Thoughtful Self-Critique or Journalistic Cannibalism? International Press
Coverage of Princess Diana's Death
Martin Eichholz
Ph.D. Student
S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications
Syracuse University
Syracuse, NY 13244-2100
[log in to unmask]
Paper submitted to the Mass Communication & Society Division, AEJMC, April 1,
1998.
ABSTRACT
This study focused on the unexplored field of media self-critique and used the
news coverage of Britain's Princess Diana's death to analyze differences between
elite papers and tabloids as well as differences between German and US papers.
Results show that elite papers' coverage was more likely to focus on the media's
role and more likely to critique the media than the tabloids' coverage. No
significant differences were found between German and US papers regarding the
amount of media critique they provided in their coverage.
Press coverage of Princess Diana's death
Press coverage of Princess Diana's death
Thoughtful Self-Critique or Journalistic Cannibalism? International Press
Coverage of Princess Diana's Death
Introduction
The mass media play an increasingly important role for the functioning of
today's society. However, caught in their ambiguous role between objective
reporter and subjective opinion maker, journalists frequently get criticized for
the way they cover certain issues or individuals, their handling of sensitive
stories, or their privacy-invading reporting and investigating practices. This
critique can be based on a variety of ethical or ideological viewpoints and
considerations and showcases the variety of moral and political values and
principles in a modern society (Patterson & Wilkins, 1998). As a result of the
public nature of journalism, faulty ethical decisions can cause widespread
negative reactions that have the potential to undermine the credibility not only
of a single journalist or individual media organization, but also the reputation
of the whole journalistic profession. From a professional perspective, it then
becomes interesting to study how willing journalists are to critique their own
performance as well as the performance of their media colleagues.
The self-criticism of modern mass media is an interesting yet still vastly
unexplored research area. Scholars who study media ethics usually focus their
inquiries on what was done and how it was done, but omit self-reflections on
part of the journalists that concern the why of unethical behavior. Relying on
survey data to study journalists' attitudes and behavior regarding media ethics
(Weaver & Wilhoit, 1991; Lichter, Rothman, & Lichter, 1986), researchers often
use hypothetical situations and scenarios to stimulate journalists' responses.
These rather "constructed" measures can be enhanced and made more valid by
analyzing actual media content in which journalists comment on their own or
their colleagues' behavior. However, actual media content, has rarely been used
to study journalists' ethical self-assessment because the occasional reports and
essays on the state of journalism don't provide enough data for a thorough and
valid analysis.
This study analyzed American and German newspapers' coverage of Britain's
Princess Diana's death. The goal was to examine the way the mass media
themselves deal with the issue of media ethics and media critique when directly
confronted with it. Based on hegemony theory and professional journalistic role
models, it was hypothesized that there would be differences in the amount of
coverage and media critique between various kinds of newspapers and different
countries.
Background
The tragic death of Great Britain's Diana Spencer, Princess of Wales, on August
31, 1997, opened up a unique window of opportunity to study and explore a
situation of international media self-evaluation and critique. The events
surrounding the Princess' fatal car accident and the mysterious role the
paparazzi photographers[1] played initially led to a global outcry against the
sensationalist press as well as the media in general. Critics inside and outside
the media complained about the aggressive intrusiveness of the media and in many
cases demanded tougher laws to protect privacy rights.
This emotional situation created a rare moment of thoughtfulness and reflection
in which many journalists around the world described, analyzed, and critiqued
their own profession's behavior, especially toward celebrities and public
figures. Due to the immense public pressure on the media, journalists were
essentially forced to raise their voices and comment on the media's role, be it
to defend the ethics of their profession or to acknowledge a lack thereof.
Shortly after the accident, many journalists from various media organizations
engaged in a confusing public fight, trying to blame each other for being
responsible for Diana's death. This phase of the media coverage on Diana's death
can be adequately described as a period of journalistic cannibalism, producing
rushed and overly opinionated statements rather than thoughtful self-critique.
