Diana: The Witness in the Tunnel

[Huguenot]

Not being prone to emotional outbursts I'm surprised at my revulsion to the idea that Channel 4 intends to transmit images of her death scene whilst she receives final treatment. To say she can't 'quite be seen' as a justification I find abhorrent in that it reduces her final moments to the level of a comedy gag in 'A Fish Called Wanda'.

I've complained to Channel 4 here on their website as follows:

"Any images of Diana's death scene whilst she receieves treatment at the point the images were taken is a despicable abuse of your mandate to provide content 'in the public interest'

"The fact that you 'can't quite see her' is a playschool technicality that further demonstrates the gutter journalism from which this kind of editorial decision stems.

"I'd ask you to remove these particular images in the strongest possible terms."

If you agree with me please feel free to use this text to post your own complaint.

[Keef]

Very well said! I really don't get how they can claim public interest!

[Keef]

Very well said! I really don't get how they can claim public interest! Channel 4 used to be pretty good, but these days the seem to think everything needs to be sensational... Bloody Big Brother!

[TillieTrotter]

Agree. Particularly for her sons' sake. How traumatic must it be for them.

[Keef]

They wouldn't show Saddam's hanging, or that poor Daniel thingy, the american journalist who was beheaded... It's just pointless and nasty! And lets be peck here, she died 10 years ago, who cares? Her family obviously... And stupid people who want want to watch this snuf crap!

[spadetownboy]

to be brutally honest if it had,nt been for the media storm which has brewed up it was more than likely that not much more than c4s usual wed night audience would have watched the program,now because of said so storm its probably going to be the most watched program that night. whether or not its in the publics interest to see the program is obviously open to debate but freedom of broadcasting must be allowed otherwise we are going back to the dark days of censorship under thatcher et al. as for the two sons yep its not too pleasant for them but in my opinion its no worse than the constant obsession that the daily mail has with diana and as ever the choice it there to either watch it or not and one suspects that even the vigorous opponent of the show might have a sneaky look.

[Frenchy]

.

[Mark]

As they'll not showing pictures of any dead or injured is it really that bad?

[Huguenot]

Yes, I think it's that bad.

If someone were to have taken pictures of my mum choking her last and then sell advertising off the back of it then I think we'd have a situation. Particularly if those shots were taken by the very people that indirectly led to her death.

I think it's easy for Diana to become a caricature in our minds, and as such we dehumanise her. In allowing that we become less in ourselves.

By broadcasting and viewing it we're saying it's okay.

[*Bob*]

Errr.. We don't even know what we're viewing (or not) yet!!

It's all getting a 'Brass Eye/Paedophiles Episode... "I Object! (Even though I haven't seen it and I'm only going on what someone else has said)"

[Huguenot]

It's too late after it's broadcast.

C4 have been quite clear about what the content is, it's footage of the crash scene from immediately after the accident through the arrival of paramedics to the last attempts to resucitate Diana on the gurney in the back of the ambulance.

It has been edited so that you can't actually 'see' Diana. You can see the rear or side of the paramedics as they work on her still conscious body as her life chokes away.

It's a snuff video.

The footage was taken by the sick bastards that spend their lives chasing people with cameras, and were chasing Diana on mopeds.

Waddaya wanna do, watch kiddie porn because you can't object to what you haven't seen?

It only represents a few minutes of the program, and it is the only bit to which I object. They are within their powers to edit it out.

[Mark]

> By broadcasting and viewing it we're saying it's okay.

I'm not broadcasting it or viewing it, I've better things to do. And if it was my mum choking her last and then someone selling advertising off the back of it I'd ask them personally to not do it, not get my private secretary to write a letter.

[TillieTrotter]

Mark, does it make a difference who wrote the letter. Come on! Its unfair and too voyeuristic imo.

[SeanMacGabhann]

I won't be watching it either (partly because of the ghoulish nature and partly because it contains the word "Diana")

Channel 4 know how facile they are in their defence of the programme and is just par for the course for them lately, mores the pity

And yet I won't be complaining. Apart from not complaining about something I haven't seen, one doesn't have to be sentimental to remember just what a publicist Di was and how cameras were ALWAYS around her. I'm not saying she was bound to die like this but all the elements were in place long before it happened

The difference between broadcasting these images and, say, those far more repugnant suggested by Huguenot , is surely that innocents are MADE to suffer for the latter whilst the broadcast of the Di images is something that just happened and is being exploited by Ch4... We routinely watch documentaries about the holocaust and see humans in far more degraded states but that qualifies as history and switchboards remain quiet. I would argue that is a more apt comparison

As for comparing it to pictures of my mum (or anyone else's on here) - that;s just not going to happen is it. It's happening here because of who she was and what she did in her life re: publicity.

