When the media reported the death of Princess Diana last Saturday evening, I was saddened along with the rest of the world about the tragic auto accident. But even in that sadness, the next act in this tragedy was clear – by the end of the week, I felt certain, Diana would be transformed by the media from royal celebrity to martyred saint. I was wrong. The transformation took less than 24 hours.

Sainthood while-you-wait is not a new ratings-grabber for today’s media culture. I remember keenly the death in 1983 of the famed NBC anchorwoman Jessica Savitch. I had had an opportunity to work with her during the 1980 campaign. While a nice woman, Ms. Savitch was only a television journalist, not a curer of the lame and blind. Yet most media outlets gave Savitch a venue to veneration. By contrast, the New Republic, kept her death in perspective. Its eulogy said that she was the best teleprompter reader in the business – no more, no less.

Savitch was, of course, no Princess Diana – but the media’s take on both was and is instructive. As celebrities go, Diana’s good works actually placed her above average. But she was still just a celebrity and celebrities in today’s world all have one thing in common – they are famous simply for being famous.

In its search to justify the non-stop, breaking-news coverage of the event, the media began to feed on themselves. With each pronouncement from royal experts and celebrities like Tom Cruise and Elizabeth Taylor and their anchorperson enablers, the media sought higher ratings and by raising Diana to heights to which she herself would likely have felt unworthy.

This trend has always been with us, courtesy of the media and the people who obsessively patronize the media or seek the media’s attention. Diana took on issues like AIDS and landmines. She used her station quite well to draw attention from the media’s obsession with her to her politically correct causes. Unfortunately, her position and her “work” on behalf of these projects was only one side of the press attention – intrusions into parts of her life that she wanted to keep private (other than those she wanted public) like her infidelity with her riding instructor and her dalliances with ne’er-do-well playboys like the late Dodi Fayed – was what really thrilled the “Hard Copy” crowd.

Hypocrisy is the worst side effect of the dual elixirs of power and celebrity and Diana was affected as much as anyone. She said she wanted to provide a stable life for her children but insisted upon leading a life of excess. She said that Fayed longed for the quiet life -but where is the quiet in midnight 100 mph chases through Paris? In all, she behaved in a manner more fitting for Melrose Place than St. James Place.

In response to these unpleasant observations, defenders of Diana adopt an aberrant philosophy where words, not actions matter most. She meant well. When pressed further, they attack others. Blame the paparazzi; blame the publishers; blame the driver for his proven drunken state. But, they argue, don’t blame Diana for courting the press and then shunning its attention when it didn’t suit her purposes. Don’t blame Diana for leading and enjoying the jet-set life -and, unfortunately, for her death in the fast lane.

It would be better if Diana’s death helped people realize that living vicariously through a celebrity, any celebrity, from a royal to an actor to a musician, is a path to nowhere. Instead, they should strive to live their lives through something more tangible. They could emulate a way of life described some 2,000 years before Diana’s death by a Jewish carpenter on top of a mountain, where He warned the world of those “hypocrites” who “announce” their good works “with trumpet fanfare . . . in order to be praised by people.” They could seek to emulate the good works of those they appreciate, helping others and performing duties for the sole reason that it is right, not just because it is trendy or cool or will get them on the six o’clock news.

Craig Shirley is president of Craig Shirley and Associates, a Washington public affairs firm.

LOAD-DATE: September 5, 1997

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

Copyright 1997 The Washington Times LLC All Rights Reserved