The immediate and illogical accusations that the paparazzi were the essential perpetrators illustrate how much people distrust and hate the media.

   True, the photographers' behavior following the wreck was reprehensible. One witness said they were "like sharks swarming on a piece of meat."

   One of the photographers reportedly hindered the arriving police, saying, "Let me do my jobÑin Sarajevo the cops let me work."

   Yet those same witnesses, American tourists Jack and Robin Firestone, also said the police on the scene did nothing for Diana, Dodi Fayed, the bodyguard or the driver.

   According to James Whitaker, a correspondent for the Mirror Royal, the French police tipped off the paparazzi to Diana's trysts with Fayed.

   As detestable as their actions were after the wreck, how does that make the accident the fault of the paparazzi or their motorcyclist chauffeurs?

   A level-headed driver in any reasonably sized vehicle has no reason to fear motorcyclists.

   A professional driver in a 600 Mercedes-Benz could have performed subtle brake-and-bumps at a sane speed and inflicted serious road-rash.

   Unfortunately, the driver was not level-headed.

   He was drunk.

   One report quotes him as saying "Try and catch me" to the motorcyclists before he sped off.

   The driver, however, was an employee of the Fayed family. Dodi Fayed, who possesses several sports cars, could have told the driver to slow down.

   The world might never know if Fayed encouraged his inebriated driver to handle the car, which resembles a small limousine, like a grand prix racer.

   Arguably, the paparazzi are only tools of sensationalist tabloids that are the culprits in Diana Spencer's death.

   The tabloids offered the tens, even hundreds, of thousands of dollars for intimate pictures of the princess.

   The tabloids paid exorbitant amounts for pictures of Diana because the public wanted them.

   That statement is not a justification, however.

   Although almost everyone denies ever reading such publications, somebody must buy them.

   In fact, the tabloids made the princess the most photographed woman in the world.

   Does this make the public the culprit?

   Helen Cathright, editor of Hello magazine, a tabloid that consistently featured paparazzi-produced photos of Diana on its front page, said, "We have all contributed to the climate."

   Psychiatrists and philosophers might insist that we all are guilty. But the public will not accept that because it needs someone concrete to blame.

   More than anyone else, Charles Windsor, Prince of Wales, heir to the English throne, deserves the blame.

   Charles, a boring, stodgy, middle-aged stuffed shirt, drew an innocent and vibrant 19-year-old into what appeared to be a fairy tale romance.

   He used Diana only for breeding purposes, saving his love for his mistress, Camilla Parker-Bowles, a three-pack-a-day smoker who could eat apples through a picket fence. Once Diana produced an heir and a spare, Charles cast her off like the proverbial old sneaker.

   Diana's tragedy began the day when Charles led her to believe a king would love her, and she would live happily ever after.