Princess Diana - does anyone remember the public opinion and media before she died?

ToneControl

Sassafras said:

The news coverage of her murder was on a par with the 9/11 incident which I felt was slightly more consequential than the death of an ex-royal.

yes
the large terrorist bombings and killings, and Grenfell distress me a lot, although I don't like the way TV covers them either. I just turn off the TV when something like that happens, since they just repeat the same thing constantly, and hyper-analyse the tiny amount of information they have early on

I get a lot more upset hearing about a family being wiped out on the motorway under a lorry than the Diana news
car crashes do happen, and random adults do die every day, they are family-scale tragedies, and no-one else's business - it nearly happened to me once, not nice.
I couldn't and can't understand the mass grief about Diana - what on earth was it that people thought they had lost? Must be some princess/royalty celeb appeal that I don't share I suppose

ToneControl

Philly_Q said:

ToneControl said:

DefaultM said:

From memory, Channel 4 played kids TV all day because all the other channels had none stop news. What the fuck was there to report on for a solid day? They crashed and died. The end.

same with many big news stories, repeats of  journalists interviewing each other in front of the area taped off by the police 

That was relatively rare in those days, now it's what the news channels do all day every day.

I remember the Soham murders in particular: regular programmes cancelled whilst the camera just kept showing a police "do not cross" tape with a long lens all day. Who or what did that help? People want instant news, even when it's not possible to provide it I suppose.
I'd rather wait 6 or 12 months and get the true story. Look what happened with that falsely-accused guy in Bristol https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/nov/29/christopher-jefferies-tv-joanna-yeates-murder ;

Sassafras

It is bizarre how people become more emotionally attached to complete strangers than to people they might've grown up with, been friends with or even relatives.
Look at how beloved someone like Conor McGregor, a thoroughly obnoxious individual, is or how popular Kim Kardashian is, a person who's only talent is the ability to make money, wear clothes and put on make-up.

MagicPigDetective

I was bemused by the reaction. What got on my whick, and it's the same for all royal related events, is being told by the media how I was supposed to feel, that the whole nation was as one and of the same feeling and opinion. No it's not. The BBC's fawning royal reporters are sickening. 

Jalapeno

Can WE stop perpetuating the whole circus in our little corner of the multi-verse ?

Wazmeister

Jalapeno said:

Can WE stop perpetuating the whole circus in our little corner of the multi-verse ?

Thats the irony aint it mate ?

Bang on.

Chalky

Jalapeno said:

Can WE stop perpetuating the whole circus in our little corner of the multi-verse ?

Why comment on a thread that you don't like?

blueskunk

Chalky said:

ronnyb said:

I remember it well. My 14 year old daughter came home on the sunday morning and told us the news. I'd said about a fortnight before that I thought something would happen to her.

Remember the talk of what would happen if she had a boy by Dodi, so that the future King would have a half-brother whose grandfather was Fayed?  Full-on conspiracy material!

And just the thought that every significant occasion in that child's life would see Fayed meeting the future King must have tortured the Windsors!

We would have a had a half Muslim /Arab Royal. How cool would that have been  

gubble

I did my paper round that morning. It was raining quite heavily. I was told that after I'd finished off the round I'd have to go back as there were some late re-prints (with the news that she'd been injured but not died) and these would need to be delivered.

I delivered the first lot, went back then delivered the re-prints - but because of the rain I didn't look at a single paper. Only found out in the newsagents after I'd delivered the very news of the accident because people were talking about it.

For weeks afterwards the papers used so much black ink that my hands were covered in the stuff every morning.

I personally feel that the media orchestrated this people's princess thing as a way to appease their guilt for following her around, taking pictures, writing so many stories and their actions in the end probably killed her.

Chalky

gubble said:

....the media orchestrated this people's princess thing as a way to appease their guilt for following her around, taking pictures, writing so many stories and their actions in the end probably killed her.

@siraxeman will be along any minute now to tell us whose actions really killed her (taps side of nose)...

