British broadcaster defends Princess Diana crash documentary

LONDON – A British broadcaster on Monday defended a documentary featuring graphic images of the Paris car crash that killed Princess Diana, saying the programme is responsible and in the public interest.

The opposition Conservative Party has demanded Channel 4 cancel plans to air the programme, ‘Diana: The Witnesses in the Tunnel’, on June 6, saying it would cause distress for Diana’s sons, Princes William and Harry. Palace officials declined to comment on Monday.The documentary will broadcast for the first time images taken by French photographers immediately after Diana, her friend Dodi Fayed, and driver Henri Paul were killed when their Mercedes crashed in the Pont d’Alma tunnel in Paris on August 31, 1997 while the couple were being pursued by the media, newspapers reported.The film, which features new interviews with photographers and other crash witnesses, includes a photo showing Diana receiving oxygen from a French doctor and other explicit images of the interior of her car, the Observer reported.Channel 4 on Monday said it had ‘carefully and sensitively selected’ the images and that in the only photo showing the car’s occupants, the victims had been blacked out.It said the controversial image had previously been published in the British press and that reports about the film’s content were inaccurate.”These photographs are an important and accurate eyewitness record of how events unfolded after the crash,” a Channel 4 statement said.”We acknowledge there is great public sensitivity surrounding pictures of the victims and these have not been included,” Channel 4 said.Channel 4 said the film was produced by its history department and that it was in the “genuine public interest” to know how the events leading to Diana’s death had unfolded.The Conservative Party’s culture critic, Hugo Swire, who had not seen the programme, called it sensationalist and a new violation of Diana’s privacy.”This kind of coverage must be deeply distressing to Princes William and Harry,” Swire said.”It is difficult to see who will be served from broadcasting such sensational and private material,” he said.Diana’s friend Rosa Monckton called the decision to broadcast the photo “absolutely disgusting.”She said she believed the crash-scene picture was only being included in order to attract more viewers to watch, and accused Channel 4 of orchestrating publicity around it.Nampa-APPalace officials declined to comment on Monday.The documentary will broadcast for the first time images taken by French photographers immediately after Diana, her friend Dodi Fayed, and driver Henri Paul were killed when their Mercedes crashed in the Pont d’Alma tunnel in Paris on August 31, 1997 while the couple were being pursued by the media, newspapers reported. The film, which features new interviews with photographers and other crash witnesses, includes a photo showing Diana receiving oxygen from a French doctor and other explicit images of the interior of her car, the Observer reported.Channel 4 on Monday said it had ‘carefully and sensitively selected’ the images and that in the only photo showing the car’s occupants, the victims had been blacked out.It said the controversial image had previously been published in the British press and that reports about the film’s content were inaccurate.”These photographs are an important and accurate eyewitness record of how events unfolded after the crash,” a Channel 4 statement said.”We acknowledge there is great public sensitivity surrounding pictures of the victims and these have not been included,” Channel 4 said. Channel 4 said the film was produced by its history department and that it was in the “genuine public interest” to know how the events leading to Diana’s death had unfolded.The Conservative Party’s culture critic, Hugo Swire, who had not seen the programme, called it sensationalist and a new violation of Diana’s privacy.”This kind of coverage must be deeply distressing to Princes William and Harry,” Swire said.”It is difficult to see who will be served from broadcasting such sensational and private material,” he said.Diana’s friend Rosa Monckton called the decision to broadcast the photo “absolutely disgusting.”She said she believed the crash-scene picture was only being included in order to attract more viewers to watch, and accused Channel 4 of orchestrating publicity around it.Nampa-AP