The Photo We Werent Allowed to See.

last updated 8 January 2015

United Kingdom

Carol Sarler

There’s “no good reason not to publish” photos of Princess Diana at the scene of her fatal car crash, said Carol Sarler in the London Times. Photographs were taken just minutes after the accident, well before Diana died—not surprising, as it was paparazzi who were chasing her speeding vehicle. Yet for nine years, no newspaper would print them. Then last week the Italian magazine Chi broke “the unwritten pact of the world’s mainstream media” by publishing a photo of the dying Diana, and the taste police “thundered” their revulsion. But why? Pictures of accident victims—especially famous ones—run in newspapers all the time. Is there “one rule for the Princess of Wales and another for everybody else?” Undoubtedly Diana’s sons will suffer, but no more than did Rose Kennedy “every time she saw her son’s brains sprayed over the presidential limousine.” If it is acceptable for the world to see the death of John F. Kennedy, then surely it is acceptable to “peek at” Diana. Besides, deep down, don’t you want to know “what she looked like?”