Funkfingers

It was the driver, in a wicked conspiracy with drugs and alcohol plus the passengers' wilful decision not to wear seat belts. 

Ravenous

MagicPigDetective said:

The BBC's fawning royal reporters are sickening. 

Yes they are.  And they're prepared in advance...

A few weeks before Di's mishap I'd heard a report that the BBC, ITV etc were all ready for the Queen Mother to pop off; for example the BBC had around 10 days worth of special programmes mostly recorded and ready to go at short notice. (They have these ready for most royals I guess.)

So when I woke up one morning, switched on the radio and heard the local FM pop station playing sombre music (Albinoni's adagio, which he didn't write by the way) and talking about crowds gathering at one of the London palaces, I assumed it was the Queen Mother. That's irony for you.

Sassafras

gubble said:

I did my paper round that morning. It was raining quite heavily. I was told that after I'd finished off the round I'd have to go back as there were some late re-prints (with the news that she'd been injured but not died) and these would need to be delivered.

I delivered the first lot, went back then delivered the re-prints - but because of the rain I didn't look at a single paper. Only found out in the newsagents after I'd delivered the very news of the accident because people were talking about it.

For weeks afterwards the papers used so much black ink that my hands were covered in the stuff every morning.

I personally feel that the media orchestrated this people's princess thing as a way to appease their guilt for following her around, taking pictures, writing so many stories and their actions in the end probably killed her.

Hope you got paid overtime for the 2nd delivery. If so, you've got her to thank for that.

Bucket

Chalky said:

gubble said:

....the media orchestrated this people's princess thing as a way to appease their guilt for following her around, taking pictures, writing so many stories and their actions in the end probably killed her.

@siraxeman will be along any minute now to tell us whose actions really killed her (taps side of nose)...

No, he'll be along to tell us she never existed in the first place.

Sassafras

Funkfingers said:

It was the driver, in a wicked conspiracy with drugs and alcohol plus the passengers' wilful decision not to wear seat belts. 

Come off it, no-one in their right mind could possibly believe such a ludicrously far-fetched story. That set of circumstances just couldn't exist in the real world.

ToneControl

Bucket said:

Chalky said:

gubble said:

....the media orchestrated this people's princess thing as a way to appease their guilt for following her around, taking pictures, writing so many stories and their actions in the end probably killed her.

@siraxeman will be along any minute now to tell us whose actions really killed her (taps side of nose)...

No, he'll be along to tell us she never existed in the first place.

I don't believe in @siraxeman - he hasn't passed the Turing test yet

;-)

ToneControl

Sassafras said:

Funkfingers said:

It was the driver, in a wicked conspiracy with drugs and alcohol plus the passengers' wilful decision not to wear seat belts. 

Come off it, no-one in their right mind could possibly believe such a ludicrously far-fetched story. That set of circumstances just couldn't exist in the real world.

I always respond with the observation that no self-respecting murderer would come up with such a flaky plan with so high a chance of failure: even at that speed with no seat belt, the cause of death for Diana only affects 50% of crash victims

Winny_Pooh

Seeing as none of you claim to be bothered, is it time to bring out the un-pc Diana jokes yet?

Here's one I recall.

"What did Diana wear to her funeral?

"A dark blue bonnet"

richardhomer

Winny_Pooh said:

Seeing as none of you claim to be bothered, is it time to bring out the un-pc Diana jokes yet?

Here's one I recall.

"What did Diana wear to her funeral?

"A dark blue bonnet"

What's black & white and starving hungry?

Princess Diana's cat....

UnclePsychosis

Private Eye was absolutely glorious the week after it happened - there was a whole page quoting the hack jobs the press had been writing about her when she was still alive contrasted next to the absolute hyperbole they wrote about her when she died.

I seem to recall that it was accompanied by a comedy piece that was "an apology, common to all newspapers"  that was something along the lines of "we would like to apologise if any of our readers got the impression that she was a a horrible slut who was only interested in self publicity, we realise now, of course, that she was in fact the most saintly person who had ever lived"