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p 4 the tribune thursday september 4 1997 st the tribune thursday september 4 1997 vol 109 no 54 comment send your letters to the editor to the address below editorial our photo policy this week the entire world is mourning the passing of diana the princess of wales and the spotlight is on the photographers who dogged her every move and the media who published pictures of her by the millions we have no paparazzi at the tribune we do have staff photogra phers however and we do use freelance photographers so its appropriate to remind our readers what this papers policies are regarding accidentscene photos and respecting the wishes of people being photographed we do shoot car accidents and fire scenes unfortunately they happen in our communities though it is rare that we arrive before emergency crews any reporters photographers or freelancers con nected to this paper would naturally offer what aid they could to vic tims first before taking any pictures when we are choosing which picture to publish or deciding on which page to put such local tragedies the utmost sensitivity is used while we will not withhold or censor the news we do try to be respectful of grieving family and friends obviously not everyone will be happy with our decisions but we try not to exploit situations if our photographers encounter children playing in a public park and wish to take photos of them they identify themselves as pho tographers for the paper and ask them first if they agree to be pho tographed if theydecline their wishes are respected we do not hound people and the thought of a highspeed chase to photograph a celebrity is preposterous we go to great lengths to get good photos and good stories for the newspaper we also trust our readers to know the difference between professional journalism and paparazzi garbage reporter remembers visit by diana can anyone stand yet another journalist writing about the trag ic death of diana princess of wales or has everyone had more than enough thats the question i asked myself when considering whether i should write this column real ly what is there left to say since saturday night when i along with millions of others tuned into cnn to see the horri fying facts unfolding in my living room all that could be said should be said would be better left unsaid has been said assaulting our senses for days now through newspapers radio and tv the paparazzi is to blame so are the tabloid newspapers so are the readers of the tabloid press the mainstream media also must take blame after all our toronto dailies and tv cover princess di pretty much like a blanket now we hear the drunk driver is to blame excessive speed is to blame so is our morbid celebri tyobsessed society we are all to blame but shes still dead thats the part thats tough to take viewpoint kathleen griffin she was alive when she entered the tunnel and seconds instants later she was gone fatally injured never to regain con sciousness all the world is devastated but really who are we to be so moved were not britons we didnt even know her who are all these canadians to be so crushed by this tragedy who am i to write about princess diana and in this news paper who are we to feel so badly for her two sons now to be brought up by the same cold uncaring institution that raised their father i dont know why we are so sad all i know is we are so im writing because i do have a story to share and i know if its not written now it will never be written because now shes dead i covered the 1991 royal tour for the toronto sun the princess and charles had long been scheduling separate engage ments on these tours and i cov ered diana while a colleague covered charles thank good ness when she touched and held aids patients at casey house i think all the toronto media fell a little bit in love when she seemed genuinely delighted by youngsters at a toronto day care centre our hearts smiled and when she rushed up the gangplank of the royal yacht britannia arms outstretched and nothing but pure joy on her face joy which was mirrored by her two beautiful boys awaiting her arrival well that was about it for me over the course of the week she got to know the faces of the toronto press corps who were herded and bused about with both the international press and british crew they were a piece of work but thats another story she would have a nod or glance or small smile for us each day and it was special she was spe cial sun columnist christie blatch- tribune thanked for creativity dear editor i just wanted to take a minute and tell you how much i like the random spot in the tribune it is very creative and of high interest any chance of giving us two to four items each time sometimes the most interesting stuff doesnt get a whole column letters thanks for the creativity ron boyd stouffville ford and i along with the toron to stars rosie dimanno broke the fake patients story in ottawa that was when we discovered the cardiac patients lying in the beds at the ottawa heart insti tute scheduled to be officially opened by the princess that day were fakes they were or had at some time been outpatients and were asked by the centres direc tors to come in get into bed and pretend they were infirm for the princess visit when one very cute elderly woman let it slip she had had her hair and makeup done as well as purchasing a new pair of fluffy pink slippers for the occasion we twigged not one of the dozen beds held a real patient we dont know if diana knew about it or not but we suspect not it made us wonder how many other simi lar setups had fooled us and other media around the world nevertheless we had more than a few laughs as we wrote that copy in our ottawa hotel room believe me both christie and i were very very careful to make sure it wasnt diana made to look the fool deep down we thought and im still sure that diana quite possi bly got a giggle or two out of it herself so thats the story i have to tell she was human and we could see it plain as day she had it tough but she perse vered and she loved her boys more than anything thats why she was loved thats why shell be missed stouffville tribune a mefroland community newspaper patricia pappas publisher andrew mair editorinchief julie caspersen editor debra weller director of advertising mike rogerson retail advertising manager stacey allen classified manager barry goodyear director of distribution vivian oneil business manager pamela nichols operations manager about us news 905 6402100 retail sales 905 6402100 classifieds 905 6402874 distribution 905 6402100 fax 905 6405477 email thetribistarca 6244 main st stouffville ont l4a1e2 tho stouffville tribune pub- ushcd every tuesday thursday and saturday is one of the printing publishing and distribution group of commu hity newspapers which includes a axpickering news- advertiser ahiston heraldcourier barrie advance brampton guardian burlington post cityparent coltingwoodwasaga beach icori- section east york mirror etobi- cokc guardian 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