Representatives of the US tabloids, for example, in interviews and public
statements rejected the accusations of being partly responsible for Diana's
death by paying large amounts of money for paparazzi photos. They insisted to be
separated from the paparazzi and treated differently. Especially the National
Enquirer was very active in trying to convince people that it had stopped using
a so-called "new breed" of aggressive paparazzi who should be blamed for Diana's
death (CNN Reliable Sources, 1997a; Meet the Press, 1997). In addition, many
tabloids made it widely known that they were turning down offers to buy pictures
of the car accident (Ciolli, 1997). Another strategy used by the US tabloids was
to point out differences between them and their allegedly more aggressive
European counterparts.
German tabloids, similar to the US tabloids, refused to identify themselves
with the paparazzi. However, the tabloid BILD was globally criticized for
running a photo of Diana's accident although the picture was blurred and didn't
show bodies in the car (McAllester, 1997).
In contrast, the British tabloids publicly apologized for their behavior and
promised a future restraint toward the royal family. As a main component of this
behavioral change, the tabloids announced that they would from now on respect
the privacy of Diana's sons, Prince William and Prince Harry. Beyond this
reaction, even some of Britain's respected quality papers announced plans to
revise their publishing practices (British newspapers, 1997).
Aside from the tabloids, the elite media were criticized as well. Although the
critique usually didn't focus on the elite media directly, they were often
included in an overall critique of the whole media system. Some commentators
argued that the differences between the mainstream and tabloid media have
blurred due to a celebrity-driven culture. Therefore, the blame for Diana's
death should at least partly be put on the media in general (A world without
Diana, 1997). In response, the elite papers tried to distance themselves from
both, the paparazzi and the tabloids (CNN Reliable Sources, 1997b) by
highlighting the higher quality of their own reporting style and their use of
less sensational and intrusive photos.
However, in a strange coalition, tabloid and elite media were both fast to
point out that Diana often used them to her advantage and was quite successful
at forming her own image as well as bringing certain social issues she
considered important into the media spotlight (Lull, 1997). These notions became
stronger after it was officially confirmed that the driver of Diana's car had
been drunk. What happened then was a shift in the coverage away from paparazzi
towards the driver and other non-media issues (McAllester, 1997; Bennett, 1997).
It seemed that the media were relieved to find themselves leaving the spotlight
and having another helpless villain to point at. Therefore, the cannibalistic
and self-destructive media coverage slowly disappeared.
Theory
The modern mass media usually stand as examples for a fast-paced and
rapidly changing society. Their main functions have been described as
surveillance through news and information, interpretation of events,
linkage of individuals and groups, socialization, and entertainment
(Dominick, 1996). In contrast, hegemony theory claims that the media
institutions serve primarily as stabilizers of the existing order thus
preserving the status quo and supporting dominant societal elites
(Shoemaker & Reese, 1996, 237).
Left-wing authors like Gitlin (1980) highlight the power of the mass
media as distribution systems for ideology and ever-present
image-makers to promote or blank out political movements and absorb
social opposition into dominant societal structures. Hegemony is
defined as "uniting persuasion from above with consent from below"
(Gitlin, 1980, 10), whereby those who rule secure their power by
impressing their situational definitions upon the less powerful mostly
through journalists' routines and framing.
Besides being a mere distribution channel for the ruling class, the
media themselves often are part of a dominating and powerful ideology
due to their institutional affiliations, such as memberships in
business association, social activities, and corporate directorships
(Shoemaker & Reese, 1996, 214). Thus, media critique can, at least
indirectly, hurt powerful societal groups whose interests are often
intertwined with the media's interests.
