Who Killed the Princess? Description and Blame in the British Press

Abstract

We examine the British newspapers' coverage of the death of Princess Diana and its immediate aftermath. Our main focus is on how the press dealt with the issue of their own potential culpability, as a feature of news reporting itself. The press deployed a series of descriptive categories and rhetorical oppositions, including regular press vs paparazzi; tabloid vs broadsheet; British vs (various categories of) foreign; supply vs demand (for its content); and a number of general purpose devices such as a contrast between emotional reactions and considered judgments. The study has two major aims: (1) to analyse the textual workings of the press, as a medium of factual reportage operating within a range of normative requirements for factual objectivity, public concern, responsible journalism, meeting readers' demands, etc.; and (2) to contribute to a generally applicable discourse analytic approach to how factual reports are assembled, used, and undermined, in an interplay of description and accountability.

Letters of Intent: Election Campaigning and Orchestrated Public Debate in Local Newspapers' Letters to the Editor

“…(there are more he could add to this list), which he sees "every time" (consistency, reliability) he visits "the mainland"-itself an inclusive noun phrase entailing that Britain is an additional "part," a non-mainland section, of Europe. Further, and significantly, McPherson suggests that he does not wish such benefits for himself, but for his children, a strategy that helps to dispel potential accusations of a selfish "stake" (MacMillan & Edwards, 1999) in arguing for better social provision.…”

The discursive construction of community identity

“…At a methodological level, discourse analysis implies the adoption of an inductive approach that amounts to avoiding the use of a priori coding categories or interpretative schemas, in favour of examining the details of texts as found, and tying analytic claims closely to those details (MacMillan & Edwards, 1999). Variability within and between accounts has a crucial analytic role: it can be used as an analytic clue to what function is being performed in a particular stretch of discourse (Wetherell & Potter, 1988).…”

On the function of the United States paparazzi: mosquito swarm or watchdogs of celebrity image control and power

“…They should be allowed to eat out at a restaurant without being accosted by a phalanx of flashes; they should be allowed to walk in their backyard free from the peering eye of a telephoto lens. The tension between the celebrities' right to privacy and the paparazzi came to a head with the death of Princess Diana and the subsequent handwringing by members of the press, the public and governments (Bishop 1999;MacMillan and Edwards 1999;Hindman 2003;Scharrer, Weidman, and Bissell 2003;Howe 2005). Even for people who feel that the paparazzi are well within their legal rights, the issue is nevertheless framed as one of privacy -the celebrities gave up their right to privacy when they went into show business.…”

“…Mainstream journalists consider the activity of the paparazzi to be something other than journalism, and the content, celebrities, as not newsworthy (Bird 1992;Kirtz 1997;Bishop 1999;MacMillan and Edwards 1999;Hindman 2003). Since paparazzi focus almost exclusively on entertainment celebrities, many critics feel their work lacks journalistic importance -a focus on the trivial of the world as opposed to the important topics of politics and world affairs (Smolla 1998;Bonner et al 1999).…”