slutet på sagan prinsessan dianas död i press, radio och tv

actually loved the Princess more than the
Queen and Prince Charles ever had. It
was stressed in several contexts that Diana
was the people’s princess, and that it
was the people who understood and respected
her. “Them” was the British royal
family.
The reports clung to the unusual – everything
that had never occurred before.
The flag at Buckingham Palace was eventually
lowered to half-mast. The Queen
stood outside the palace gates – not on the
balcony – and waited for the Princess’s
coffin; the Queen bowed when it passed
by. Applause was heard in Westminster
Abbey when the royal family was openly
criticised in a speech by Diana’s brother,
Charles Spencer. This is a clear illustration
of the fact that news deals primarily with
deviations, not with the constant or normal.
The studied media provided a fairly
similar overall picture of the events surrounding
the accident. The most common
cause reported was the pursuing photographers’
hunt for the car. The second
most commonly reported cause was the
chauffeur’s blood alcohol level. The photographers’
culpability was stressed repeatedly,
primarily during the first part of
the week following the accident. In the
media, the factual information on the circumstances
surrounding the accident was
variable – especially concerning the speed
at which the car was travelling and the
chauffeur’s degree of intoxication. Several
of the reports on the chauffeur, regarding
his drinking habits and judgement,
were extremely speculative and lacked
references to sources. Moreover, from the
perspective of press ethics, these reports
were quite doubtful.
Reports on ordinary as well as various
well-known Londoners’ reactions to the
Princess’s death gave a picture of a city
166
and nation in great mourning. Accounts
of the mood of the crowds of people said
to have flooded into London’s centre, as
well as the commentaries and chronicles
written, were extremely emotionally charged.
In the newspapers, pictures of mourners
outside places such as the Princess’s
residence, and of their expressions of sorrow,
were many. In the morning papers,
one in four pictures of individual mourners
— and one in five in the evening
papers – showed children, most often a
little girl, placing flowers on the ground,
crying and praying. The three television
programmes studied also showed children
among the mourners. Most of the statements
and comments on sorrow and
loss were made by “ordinary” people.
This was the most common on TV, where
three-fourths of all people commenting
on their sorrow were “ordinary”.
In the media, the funeral marked the
end of a tragedy of fate of the classic sort.
Mourning for a princess who never became
a queen became instead mourning for
a saint. The taintless princess – who was
on the people’s side and at the service of
goodness – had been carried off, unable to
fulfil her mission. She had lost in her
struggle against “them” – the royal family.
But they had learned their lesson and
the Queen bowed!
The media picture of reality merged
into reality. Pictures of people in mourning
likely resulted in additional and even
more sorrowful people to photograph.
The special and magnificent funeral ceremony
would certainly have been more
modest in the absence of the media’s pressure.
The fairy tale grew into reality.
It is interesting to compare the media
picture of Princess Diana’s death with
previous descriptions of her in the media.
The 17-year-long story of the Princess was