4:30pm today inside Court 73 of the High Court in London saw Lord Justice Scott Baker receive the jury’s final verdict on the case of Diana the Princess of Wales. The judgement was of Unlawful Killing due to the gross negligence of the Paparazzi and Henri Paul. It was seen that Henri Paul had been drinking and it was this coupled with the paparazzi’s negligence that caused the crash and ultimately the death of Diana. The Inquest’s verdict was in direct contradiction to that of the Metropolitan police inquest headed by Lord Stevens in which they came to the verdict of accidental death.
The approximate cost of the inquest was £8 Million, over 10 years after Diana’s death. With no criminal proceedings likely to come from this the big question is was it worth it?
Diana has always been the UK Media’s sweetheart, the very hint of her name causes newspaper sales to rocket and the public to grip their television screens. Since her death over 10 years ago a seeming morbid obsession has arisen into her demise with many criticising the media’s handling of the stories.
Stories such as “Why Diana would have loved Kate”, “Diana: Scandal of body mix up” and “Diana’s death: Spies flashed laser beam at crash driver” have caused major questions to be asked of the British press.
A similar situation has occured with the story of Madeleine McCann, climaxing with certain newspapers having to compensate her family after wild acusations where made.
With the de-proffesionalisation of journalism, the new trend of ‘Churnalism’ and large amounts of job losses within the industry, the future looks very bleak indeed.
I would love to hear what people believe will be the future for journalism and where we can go from here. I will also be blogging on this issue over the next few days.
