Diana — The Witnesses in the Tunnel has provoked outrage and horror in some quarters before it went on air, accused in advance of cynical and tasteless exploitation of pictures of a dying princess to grab the headlines and rack up the viewer numbers. As those who watch the programme will see, nothing could be further from the truth.
The reality is that this is a sober, sensible and balanced documentary, produced by ITN Factual — in keeping with the standards of journalism which have become a hallmark of the ITN name.
You might think I would say that — but I am a zealous guardian of the ITN name and the quality and dependability it must always radiate. Plus I have had the opportunity to watch the programme — and like others who have seen previews, I have not been repulsed. This is actually an important story, and it is one that has not been told before. On one level it is the story of the photographers who were there at the scene, accused of both causing Diana’s car crash and impeding her rescue, detained for days by Paris police and vilified the world over, not least at Diana’s funeral. The villainy of the paparazzi may be the only aspect of Diana’s death on which the Palace and Mohamed Al Fayed are in agreement.
The photos are there only to illustrate the story. There is no gratuitous use of shocking imagery. But, after so many programmes about Diana, is there justification for this programme? Yes there is. The death of Diana is an historic event, on par with the death of John F Kennedy and similar in the scale of reinterpretation, wild speculation and conspiracy theorising it has inspired. A programme which sheds new light on the tragedy is important, all the more so when it manages to bring the sequence of events down to earth. The photographers have been the villains of the piece for 10 years. Now we hear their side of the story and examine the evidence to back it up.
This is good reporting, not sensationalism. I spent long enough working as a journalist in the former Soviet bloc to acquire a deep appreciation of the importance of balanced, investigative and trustworthy journalism — and that is something I know to have very deep roots indeed at ITN. Sometimes it takes time to retell aspects of major cataclysmic events. Before now maybe the world was not ready for this aspect of the Diana story. Right now, seeing the chain of events through the eyes of those whose own lives had revolved around Diana provides a wholly new perspective. It is not one that will excite the conspiracy theorists — but it does add a great deal to the sum of knowledge and for that reason it is an analysis of the historic events of that night that deserves to be told.