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NEW YORK - Coverage of former Playmate Anna Nicole Smith's death has gone overboard according to US consumers, but media experts warn there is more to come.
Six in 10 Americans surveyed by Pew Research felt that the Smith story had been "over-covered" by the press. But the sudden death of the buxom blonde at 39 years old on February 8 in Florida has fascinated both the public and the media.
Eleven per cent followed Smith's story more closely in the week after her death than any other story -- this, said Pew, is on par with the number who cited news about all the 2008 presidential candidates put together, 13 per cent.
"This is an ongoing soap opera," says Ken Auletta, media writer for The New Yorker. "Even people who don't care now know who Anna Nicole Smith is."
The former stripper and Playboy model, who married a 89-year old billionaire and took an inheritance battle to the US Supreme Court, is as fascinating to many watchers in death as she was in life.
Smith died just five months after her 20-year old son died in the Bahamas under mysterious circumstances. Now there is a custody battle over her 5-month-old daughter and a tussle over where her body will be buried.
The story is much better than anything that the media could hope for or even make up, say media watchers, meaning the public should expect the saga to continue.
"It's incredible melodrama, all these people sort of feeding off the cadaver ... it's going to go on for months and months. At least we hope so," said Michael Musto, entertainment columnist at the Village Voice.
Smith had lived the last years of her life in glare of tabloid coverage and is seen with the likes of Paris Hilton and Britney Spears as a case study of modern celebrity culture.
But Smith was unlike Hilton, who was born into society, or Spears, who had sold millions of records. "She came from seemingly nowhere, not book-smart in the least, and charmed and seduced her way to the top," Musto said. "It was definitely the American Dream."
The American public has always loved gossip about the "dark side of celebrity," said Musto, who had interviewed Smith for his book of celebrity interviews "La Dolce Musto."
People have a tendency to idealize figures in public life -- sometimes trying to assume their qualities; but when those figures fail, it creates a sense of disappointment or rage, said Charles Goodstein, clinical professor of psychiatry at New York University Medical School.
"There is a moralistic quality to this story that reassures the person that's reading or watching that they would not have fallen this fate," Goodstein said.
As the disappointment sets in, the media in turn are regularly blamed for creating celebrities who are famous simply for being famous.
"On the day she died I switched on the TV to see World War III coverage of Anna Nicole Smith," says Auletta. "I don't see anything about Iraq, Korea ... it was one of the more depressing moments in media coverage."
Auletta says there's a simple explanation. "People like to be entertained and they don't want to just eat their spinach."
- REUTERS
