How Far is Too Far?
Todd Bullivant
Opinion Editor

Paparazzi. No, not the Italian guy from the "3 Tenors", but the photographers that hound celebrities for pictures to sell to tabloid magazines. For years they have stalked famous people hoping to get a unique shot that could net them thousands, if not millions from a tabloid that will pay for those pictures.

Paparazzi means "buzzing insects" in Italian. And this is how most view the zealous photographers, as pests. Most celebrities have learned to live with the annoying buzzes that the paparazzi make. But in recent years, photographers have gone from being a minor annoyance that came with the territory of being famous, to being a majoy source of fear for public figures. A few celebrities have chosen to fight back. Alec Baldwin, Robert De Niro, and Woody Harrelson are just a few that have had scuffles with these photographers.

But, tragically, it has taken the recent death of Diana, Princess of Wales, to show that there this stalking to get a good shot is not always harmless. While it is true that the driver of the car was intoxicated, part of the blame must be placed on the publications paying too much for whatever the paparazzi can get by whatever means. The photographers that chased Diana were arrested, but none of the publications they work for have stepped forward to purchase their pictures. If the publications don't buy, then the photographers won't shoot.

If readers hadn't waited in the supermarkets to get the newest tabloid issue that had pictures of Diana, would there have been the group of photographers in a high-speed chase to get another picture of the couple? Probably not. But they were there, chasing the pair all over the world, hoping to get an "exclusive" picture.

It is not just the sleazy tabloids that buy these photographs. Mainstream news groups, like "Entertainment Tonight" or People, also buy and profit from photos taken by paparazzi. It's hard to see demand for these pictures disappearing. Will this market for photos still stay the same?

For a while, there will be less photographs taken and sold, especially of the accident. Any publication that would publish those photos would have to be crazy to risk a boycott. But after the funeral, after Lady Di is no longer the front page story, that's when the true test of whether anyone has learned anything from this tragedy will begin.

So, indirectly, all of us may be to blame for Princess Di's death. We were not there, we weren't chasing them. But we do thrive on celebrities. We can only blame those paparazzi's for so long. As long as we continue to watch and read those tabloids, we are just as guilty as any of them.

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