News & Politics - Princes disappointed over Diana film

welshgirlyUK · 06-06-2007, 08:35 AM

Quote:

LONDON (Reuters) - The sons of Princess Diana are "extremely disappointed" that Channel 4 has ignored their pleas not to screen graphic photos in a documentary about her death in a Paris car crash 10 years ago.

Princes William and Harry, who have begged the media to leave their mother to rest in peace, called the photos "a gross disrespect to their mother's memory."

But Channel 4 said it had weighed the princes' concerns against the legitimate public interest and decided to press ahead with plans to broadcast "Diana: The Witnesses in the Tunnel" on Wednesday evening.

"The princes are extremely disappointed at Channel 4's decision to go ahead with the programme," a spokesman for William and Harry told Reuters.

Senior aide James Lowther-Pinkerton, who wrote to the station with an 11th hour appeal from the princes, said: "It's the scene of their mother's last moment on Earth. It's an invasion of their privacy."

In the light of extensive press coverage in the lead-up to the broadcast, Lowther-Pinkerton and the princes' communications secretary Paddy Harverson had asked for a private viewing of the film. They briefed the princes afterwards.

The decision of the channel to go ahead has sharply divided opinion.

The Conservative Party said the broadcaster should have heeded the royal intervention. The Liberal Democrats said there was legitimate public interest.

Patrick Jephson, Diana's former private secretary, said: "This is a well-made programme that invites us to look again at the culpability -- or the lack of it -- of the photographers who were first on the scene."

Diana died along with her companion Dodi al Fayed when the car driven by their chauffeur Henri Paul crashed in a Paris road tunnel while being chased by paparazzi on motorbikes. Paul was also killed.

Through reconstruction, archive footage, still images and eyewitness accounts, the film, seen by reporters, pieces together her last moments.

The documentary film-makers interviewed the photographers and the doctor shown administering oxygen to the stricken princess. Her face is blotted out in a grainy picture from the crash scene.

The documentary concluded that photos of Diana fighting for her life in the back of the car suddenly went from "priceless to worthless" when she died later in hospital and no newspaper would contemplate printing them.

Source.

I always respect C4 for not giving in to controversy or censorship but i just dont see what will be gained from this. Theres not going to be any new groundbreaking evidence to come from this and i'm kind of tired of all the reports and investigations into the crash because nothing new ever gets found out. And 'legitimate public interest', the general British public seem to want to just lay this all to rest now and so do i. I think this all has to stop and just leave her memory in peace. I understand she was a public figure and not just any public figure but the princess of Wales but the boys just dont need this anymore.

Lexis · 06-06-2007, 11:39 AM

The idea (as espoused by one Tory yesterday) that the Princes should get final say on what gets shown repels me. Just because they are royal does not mean to say they should be able to dictate what gets shown.

Frankly, I don't care for what Channel 4 are showing but as long as they are operating within broadcasting guidelines, let's not censor them.

**sunnykerr** · 06-06-2007, 12:26 PM

On the other hand... I don't know, it's their mother we're talking about.

However popular my mum is (and she really is, on a freaky kind of level for someone who isn't famous at all), whenever she dies, there won't be documentaries and movies about her life and death. But, assuming there were, I'm not sure I'd wanted the nitty gritty of her last moments on this planet to be rehashed for public consumption.

I get who she was. I get who they are. I'm also not a particular fan of censorship myself. And, at the end of the day, I do believe they could always elect to not watch.

But... she's been dead ten years and she's still a spectacle. Now I don't know what her life was, I don't know how much or how little she played for public attention, and I certainly have no idea why we still have to go over it ten years after her death... But, if anyone's entitled to feel protective about her, even though she was a grown woman and she made her own choices, it's got to be her sons. And, right or wrong, I can understand why they'd try to control the situation.

welshgirlyUK · 06-06-2007, 01:42 PM

Its done because its the tenth anniversary this year and its a big anniversary of her death. However, its nothing we haven't heard in the past ten years, all thats different is that we get to see her final moments played on TV, which to me just seems.... cheap and tacky and a ploy by C4 to be 'controversial' which is something they thrive on.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lexis (View Post)

The idea (as espoused by one Tory yesterday) that the Princes should get final say on what gets shown repels me. Just because they are royal does not mean to say they should be able to dictate what gets shown.

