Page 43 - Courting the Media Contemporary Perspectives on Media and Law

34 Graham White

deep-lying manipulations by the powerful) and those examined by media
commentators, (decrying such theories as the product of a group of
deluded and inadequate fantasists).

INTRODUCTION

The Inquests into the 1997 deaths in a car crash in a Parisian underpass of
Diana, Princess of Wales, and Dodi Al-Fayed, held at the Royal Courts of
Justice in The Strand, London during 2007/8 were in part intended, in the
words of the Coroner, to ―allay public concerns and dispel groundless
suspicion and speculation if, in truth, there is nothing to it‖ [Baker]. The
Coroner noted that, in the 10 years since the deaths, the circumstances
surrounding the crash had been the subject of enormous speculation; ―Books
on the subject fill shelves in public libraries, television programmes have
abounded and newspapers have frequently carried reports and articles, some
almost to the point of obsession‖ [Baker, p. 18].
As a result of this apparent public interest, the Courtroom in which the
Inquest was held was supplemented by a large temporary annexe in the
courtyard of the rambling Victorian law courts in which the public audience,
alongside the representatives of press and television (in excess of the 20 or so
who could be seated inside the court), might be accommodated, watching live
relays of evidence being given and of documents being scrutinised. The
annexe provided seats for 150 and entrance both to the courtroom and the
annexe was controlled on a first-come, first-served handout of tickets early
each morning before the court opened. In addition, transcripts of proceedings
and evidence were posted daily on the Inquest‘s website. The clear expectation
was that the scale of public response to the death of Diana, along with the
interest in the conspiratorial narratives which had proliferated since the
accident, would ensure that the proceedings received massive public attention.
In fact, the Inquest was rarely attended by large numbers of people, and was
for the most part watched by only a handful, comfortably accommodated in
the Courtroom itself.
Subsequently, in the press and electronic media, narratives developed in
which this non-attendance by large numbers of the public became proof of the
overanxious indulgence of the authorities in allowing the Inquest to proceed -
after a series of appeals by Dodi Al-Fayed‘s father, businessman and Harrods‘
department store owner Mohammed Al-Fayed, alleging a conspiracy to cause
the accident involving members of the British Establishment and the Security