Channel 4 defends Diana crash photos
Channel 4 defends Diana crash photos | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited
Channel 4 today insisted it will broadcast as planned a programme about the death of Princess Diana including graphic images of the car crash that killed her, despite calls for it to be cancelled.
The programme, The Witnesses in the Tunnel, to be shown on June 6, includes a series of pictures of the immediate aftermath of the crash in a Paris underpass on 31 August 1997, The Observer reported yesterday.
One photograph shows Diana receiving oxygen from a French doctor, Frederic Mailliez, who had been travelling in the other direction and who had not yet realised the identity of his patient. It shows that the princess was thrown forward into the footwell behind the driver's seat. At the front of the car a passing student is shown trying to help Trevor Rees-Jones, Diana's bodyguard.
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There are other graphic images of the inside of the car, although the face of the dying Diana is blanked out.
The Conservative culture spokesman, Hugo Swire, last night urged Channel 4 to reconsider.
"It should be remembered that Diana, as well was being a public figure, was a mother," he said. "This kind of coverage must be deeply distressing to Princes William and Harry. "We would expect more from a public service broadcaster than showing sensationalist material in this way. It is difficult to see who will be served from broadcasting such sensational and private material."
Channel 4 today said it had "carefully and sensitively" chosen which pictures to use and that in the only picture showing the car's occupants the victims had been blacked out.
It said the image had previously been seen in the British press and reports about what the documentary would show were "misleading and inaccurate".
"These photographs are an important and accurate eyewitness record of how events unfolded after the crash," a spokesman said.
"We acknowledge there is great public sensitivity surrounding pictures of the victims and these have not been included.
"Some photographs will be of the scene inside the tunnel but in none of the pictures is it possible to identify Diana or indeed any of the crash victims.
"Only one image shows the occupants of the car after the crash and it has been appropriately obscured to avoid any unwarranted intrusion into their privacy or that of their families."
Channel 4 said the film had been made by its experienced history department, and argued there was "genuine public interest" in how the events leading to Diana's death unfolded. The spokesman added: "We are confident that once people have seen this film, they will agree it is a well-made and responsible documentary."
Channel 4 defends Lady Diana crash photos
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