Скачать или смотреть USA: DEBATE OVER PRESS INTRUSION FOLLOWING DEATH OF DIANA

(7 Sep 1997) 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


SOUNDBITE: (English)



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