Frankly, I don't care for what Channel 4 are showing but as long as they are operating within broadcasting guidelines, let's not censor them.

I find that disguisting too, but i dont expect anything less from the tories really.

I certainly dont believe in censorship and i love C4 because they dont give into people who try to silence them and if people dont want to see the scenes then they dont have to watch. I guess i just dont really see the point of the programme since no new evidence has come to light and theres just so many of these reports and programmes that i'm just tired of them now and all the news coverage on TV and in the papers as a result of them so that its difficult to even escape it. I dont know....I suppose i just feel sorry for the boys. They've never really spoke out about all the programmes and articles and reports about her death before so i dont think they really want to'hide things' from the public. I just feel like now, enough is enough and showing her final moments is going a step too far.

Maybe its because i adored her so much and i hate to see how her death is become some money making publicity circus.

Lexis · 06-06-2007, 01:52 PM

I totally get why they feel the way they feel and I understand their public request. I just don't think that the media should obey them because of who they are.

I think at this point, they are both aware of the media drama that surrounds their family. I was just a little younger than William and Harry when their mother died and I remember being really upset - it was such a sad time for this whole country. But being honest, Diana knew the media and played the game well. She did an interview about her marital problems, she allegedly arranged lunches with tabloid editors to get her points across....my point being, this is not a normal family and their experience is going to be different from ours.

welshgirlyUK · 06-06-2007, 02:03 PM

Many famous people court the media and as a result i think that for a lot of aspects of there life are fair game, but there dying moments? I'm not so sure. There's just something about it that that makes me uncomfortable. Is it really something we need to see?

Lexis · 06-06-2007, 03:06 PM

I didn't see the show but from what I understand it didn't show Diana herself. It showed the wreck of the car and samples of photographs taken by the paparazzi. And again, it isn't like the public don't know what they're going to be shown. There has been plenty of press on this.

abw92 · 06-06-2007, 03:07 PM

I understand both sides, but I don't think that the video should be played. I don't think that we need to see the video. I feel uncomfortable about showing a person's dying moments too. I don't think that should be made public. Harry and Wills have every right to object to it IMO. I think it is totally reasonable that they don't want their mother's last moments shown on tv.

Indian Summer · 06-06-2007, 03:31 PM

I don't see how this is an issue of royalty trying to censor the media at all. I see it as an issue of next of kin trying to censor the media. In my mind, they have every right- royal or not- to control the footage braodcast. Think of it this way: if Diana hadn't been royalty, the images supplied would come from her family. It's a catch-22. It's because they're royalty that such images exist, and it's because they're royalty that people have a problem with them objecting.

Lexis · 06-06-2007, 07:40 PM

Again, I understand that the material the princes objected to were still photographs that did not show the Princess and had been published before. I did not see the show (I'm not interested in raking this tragedy up again) so I can't fully comment on the context and the story the channel was trying to put across. But I imagine they had a reason for using these images and as long as they meet the legal standards put fourth by the DCMS, they are within their rights.

Indian Summer, I'm a bit confused. You mean if Diana hadn't be royalty then footage of her death would come from her family? If she hadn't married into the royal family, I don't think her passing would have been particularly news worthy. The manner of her death was also public and from what I understand, the program explores the paparazzi angle (they were blamed for causing the accident initially) - I don't know if that's the approach the documentary took.

And again, they are totally within their rights to object. But I resent politicians arguing that the princes can say jump and broadcasters should ask "how high?". That's not a modern democracy.