I repeat; that still doesn't make CH 4 right to show them but it is a different situation to some of the comparisons made above

[Michael Palaeologus]

Channel 4 seem to be diving into the world of tabloid journalism on a number of fronts. It is a huge shame on a channel that was meant to be a cut above the rest.

[Mark]

I don't know if it would have made a difference who wrote the letter, but if it was me I would have had words myself. CH4 have got their ounce of publicity out of it and I'm sure they'll be saying how terrible it is on GMTV tomorrow morning before doorstepping Prince William's ex-girlfriend to see what she thinks.

[bawdy-nan]

I think the pictures have already been published in The Sun haven't they?

I also think that the idea of showing someone's dying moments on tv is revolting but I don't think that this is what is being shown at all. At least, thats what the, really-quite-sane-sounding-documentary-maker is saying. Having said that, of course, if its so irrelevant and grainy and impossible to see there should hardly be any objections to removing the pix.

As far as death and dead people on tv goes - we see it a lot on the news don't we? Its just usually poor people from other countries - whilst some people would say they shouldn't be shown either there's rarely a furore about that.

I'm frankly, bored by the while Diana thing and, at the time of her death, was astonished and rather ashamed by the mass hysteria it provoked. The thing is, I'll probably flick over to see what the fuss is about and whether its saying anything new.

What a hypocrite I am.

(edited for simply terrible spelling)

[georgia]

Am totally fed up with hearing anything about Diana quite honestly. They should respect her sons' wishes and not show the pictures if that's what they want. As for it being in the 'public interest' to show them - who wants to see them?? They are of no interest whatsoever to me. I will be watching 'The Apprentice' anyway...

[*Bob*]

I know Diana is so much more very very special than your average Joe (living her life like a candle in the wind etc), but to make things fair, surely we should remove every potentially offensive image from all news reports and documentaries - just in case it offends anyone at all?

[spadetownboy]

Michael Palaeologus Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Channel 4 seem to be diving into the world of

> tabloid journalism on a number of fronts. It is a

> huge shame on a channel that was meant to be a cut

> above the rest.

just a thought, is this program being pillorised because its on c4, me thinks if it was shown on panorama or a newsnight special the reaction would be different.

[*Bob*]

All the channels are at it.

Panorama isn't Panorama any more.

These days it's an early-evening low-brow magazine-style-for-dummies half hour, because apparently the brainless British public don't have the concentration or commitment required for a full hour after 10pm.

[peckham_perkster]

I think some of the furore around this may stem from the change in their mission statement. Has anyone else noticed in the last few years how Channel 5 now looks far more intelligent than Channel 4 which is the equivalent of processed cheese? Their mission statement from 2004 is "Do It First; Make Trouble and Inspire Change". Apart from the fact that there is this footage of the crash has anyone seen what the programme is actually about? It's called 'Witnesses in the Tunnel' and is about those photographers who took photos when the crash happened and what happened to them during and after the crash and her eventual death.

My question is simple, they've waited 10 years but did they pay to use the images and footage? If so doesn't the whole programme become completely hypocritical? Let's interview the pap that were there use their footage and talk about what happened to them, urm so it's OK to still make money out of Diana by proxy.

"Do it first" - they've waited 10 years

"make trouble" - they've ticked that box

"Inspire change" - not sure where they're going on this one unless they make references to her sons and how the press have dealt with their lives so far which I don't think this programme is going to do.

[*Bob*]

Oi! Less of the 'Channel 5' - it's just 'FIVE' these days, y'know.

Five have been pinching ideas and production people from C4 and steadily improving their content for years now. They've set themselves up as a direct competitor to C4, leaving C4 in an increasingly sticky situation. Think back to when Channel 5 was launched.. how different it is these days.

[peckham_perkster]

Exackers Bob, entirely what I was trying to get across and apologies for forgetting their re-branding to just 'five'.

[Nero]

Hugue, Do you remember when BBC news played the video footage taken by a guest at the Israeli wedding of scores of guests plunging to their deaths when the floor caved in? It was pornographic, the worse thing I have ever seen broadcast on a news channel. It was much more shocking than pictures of limbs etc. I was so angry at that and complained to the BBC. This Diana thing is similar. It is just a case of 'we've got it, let's show it'. Nero