Applied to the situation following Princess Diana's death, the
question emerged as to what degree the media were willing to criticize
themselves and the system they are a part of. Facing harsh critique
from various sources outside the media system, the mass media were
forced into a defensive position which left them with three main
behavioral alternatives. One the one hand, the media had the choice to
defend the existing system as hegemony theory would suggest by
downplaying or neglecting the role the media played. Thus, they would
justify the behavior of their colleagues involved in the deadly car
accident in order to maintain the media's powerful position in the
societal system. On the other hand, the media could have used the
unique circumstances of Diana's death for an in-depth analysis of their
own practices and professional ethics which could have eventually led
to changes in the media system. A third possible reaction for the mass
media would have been an initial apology to calm down the public, hopin
g that the media critique would quickly diminished as time goes on and
other news items take over.
The worldwide media coverage of Princess Diana's death allows for a comparison
of the news coverage in various countries. The assumption that news coverage of
an individual event varies and changes across national boundaries can be based
on the fact that among journalists, various professional journalistic role
models exist (Shoemaker & Reese, 1996). International research results suggest
that there are differences in self-perceived professional roles between American
and German journalists. Johnstone, Slawski, and Bowman (1972) reported that
American journalists see themselves either as neutral transmitters of
information or as participants who actively develop stories. Weaver and Wilhoit
(1991) extended these two categories and described three overlapping
journalistic role conceptions: The interpretive function, dissemination
function, and adversary function. All three roles are based on the overriding
notion of objectivity and balance.
The majority of German journalists, however, prefers an active role. They want
to be educating missionaries rather than merely neutral transmitters of
information. In addition, they are less willing to use ethically questionable
methods of investigation when doing research for their stories (Koecher, 1986).
Generally, the way in which journalists see themselves and their job determines
how they obtain, analyze, and present information. Therefore, based on the
existing differences among the self-perceived role conceptions of German and US
journalists, it can be assumed that there are also differences in the amount of
media-related and media-critical news coverage of Princess Diana's death.
H 1: In their coverage of Princess Diana's death, the elite newspapers
focus more on the role of the media than the tabloids.
Elite papers and tabloids are distinct types of newspapers that differ in many
aspects. Elite papers can be defined as newspapers that provide in-depth
coverage of political, economical, and scientific issues and have a
comparatively high reputation. Tabloids, on the other hand, provide a flashy
coverage of primarily entertainment news without much depth and have a
relatively low reputation.
The focus of the media's coverage of Princess Diana's death can be defined as
the various topics or aspects related to Princess Diana that the media paid
attention to. These topics can be roughly divided into non-media aspects, such
as the car accident, legal proceedings, the funeral, the story Diana's life, her
marriage, or the royal family and media-related aspects which include reports on
the media's behavior in general or surrounding the fatal car accident as well as
the media's past coverage of and role in Diana's private and official life.
These media-related aspects were often extended to encompass the broader issue
of invasion of privacy, especially looking at the paparazzi and their main
customers, the tabloid media.
Generally, the tabloids' reporting tends to focus on entertainment,
celebrities, and sensational issues, whereas elite newspapers cover the more
serious, classical issues such as politics, business, or the arts. Thus, it
seems likely that the tabloids concentrate on the non-media aspects of Diana's
death whereas the elite newspapers are more inclined to report on the role of
the media as part of their overall coverage.
In addition, the tabloids were handicapped by the fact that they are the main
customers of the paparazzi and frequent users of paparazzi photos. Given the
public anger at the paparazzi directly after Diana's car accident, a negative
spillover-effect seemed to be likely. The elite media, however, being somewhat
removed from the tabloids and paparazzi, didn't have as much to lose as the
tabloids by making the media a topic of their coverage.
H 2: In their coverage of Princess Diana's death, German newspapers
criticize the media's role more than US newspapers.
Critique of the media's role can be defined as remarks and statements which
comment negatively on behavior the media displayed and is closely related to the
concept of media ethics. Thus, critique of the media's role includes coverage
that points out the media's failure to behave according to ethical standards
such as truth, honesty, accuracy, objectivity, thoroughness, fairness, respect
for the people covered, and public accountability.
