Part In The Media Frenzy example essay topic

The Role Of Media in the Death of Princess Diana The Role of the Media in the Death of Princess Diana: Posed is the question: 'where does responsible journalism end and dangerous exploitation begin? This seminar paper will discuss the role, responsibility and ethics of the media in the death of the Princess of Wales. Princess Diana died August 31, 1997 in a tragic car crash along with her companion Dodi al Faced and the car's driver. Many believed the cause was the paparazzi. Later it was found that her chauffeur, under the influence of alcohol and prescription medication, may have had a major part in the accident. This does not however absolve the media of their part in her death.

I'll be discussing her life and how media invaded her privacy from the moment her romance with Prince Charles began and how Europe and the U.S. take a long hard look at the intrusive role of the tabloid media and perhaps restore some sanity and balance to news coverage of public figures The dictionary defines "privacy" as "freedom from unauthorized intrusion". But in reality, the definition is not as clear. Privacy is a debatable issue and the legalities in the case of Diana are still up in the air. Publicity and exposure is what makes and keeps people famous and, very often, rich.

With the kind of money and fame that follows mass exposure in the media, it is expected and understandable that almost every public person willingly takes part in the media frenzy that makes them famous, and in the end caused the insanity that led to Princess Diana's death. We treat the rich and famous as if they really are different than the rest of us. That is until tragedy occurs, and then the public is expected to pity them as if they were one of us. The "buying public" might pay too much attention to the personal lives of the famous but it also wants to hear about the heroic and tragic lives of "ordinary" people and they will buy good journalism if given the chance.

"Regular" people are often much more interesting and unpredictable than the scripted personalities of the rich and famous. And their stories really are just as important. In the days that followed the accident, the media was consumed by a debate about its own role in her death. The obvious irony is that this analysis of the global media feeding frenzy surrounding the Princess took place in the context of a global media feeding frenzy of its own. It's my argument that Diana's death is particularly significant as a media event because it required everyone who participated in it, as a producer or a consumer, to reflect on the role that media events play in real life-to consider their 'reality' effect.