhelming. There were the self-serving politicians grabbing publicity by suggesting legislation they knew was unconstitutional and unnecessary. There were the self-serving actors who rushed to judgment because they have their own axes to grind when it comes to the dark side of tabloid journalism. There were the isolated supermarket managers who self-righteously removed all the tabloids from their stores, saying they wanted no part of that kind of business, ignoring other products on their shelves that promise results impossible to achieve.

There were the family and friends of the Princess who denounced the media while ignoring the Princess special history with it and how she knowingly used the news media to create herself anew in her own carefully crafted image. There were the American tabloids themselves who immediately promised that they would never buy or publish pictures of the dying Princess and then congratulated themselves on record sales of issues featuring stories chronicling every detail of her final hours.

There were the traditional news media, so quick to condemn the tabloids, and even faster when it came to plastering one photo after another of the Princess in their publications and TV programs. Time and Newsweek threw together more than 25 pages of photos and text, including a dramatic picture of the wreckage of the car. People gave Diana its cover for the 44th time, then produced two later covers offering "The Diana Interviews." CBS gave viewers "48 Hours" in the Princess' life, and every other TV newsmagazine and morning and evening news show treated the event as if it were the biggest news story of the century.

And, of course, there was the public, angrily denouncing the photographers while lapping up their products with so much zeal that paparazzi photographs of Diana repeatedly created record sales for any publication printing them.

The key question ignored was why were so many millions of people around the world so interested in Princess Diana? How did they come to know this woman so well and mourn her death so personally?

The reason is that the Princess epitomized the sad state of journalism around the world, culminating with the decade's preoccupation with celebrity journalism -- journalism that not only creates instant celebrities, but gives them life through the constant repetition of countless personal details. Millions believed they knew the real...