slutet på sagan prinsessan dianas död i press, radio och tv
slutet på sagan prinsessan dianas död i press, radio och tv slutet på sagan prinsessan dianas död i press, radio och tv
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS The End of the Fairy Tale – Princess Diana´s Death in the Press, Radio and Television By Marina Ghersetti and Håkan Hvitfelt On the morning of Sunday, August 31, 1997 in Paris, Diana, Princess of Wales died from injuries sustained in an automobile accident. The accident received enormous attention from the world’s news media, not least the Swedish. It was partly a question of a new type of journalism – one that became an illustrative example of how events judged to have great news value are handled today. By studying the media coverage of Princess Diana’s death, we can likely identify patterns for how other events – also far-reaching in character – are covered. Since the Princess’s accident, several disparate events have been given a great deal of space in the Swedish media; for example, the 1999 conflict in Kosovo and the 1998 fire in a Göteborg dance hall. Despite these events’ disparate characters, there appears to be a repeated pattern associated with their media coverage. We can say generally that: • A small number of separate events and courses of events are given increasing amounts of space in relation to other contemporary events. Other more important – and in some sense more relevant – events risk total exclusion from news reports. • The growing dominance of TV and the increasing awareness of pictures in the press direct the media’s attention towards events and circumstances for which there is good access to news-related pictures. • Demands for knowledgeable and reliable sources are low, due to (among other things) 162 the pursuit of dramatic information, media requirements for quickly filling a great deal of space, and the increasing working pace in the newsrooms. • Lack of factual information is compensated for with speculations. On the whole, at least as concerns events with great news value, we see increasing amounts of fiction-like features in media reports. • “Ordinary” people’s reactions are given considerable attention in reports. This is often a question of a journalistic technique intended to mediate drama and strong feelings as opposed to the facts. • The individual journalist’s own voice is evident. We hear it, for example, in speculations and commentary, as well as in the choice of angles and interviewees and of which parts of the interviews will be mediated. The phenomenon of journalist as source is becoming increasingly common. • Among the various media, uniformity of coverage of the same event is apparent. This is partly a consequence of their pursuit of the best news-related pictures (in combination with a decreased number of national and international news-services), and partly due to a competition situation whereby very few news desks dare to deviate. The media coverage of Princess Diana’s death, however, also included other interesting elements. Following is a summary of reporting in the most prominent Swedish media as well as comments on this reporting. Marina Ghersetti, researcher and teacher at the Department of Journalism and Masscommunication at Göteborg University. Håkan Hvitfelt, professor at the Department of Journalism, Media and Communication at Stockholm University.
An overview The death of Princess Diana raised many questions. Long after her funeral the Swedish media continued to discuss, among other things, the investigation surrounding the issue of responsibility and the turbulence within the British monarchy. In late autumn 1999, a court of law in France ruled that the photographers pursuing the car in which the Princess rode were not culpable. Most media attention, however, was given to the course of events connected to the accident itself and the week following the accident. The investigation presented in this report is limited to the period August 31-September 7, 1997; that is from Princess Diana’s death in the automobile accident to the day after her funeral. The actual events occurred outside of Sweden – in France and Great Britain. There is little likelihood that Swedish citizens were, to any appreciable extent, informed of the developments through foreign media, personal sources or contacts. Among Swedes, a general picture of the events developed that was characterised by the depiction provided through Swedish media reporting. In this regard, Princess Diana’s death was hardly different from other prominent news events occurring abroad. Our view of the surrounding world is largely obtained through domestic media. This is true for most events of which we have no personal, immediate experience. The basis of the present analysis is four morning newspapers (Arbetet Nyheterna, Dagens Nyheter, Göteborgs-Posten and Svenska Dagbladet), three evening papers (Aftonbladet, Expressen and Göteborgs Tidningen [GT]), three TV news programmes (Aktuellt [9 p.m., channel TV1], Rapport [7:30 p.m., channel TV2] and Nyheterna [6:30 p.m., channel TV4]), 163 as well as two radio programmes from Sveriges Radio (Swedish public radio) channel 1 (Lunchekot [12:30 p.m.] and Dagens Eko [4:45 p.m.]). Both quantitative and qualitative content