German papers are expected to criticize the media's role more often mainly
because German journalists are more concerned about ethically questionable
behavior similar to that shown by the paparazzi involved in Diana's death than
US journalists. Also, as self-declared critics and educators German journalists
are more likely to highlight the failures of journalists and educate their
readers about problems related to media ethics than their American counterparts
whose self-understanding is, despite various functions, based on the concept of
objective reporting.
Method
The sample used in this study consisted of 11 newspapers from Germany and the
US. A purposive nonprobability sample was used despite its lower reliability
because of its convenience, low cost, and timeliness. Nonprobability samples are
"useful in scanning and detecting potential problems" and "useful precursors to
more rigorous sampling and research" (Broom & Dozier, 1990, 120). However, they
are not representative of a larger population.
The following elite and tabloid papers were selected because they are
conventionally known as national newspapers and are available to all areas of
their respective countries of origin.
Germany:
Elite papers: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Frankfurter Rundschau,
Sueddeutsche Zeitung.
Tabloids: BILD, Stern.
US:
Elite newspapers: New York Times, Washington Post, Chicago-Tribune.
Tabloids: The National Inquirer, The Star, The Globe.
The study's time frame was different for the elite papers and tabloids
depending on their publication as daily or weekly papers. Of the six elite
papers, every issue during the two weeks immediately following Princess Diana's
death on August 31, 1997, was analyzed. Of the two US weekly tabloids, the three
issues following Diana's death were analyzed whereas for the third US weekly
tabloid, only one special memorial issue was analyzed. Of the one German weekly
tabloid, two issues directly after Princess Diana's death were analyzed, and of
the German daily tabloid, every issue during the two weeks following Diana's
death was analyzed. Each issue or day of coverage was considered a case which
led to a total of 93 cases. Within each issue, all articles related to Diana's
death were analyzed, including such topics as the car accident, the royal
family, Diana's biography, her relationship with the media, the funeral, legal
proceedings in Paris, etc.
The data analysis method used was content analysis. Content analysis as a
scientific research method requires the systematic study of archived records and
can be defined as a technique for making inferences by systematically and
objectively identifying specific characteristics of media content.
The units of observation for the content-related measures were individual
paragraphs within the articles covering Princess Diana's death. Within these
paragraphs, the overall impression determined each paragraph's assignment to
certain categories. Thus, it was possible that a paragraph was coded as "not
media-related" even though a photographer's action was briefly described when
most of the paragraph focused on Princess Diana's funeral.
The paragraphs were counted for each category and then a percentage based on
the overall coverage was calculated. The use of percentages made it possible to
compare the coverage of weekly and daily newspapers.
Coverage focusing on the media was identified by determining the main topic of
a paragraph, including descriptions of the media's behavior in general or
surrounding Diana's death as well as broader media-related issues such as the
right to privacy.
The amount of coverage critical of the media was measured by counting the
number of paragraphs that commented negatively on the media's behavior.
Indicators for media critique were general accusations of wrongdoing and
unethical behavior as well as key words and phrases such as "the media hunted
Diana," "the media made Diana's life hell," etc.
In addition, the paragraphs criticizing the media were analyzed as to whom the
critique was aimed at. The four categories given were the paparazzi, the
tabloids, the media in general, and other media-related entities.
To test the two hypotheses independent t-tests were run for the variables
involved. A post-hoc analysis used a bivariate crosstabulation to test the
relationship between the amount of media critique and the kind of newspaper.
Results
This study analyzed a total of 10,194 paragraphs of media coverage related to
Princess Diana's death. Unit of analysis were 93 newspaper issues, covering the
time immediately following Princess Diana's death. These newspaper issues were
taken from a sample of 11 newspapers from Germany and the US. Six (54.5%) of
these 11 newspapers were elite papers and five (45.5%) tabloids. Regarding their
country of origin, 45.5% of the newspapers were published in Germany whereas
54.5% were published in the US.
