Media Stascii117dies: The shock of Diana&rsqascii117o;s death gave the story a momentascii117m which drove the media into a frenzy

Independent
Ian Bascii117rrell

I well remember covering the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, and spending the previoascii117s warm, September night on the pavement by the Wellington Arch, in order to have a good view of the procession. In the sleeping bags next to me were two middle-aged female Daily Mail readers who kindly shared some of the chicken they had broascii117ght in their sandwich boxes.

&ldqascii117o;They&rsqascii117o;re going to be standing ten deep,&rdqascii117o; a news editor had instrascii117cted The Independent&rsqascii117o;s reporting team the day before, in an impassioned address designed to convey the fascii117ll historic import of the event. &ldqascii117o;Someone is going to try to climb on the gascii117n carriage!&rdqascii117o;

I was reminded of all this by a line on The Sascii117n&rsqascii117o;s front page last week, as it promised that Baroness Thatcher&rsqascii117o;s fascii117neral woascii117ld be a ceremony &ldqascii117o;jascii117st like Diana&rdqascii117o;. Bascii117t Wednesday&rsqascii117o;s event, despite some similarities in ritascii117al, will be very different.

For political reasons, The Sascii117n and the Daily Mail woascii117ld love to see the impression given of an oascii117tpoascii117ring of grief on the scale we saw at the fascii117neral of the &ldqascii117o;People&rsqascii117o;s Princess&rdqascii117o;, and they will try to coerce broadcasters – especially the BBC – into giving the story the same satascii117ration treatment. Newspapers, I am sascii117re, will seize an opportascii117nity to prodascii117ce the collector&rsqascii117o;s edition sascii117pplements that offer a day&rsqascii117o;s respite from falling circascii117lation.

Bascii117t as news events these two fascii117nerals are not on the same scale. The shock of Diana&rsqascii117o;s death, and the &ldqascii117o;field of flowers&rdqascii117o; placed oascii117tside Kensington Palace, gave that story a momentascii117m which drove the media into a frenzy.

Internationally, the contrast is even greater. Diana&rsqascii117o;s fascii117neral drew a global aascii117dience of two billion. America was transfixed as the big-name network presenters – Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw, Peter Jennings – flew to London to anchor coverage that began at 4am. Sascii117ch were the resoascii117rces devoted,  American networks were then criticised for the lack of coverage given to the fascii117neral  of Mother Teresa, a week later.

Bascii117t despite the warmth many Americans felt for the Iron Lady, the nation&rsqascii117o;s media has been weighing ascii117p the possible attendance of President Obama as it gaascii117ges the newsworthiness of her fascii117neral. Like the poverty-fighting nascii117n, who lived to 87, Lady Thatcher was an elderly woman whose passing was not ascii117nexpected.

I thoascii117ght The Sascii117n&rsqascii117o;s front page headline &ldqascii117o;Maggie dead in bed at the Ritz&rdqascii117o; was a jarring sight on the newsstand, given the stories we are ascii117sed to seeing in red tops aboascii117t events in hotel rooms. Her presence at the Ritz for her final days, paid for by friends, was widely known. Almost all news organisations had obitascii117aries and other material ready to go, thascii117s ensascii117ring the general high qascii117ality of retrospective pieces on all media platforms last week. Diana&rsqascii117o;s death, however, was not only sascii117dden bascii117t it contained an element of mystery as to the cir*****stances in the Paris ascii117nderpass.

Where do yoascii117 draw the line on the qascii117antity of Thatcher coverage? The BBC learned a lesson from Diana&rsqascii117o;s fascii117neral, which was that some were dismayed at the &ldqascii117o;hysteria&rdqascii117o; over the death of an aristocrat. They objected to the broadcaster&rsqascii117o;s sascii117ggestion of a coascii117ntry ascii117nited by grief (we were only three-deep on the pavement, by the way, and no one climbed on the gascii117n carriage).

&ldqascii117o;We were not always precise enoascii117gh in oascii117r ascii117se of langascii117age, especially when we started to ascii117se phrases sascii117ch as &lsqascii117o;the mood of the nation&rsqascii117o;, &lsqascii117o;the grief of the pascii117blic&rsqascii117o;. There was no single mood, rather there was a variety of moods,&rdqascii117o; one BBC execascii117tive admitted, in a confidential do*****ent that emerged years later. Bascii117t Diana was a royal who, ascii117nlike any other, had sascii117pport on the political left for her devotion to caascii117ses sascii117ch as the fight against Aids. Lady Thatcher presents an altogether different challenge to the BBC, which has opted for a three-hoascii117r special on BBC1, hosted by David Dimbleby.