analysis methods were used. As a result of Princess Diana’s death in Paris, regular programming schedules on Sveriges Television (Swedish public television) channel 4 (TV4) and Sveriges Radio channel 1 (P1) were changed on the day she died and special broadcasts were inserted. Altogether, the three evening newspapers published five extra supplements during the week following the accident. Compared with several other big news events occurring in Sweden, Princess Diana’s death was given considerably more space. This is true of, for example, the fatal shootings at Stureplan in Stockholm and in the town of Falun in 1994, where three and seven people were killed, respectively. Given that Princess Diana had no direct ties to Sweden or Swedish interests – as neither a private nor public person – we can question whether the enormous attention her death received internationally in any sense justified the space it was given in the Swedish media. The Swedish news media gave Princess Diana’s death the most space at the beginning and end of the investigation period; thus, the accident itself and the funeral were in focus. The first peak was grounded in the unexpected and sensational. The Princess was young – 36 years old – and her notoriety unprecedented. Ordinary people could see her as a close friend, and media consumers the world over had long been acquainted with her. The event could not have been predicted. The circumstances surrounding her death were dramatic, both in terms of the accident itself and the unclear question as to who
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SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS<br />
The End of the Fairy Tale – Princess Diana´s Death in the Press,<br />
Radio and Television<br />
By Marina Ghersetti and Håkan Hvitfelt<br />
On the morning of Sunday, August 31, 1997<br />
in Paris, Diana, Princess of Wales died from<br />
injuries sustained in an automobile accident.<br />
The accident received enormous attention<br />
from the world’s news media, not least the<br />
Swedish. It was partly a question of a new<br />
type of journalism – one that became an<br />
illustrative example of how events judged to<br />
have great news value are handled today. By<br />
studying the media coverage of Princess<br />
Diana’s death, we can likely identify patterns<br />
for how other events – also far-reaching in<br />
character – are covered. Since the Princess’s<br />
accident, several disparate events have been<br />
given a great deal of space in the Swedish<br />
media; for example, the 1999 conflict in Kosovo<br />
and the 1998 fire in a Göteborg dance<br />
hall. Despite these events’ disparate characters,<br />
there appears to be a repeated pattern<br />
associated with their media coverage. We<br />
can say generally that:<br />
• A small number of separate events and<br />
courses of events are given increasing<br />
amounts of space in relation to other contemporary<br />
events. Other more important –<br />
and in some sense more relevant – events<br />
risk total exclusion from news reports.<br />
• The growing dominance of TV and the<br />
increasing awareness of pictures in the<br />
<strong>press</strong> direct the media’s attention towards<br />
events and circumstances for which there<br />
is good access to news-related pictures.<br />
• Demands for knowledgeable and reliable<br />
sources are low, due to (among other things)<br />
162<br />
the pursuit of dramatic information, media<br />
requirements for quickly filling a great<br />
deal of space, and the increasing<br />
working pace in the newsrooms.<br />
• Lack of factual information is compensated<br />
for with speculations. On the whole, at<br />
least as concerns events with great news<br />
value, we see increasing amounts of fiction-like<br />
features in media reports.<br />
• “Ordinary” people’s reactions are given<br />
considerable attention in reports. This is<br />
often a question of a journalistic technique<br />
intended to mediate drama and strong<br />
feelings as opposed to the facts.<br />
• The individual journalist’s own voice is<br />
evident. We hear it, for example, in speculations<br />
and commentary, as well as in the<br />
choice of angles and interviewees and of<br />
which parts of the interviews will be mediated.<br />
The phenomenon of journalist as<br />
source is becoming increasingly common.<br />
• Among the various media, uniformity of<br />
coverage of the same event is apparent.<br />
This is partly a consequence of their pursuit<br />
of the best news-related pictures (in combination<br />
with a decreased number of national<br />
and international news-services), and<br />
partly due to a competition situation whereby<br />
very few news desks dare to deviate.<br />
The media coverage of Princess Diana’s death,<br />
however, also included other interesting elements.<br />
Following is a summary of reporting<br />
in the most prominent Swedish media<br />
as well as comments on this reporting.<br />
Marina Ghersetti, researcher and teacher at the Department of Journalism and Masscommunication<br />
at Göteborg University.<br />
Håkan Hvitfelt, professor at the Department of Journalism, Media and Communication at<br />
Stockholm University.