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Table 1 about here
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Within the overall coverage of Princess Diana's death, the average percentage
of coverage devoted to the role of the media was 21% (Table 2). This percentage
appears to be surprisingly high given the fact that there were many other
aspects to be covered. However, the paparazzi's involvement and the public's
initial outcry against the unethical media behavior seemed to determine much of
the coverage and made the newspapers fill more than one fifth of their Diana
newshole with media-related stories. When further dividing this media-related
coverage into the categories "critiquing the media" and "not critiquing the
media" it was found that an average of 25% of the media-related paragraphs
criticized the media's behavior. In relation to the total coverage of Diana's
death, the percentage of paragraphs critical of the media is about 5%. Given the
overwhelmingly negative public reactions toward the media, this number seems to
be relatively low. It also suggests that the media defended themselves on their
own turf and were not overly busy trying to point out ethical failures or other
critical aspects of their own and their colleagues behavior.
The media critique was aimed at three main actors: the paparazzi, the tabloids,
and the media in general. Table 2 shows that among the paragraphs criticizing
the media the average percentage of paragraphs criticizing the paparazzi was
38%, while 17% of the critique was aimed at the media in general and 7% at the
tabloids. These results show that the paparazzi faced substantially more
critique than the other media players involved which might be explained by the
fact that the paparazzi were the most vulnerable group and weren't given have
opportunities to present their point of view.
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Table 2 about here
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Based on differing reporting styles, it was hypothesized that "the elite
newspapers focus more on the role of the media than the tabloids." Table 3
provides strong evidence to support this hypothesis. On average, elite
newspapers devoted 25% of their coverage to the role the media played, compared
with only 5% the tabloids devoted to the media's role (t = 7.04, df = 87.82, p <
.001). These significant findings indicate that, between the tabloids and the
elite papers, there were different degrees of willingness to make the media's
(i.e. one's own) behavior an issue. As expected from their general reporting
style, the tabloids covered mostly non-media issues while the elite press was
much more inclined to investigate and comment on the role the media played in
Diana's death.
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Table 3 about here
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Based on empirical findings that suggest the existence of nationally differing
professional journalistic role models, it was hypothesized that "German papers
criticize the media's role more than US papers." The results in table 2 show
that, on average, German papers critiqued the media in 23% of their
media-related coverage, while US papers critiqued the media in 26% of their
media-related coverage. An independent t-test showed no significant difference
between German and American newspapers regarding the average amount of media
critique provided in their respective coverage of Princess Diana's death (t =
.52, df = 91, n.s.). Thus, hypothesis 2 was not supported.
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Table 4 about here
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A post-hoc analysis of the categorized "amount of media critique" variable
(Table 3) provided evidence that the elite papers were more likely to critique
the role of the media than the tabloids. Roughly a third of the elite papers'
media-related coverage was not critical of the media, compared to 62% of the
tabloids' media-related coverage. This finding shows that the tabloids tried to
avoid critiquing the media. Accordingly, 36% of the elite newspapers'
media-related coverage contained substantial media critique, compared to only
19% of the tabloids' media-related coverage. A crosstabulation of the amount of
media critique by kind of newspaper yielded a significant relationship between
these two variables (X2 = 6.82, df = 2, p < .05). A reason for these results
might be that the elite media were more willing to voice media-criticisms
because they aimed most of their critique at the tabloids and the paparazzi,
while at the same time differentiating themselves from these groups. The
tabloids, however, might have tried to avoid criticizing the media because they
feared that, no matter who they would have blamed, the audience would have
thrown the tabloids in one pot together with most other media. Thus, the
tabloids probably preferred not to critique the media at all to make sure that
they didn't hurt themselves.
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Table 5 about here
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Discussion
This study focused on the unexplored field of media self-critique and used the
news coverage of Britain's Princess Diana's death to analyze differences between
elite papers and tabloids as well as differences between German and US papers.
Significant differences were found between the coverage of elite and tabloid
papers but not between the coverage of German and US papers.