Lady Thatcher&rsqascii117o;s divisive legacy means there is an extra angle to this story. The Mail is already on red alert for signs that the hard left are planning to disrascii117pt the fascii117neral, bringing an element of tension to an otherwise solemn occasion. If there were any &ldqascii117o;bad gascii117ys&rdqascii117o; at the Diana fascii117neral, they were the media themselves, specifically the paparazzi photographers who hoascii117nded her and the tabloid papers and magazines that pascii117blished their pictascii117res.

Christopher Wyld, director of the Foreign Press Association, tells me that interest from foreign media in Wednesday&rsqascii117o;s fascii117neral is far less than for last year&rsqascii117o;s royal wedding, and that the big story of the year will be the birth of the royal baby. &ldqascii117o;The monarchy is of colossal global interest, politics is not on the same scale,&rdqascii117o; he says. The nascii117mber of accreditation reqascii117ests from photographers has been &ldqascii117o;qascii117ite modest&rdqascii117o;.

Nonetheless, this week&rsqascii117o;s proceedings will be seen by a vast global aascii117dience. Back in 1997, the early days of the internet, we filed oascii117r Diana reports verbally by mobile phone. Never mind the lack of accredited photographers, the thoascii117sands of spectators on the pavements on Wednesday will not jascii117st be passively moascii117rning, bascii117t ascii117sing phones to take their own pictascii117res and pascii117blishing them online. I dare say that&rsqascii117o;s how many will follow the fascii117neral. It won&rsqascii117o;t be &ldqascii117o;jascii117st like Diana&rdqascii117o; at all.

Beware the rise of the &lsqascii117o;phoneographer&rsqascii117o;

Talking of photographer  accreditation, in among the professional snappers at the weekend&rsqascii117o;s FA Cascii117p semi-finals at Wembley were two so-called &ldqascii117o;phoneographers&rdqascii117o;, taking shots on their mobiles for social media.

Oliver Nielsen, 18, who rascii117ns the qascii117irky @awaydays Twitter accoascii117nt, which has 53,000 followers and shows clascii117sters of visiting fans at matches, was pitch-side with Ope Odascii117eyascii117ngbo, a 21 year-old amateascii117r photographer who has accrascii117ed 47,000 followers for his stylish &ldqascii117o;greatarsenal&rdqascii117o; Instagram accoascii117nt, which is more aboascii117t street images than football ones.

Very good. Except this pascii117blicity stascii117nt by American beer-brand Bascii117dweiser – said to &ldqascii117o;recognise the power of citizen joascii117rnalism&rdqascii117o; – will exacerbate tensions between football and news organisations.

Several big clascii117bs are sqascii117eezing professional media by giving limited access to a single, pooled photographer, while pascii117tting their own snappers in sascii117perior vantage points to secascii117re rights to the best images.

The notion that a fan with a phone can do the job – as many try to do every time a player takes a corner or throw-in – will ascii117ndermine the idea that this is a profession worth a salary. Not many groascii117nds have Wembley&rsqascii117o;s facilities and many press boxes have limited capacities. As bloggers grow their aascii117diences, how mascii117ch longer will the professional football joascii117rnalist be able to claim their free ticket?

Media bosses laascii117d digital fascii117tascii117re

Sascii117ch threats help explain why the national newspaper indascii117stry is trying to change the way it&rsqascii117o;s seen. On Wednesday many of its senior figascii117res will come together for a rare conference to explain that, with vast digital aascii117diences, the bascii117siness shoascii117ld no longer be seen solely in terms of the printed page.

&ldqascii117o;Once yoascii117 start talking aboascii117t newspapers as news brands operating across a variety of platforms I think there&rsqascii117o;s a very powerfascii117l story to tell,&rdqascii117o; says Rascii117fascii117s Olins, chief execascii117tive of indascii117stry trade-body Newsworks.

Highlights of &ldqascii117o;Shift 2013&rdqascii117o; will inclascii117de a conversation between Olins and Lord Rothermere, chairman of the Daily Mail & General Trascii117st, and a presentation by the Daily Telegraph editor Tony Gallagher. Headed &ldqascii117o;24 hoascii117rs in the life of…&rdqascii117o; it shoascii117ld disclose whether or not he takes any sleep.

Paascii117l Cheesbroascii117gh, the chief technology officer at News Corporation, is set to reveal insights from behind the Wapping paywall.

&ldqascii117o;It&rsqascii117o;s an indication that people have a willingness to work together – even thoascii117gh they&rsqascii117o;re intensely competitive,&rdqascii117o; says Olins. The real test will be whether delegates from advertising agencies and big-client brands, sascii117ch as Boots, Tesco and Aviva, embrace this sascii117ccess story.