File (New York 19 June 1997) + Washington, D.C. - 6-7 September, 1997
File (New York, N.Y. 19 June 1997)
1. Diana walks out of building into car Washington, D.C. - 6 September 1997
2. Wide shot of Washington National Cathedral interior
3. Medium shot Katharine Graham at pulpit
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Katharine Graham, Chair, Washington Post Company
5. Cutaway audience
Washington, D.C. - 7 September
6. Man buys newspapers
7. Pan of newspaper front pages
8. Closeup of front page
9. Closeup tabloid front page
10. Pan of weekly tabloids
11. Closeup of Washington Post front page
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Sally Quinn, Washington Post Writer
13. Setup of Hitchins walking up to microphones
14. Cutaway news cameras
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Christopher Hitchins, Vanity Fair Magazine
File (Washington, D.C. 17 June 1997)
16. Diana exits car, greets American Red Cross president Elizabeth Dole
English/Nat
One day after Diana, Princess of Wales was laid to rest, controversy continues to simmer over the media's role in covering celebrities.
Prince Charles on Sunday called for the British press to leave sons William and Harry alone and let them deal privately with their grief.
With angry Britons and others around the world eager to point the finger of blame, news outlets -- particularly the tabloid press -- have emerged as alleged culprits in the untimely death of Diana and her companion, Dodi Fayed.
That sentiment was fanned at Diana's funeral Saturday when her brother lashed out at the media, saying its members were at the "opposite end of the moral spectrum" from the Princess.
In the United States, journalists are also weighing the role of the press when it comes to covering the rich and famous.
But some say the stinging words of Diana's brother Saturday, only reflect the emotions of a world grieving for the fallen princess and the need to find a scapegoat to blame for the tragedy.
Princess Diana's brother called her "the most hunted woman of the modern age."
Wherever Diana went she was stalked, photographed, and written about.
Her image sold millions of newspapers and magazines worldwide.
Initial anger that a pack of paparazzi pursued her to her death abated somewhat, with the discovery that Diana's driver had been drinking before the car crash that took her life.
But the death of Diana, her companion Dodi Fayed and their driver, has caused soul- searching in news rooms around the globe.
At a memorial service Saturday, media magnate and Diana friend Katharine Graham touched on the issue during her remembrance of the Princess.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"The death of Princess Diana, with Mr. Fayed and Mr. Paul, has brought the problems of celebrity culture and its coverage by all of us into sharp relief. We all need to think hard about how to solve them. This tragedy need not and should not have happened. The world should not have had to suffer the sudden extinction of a real star."
SUPER CAPTION: Katharine Graham, Chair, Washington Post Company
Graham's remarks were hardly a gauntlet thrown down to other media organizations, but they did show the self-examination that has become routine whenever the media become a participant in a big story.
Sunday's papers were crammed full of glowing tributes to the Princess and saturated with coverage of the funeral.
Even the tabloids, for which Diana had become a staple of coverage, hocked special keepsake issues in the aftermath of her demise.
Most British tabloids chose to ignore Earl Spencer's sharp words about the media, focusing instead on his differences with the royal family.
American newspapers, which reported Spencer's anti-press diatribe on the front page, also included his comments that Diana considered leaving England several times because of the way the press treated her.
Some journalists attributed Spencer's remarks and the past week's anti-media sentiment to the emotions released by Diana's death.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"I think when people are grieving and they are confused they always look for a scapegoat, they look for someone to blame and in this case they blame the Press and that's much too simplistic a reaction. The Press did not kill Diana. Diana had a very interesting and symbiotic relationship with the Press and she was very much in collusion with them much of the time. So I just don't think you can make a statement like that."
SUPER CAPTION: Sally Quinn, Washington Post
Others say that the saturation of Diana stories this past week amounted to media excess with little reporting actually taking place.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"Our profession should really be ashamed of acting as a megaphone and echo-chamber for these kinds of cheap and empty emotions all week, it's been a total betrayal of everything we're supposed to do. Not one intelligent question asked, not one critical person interviewed, not one reflective moment. Just drool, drool, drool from dawn till dusk from wall to wall. Really appalling."
SUPER CAPTION: Christopher Hitchins, Vanity Fair Magazine
One question remaining after Diana's death is whether photographers will now take up new targets in the form of her sons, William and Harry, despite pleas from the royal family to respect their privacy.
Media critics say that as long as a market for celebrity coverage remains strong, suppliers will always be out there trying to meet the demand.