The results provide some evidence that the elite newspapers, in their coverage
of Diana's death, focused more on the role of the media than the tabloids. They
were also more likely to critique the media than the tabloids were. This
behavior seemed to be associated with the fact that the elite media constantly
tried to differentiate themselves from the tabloids and paparazzi. Therefore,
they felt more comfortable criticizing their "opponents."
The theoretical assumption that the media as part of a dominant ideology would
refrain from critiquing themselves wasn't statistically tested. However, the
amount of media self-critique among the total coverage was minuscule, suggesting
that the media are not very comfortable with this kind of coverage. More
detailed research is needed in this area.
The fact that no differences between the German and US papers' amount of
coverage and media critique were found suggests that the use of professional
journalistic role models as a theoretical basis was not adequate. Future
research should use other theoretical models and measures to compare different
countries' media coverage.
Future studies should analyze the amount, sources, aims, and tone of the
media's self-critique more detailed. In addition, larger samples should be used
which include newspapers from other countries, especially England.
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Table 1. Percentages for kind of newspaper and newspapers' country
of origin variables*.
Variables %
Kind of newspaper
Elite 54.5%
Tabloid 45.5%
100.00%
(N = 11)
Newspaper's country of origin
Germany 45.5%
US 54.5%
100.00%
(N = 11)
* Note: N differs from other tables because newspapers are the unit of analysis
for this table, while days of coverage are the unit of analysis for the other
tables.
Table 2. Means and standard deviations for focus on the media's role,
media critique, paparazzi critique, tabloid critique, and all
media critique variables.
Variables Mean Std. Deviation N
Focus on the
media's role* 20.45% 21.89 93
Media critique** 24.91% 28.16 93
Paparazzi critique*** 37.86% 40.86 93
Tabloid critique**** 7.32% 17.13 93
All media critique***** 16.51% 28.64 93
* Focus on the media's role was coded as the percentage of paragraphs within the
Diana coverage of a given day dealing with the media.
** Media critique was coded as the percentage of media-related paragraphs of a
given day critiquing the media.
*** Paparazzi critique was coded as the percentage of critical media-related
paragraphs of a given day that was aimed at the paparazzi.
**** Tabloid critique was coded as the percentage of critical media-related
paragraphs of a given day that was aimed at the tabloids.
***** All media critique was coded as the percentage of critical media-related
paragraphs of a given day that was aimed at the media in general.
Table 3. Independent t-tests for kind of newspaper by focus on the
media's role and paparazzi as aim of media critique.
Kind of newspaper
Elite Tabloid
Means Means
(& SD) (& SD)
Variables (N = 72) (N = 21) t value df significance
Focus on the 25.06% 4.67%
media's role* (22.78) (4.98) 7.04 87.82 p < .001
* Focus on the media's role was coded as the percentage of paragraphs within the
Diana coverage of a given day dealing with the media.
Table 4. Independent t-test for media critique by newspapers' country
of origin.
Country of origin
Germany US
Means Means
(& SD) (& SD)
Variable (N = 45) (N = 48) t value df significance
23.33% 26.40%
Media critique* (30.51) (26.00) .52 91 n.s.
* Media critique was coded as the percentage of media-related paragraphs of
given day critiquing the media.
Table 5. Crosstabulation of media critique by kind of newspaper.
Kind of newspaper
Amount of
media critique Elite Tabloid
No critique 30.6% 61.9%
Medium critique 33.3% 19.0%
Heavy critique 36.1% 19.0 %
100.0% 100%
(N = 72) (N = 21)
x2 = 6.82, df = 2, p < .05
Cramer's V = .03
[1] The term paparazzi originates from the Italian movie "La Dolce Vita"
(1961) which featured an exploitative journalist named Paparazzo. Most paparazzi
are free-lance photographers paid by the picture although some work more
directly with photo agencies (Ciolli, 1997; Randolph, 1997). Thus, they usually
lack ethical training and are not bound by the ethical guidelines of formal news
organizations (CNN Reliable Sources, 1997b).
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