If we allow people - royal or not - to obstruct information that is in the public interest, where do we draw the line. Could a family member of someone lost on 9/11 ask that those pictures be banned from broadcast? Can Robert Murat (the man named as a suspect in a kidnapping) demand that no images of him be released because of the distress it may cause his family?

Indian Summer · 06-06-2007, 08:29 PM

There's photos involved as well that show Diana dying and others that haven't been published before.

You can call me Summer. What I'm getting at is that this isn't an issue of royal brothers. In this role, they're acting as the family of the deceased. Their motives are from the hearts and minds of sons, not princes.

I know that reasonably, she wouldn't have died had she not married into royalty. That's not what I'm getting at though. In pretty much any other situation (ie. 48 hours mysteries, anything on Discovery Health, Dateline, those types of programs), the family would've been providing footage. It's in poor taste to use footage the family isn't comfortable with, especially footage that was the cause of her death. Had those photographers not been following her, she wouldn't have died.

While I understand what you're saying about the politicians, I disagree with the outcome. Since I don't feel it's Harry and William acting in the role of princes saying "Jump" - but rather in the role of grieving sons- then I do think the broadcasters should say "How high?" or at least compromise on whether they can hurdle instead of jump.

I don't know how much you've been following this, but those particular images aren't of public interest. The princes haven't been the first to object, and many people are against their use.

Lexis · 06-07-2007, 05:14 AM

Well, I certainly think the fact that the man behind the wheel of the car was intoxicated and the fact that the Princess was not wearing her seat belt had quite a lot to do with her accident. I don't think we can lay all the responsibility at the door of the press.

Here's an extract from Channel 4's statement.

Quote:

The death of Diana, Princess of Wales has been a defining moment in British contemporary history affecting the public’s view of the monarchy and of celebrity photographers - the paparazzi. There is genuine public interest in exactly how events unfolded in the hour or so immediately after the crash.

C4 has carefully and sensitively selected the pictures used in the programme. These photographs are an important and accurate eyewitness record of how events unfolded after the crash. We acknowledge that there is great public sensitivity surrounding pictures of the victims and these have not been included. Some photographs will be of the scene inside the tunnel but in none of the pictures is it possible to identify Diana or indeed any of the crash victims. We do not show, nor have we ever considered showing, Diana’s final moments. One image has been appropriately obscured to avoid any unwarranted intrusion into their privacy or that of their families. This photograph has featured in the British press previously.

Diana: The Witnesses in the Tunnel

And from a response to the Prince's letter.

Quote:

"We have weighed the Princes’ concerns against the legitimate public interest we believe there is in the subject of this documentary and in the still photography it includes.

"No images of the victims of the crash are shown in this film because we made a clear decision from the outset to uphold the consensus quite properly reached by the British media not to use any images that depict the occupants of the car after the crash. Those images that are included have been selected with due consideration for the feelings of the relatives of those involved.

"We believe, in this context, the photographs and the assembled interviewees provide the most detailed and credible eyewitness account yet delivered of an event of international importance that for ten years has been obscured by claim and counter-claim. They support the first-hand testimony of passers-by and the photographers at the scene who have been publicly criticised and condemned for their behaviour that night.

Diana: The Witnesses in the Tunnel

Indian Summer · 06-07-2007, 05:19 AM

I'm a little suspicious of the line "to identify Diana" in addition to the necessity to obscure a photo, especially the latter. What's the point of showing it at all?

And I'm not trying to put all the blame on the press- but realistically, the high speeds and reckless driving necessitated by the paparazzi chase weren't unrelated to the crash.

welshgirlyUK · 06-07-2007, 05:36 AM

I didn't see the show, but i did hear C4 even had a debate forum or something shown an hour or so after it was aired on TV with the C4 news reader. To me it all just seemed like another ploy by C4 to be 'controversial' and to use her death like that just seems cheap to me.

I didnt watch the show and maybe i should have, but clearly there had to have been something in that show of bad taste or i dont think the princes would have objected since they never have about any of the other shows before.


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