In the week following the death of Princess Diana, the media presented images of the entire British nation united in tearful hysterical grief to mourn their 'People's Princess'. However, despite this emphasis on the response of the 'people', their has so far been no detailed examination of popular attitudes or media coverage during September 1997. James Thomas radically challenges the myths surrounding the mourning with the first ever 'people's history' of the week. He combines a detailed survey of media coverage with analysis of a range of qualitative and quantitative evidence about popular attitudes, especially those of the 'ordinary' people across Britain who recorded their views and actions for the Mass-Observation of Britain project. 'Diana's Mourning' provides fascinating evidence of the diversity, complexity and ambiguity of popular reactions to Diana's death, and demonstrates that far from being united, the British people were in fact deeply divided in grief in September 1997. It not only questions the accuracy of media representations of popular opinion, but also illustrates the media's power to influence attitudes and shape the myth of a nation in mourning.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
" . . . Diana's Mourning proves to be a lively, thoughtful text urging us to embrace the difference, contradiction and complexity of popular responses to the death. Importantly, Thomas writes with sensitivity and avoids the pitfalls of sentimentality and/or sneering. Moreover, it is a welcome addition to the cultural and social history of monarchy and celebrity and, notably, to the significance or the media in shaping our understanding of news and nation . . ." -Contemporary British History (Contemporary British History )
"This soundly researched and eminently readable volume is the first rigorous, impartial analysis of popular attitudes and media coverage and bias during early September 1997. Using the results of a mass observation project, a range of opinion polls, newspaper and journal coverage, and a huge number of secondary sources, James Thomas pinpoints and dissects the range of conflicting reactions to the tragic events of August 31. Indeed, he demonstrates how the British people were in fact deeply divided in their responses to Diana''s death and its aftermath. He shows conclusively how the media, far from reflecting and describing the grief of the nation, in fact led and moulded it. Somehow, the attitudes of those assembled and thus interviewed in the Mall and outside Kensington Palace at the heart of the metropolis were viewed as the reaction of the entire nation. Responses in the provinces were given notably short shrift. In his conclusion, the author contrasts the popular memory of September 1997 with the myth of the blitz in World War Two. Media power, hugely and perilously undemocratic, dwarfed people power, potentially democratic and accountable. This pioneering volume is certainly a stimulating and eye-opening read." --www.gwales.com (www.gwales.com )
"This soundly researched and eminently readable volume is the first rigorous, impartial analysis of popular attitudes and media coverage and bias during early September 1997. Using the results of a mass observation project, a range of opinion polls, newspaper and journal coverage, and a huge number of secondary sources, James Thomas pinpoints and dissects the range of conflicting reactions to the tragic events of August 31. Indeed, he demonstrates how the British people were in fact deeply divided in their responses to Diana''s death and its aftermath. He shows conclusively how the media, far from reflecting and describing the grief of the nation, in fact led and moulded it. Somehow, the attitudes of those assembled and thus interviewed in the Mall and outside Kensington Palace at the heart of the metropolis were viewed as the reaction of the entire nation. Responses in the provinces were given notably short shrift. In his conclusion, the author contrasts the popular memory of September 1997 with the myth of the blitz in World War Two. Media power, hugely and perilously undemocratic, dwarfed people power, potentially democratic and accountable. This pioneering volume is certainly a stimulating and eye-opening read." --www.gwales.com (www.gwales.com )
About the Author
James Thomas is a Senior Research Associate at the School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies, Cardiff University. He has published widely on the British mass media, and is the author of the forthcoming 'The Popular Press and British Politics Since 1945' and 'Beneath the Mourning Veil: Mass Observing the Death of Diana'.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
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This review is from: Diana's Mourning-A People's History (Hardcover)
First of all a warning - this is not a book about Princess Diana, her life or death and only partially about the cult of her celebrity. Much more interestingly, it is a book that analyses the gap between the media coverage of the mood of the UK at the time of her death, and the responses of everyday people, recorded at the time
This was fascinating for me; I largely missed the hysteria surrounding the death as I was living in Singapore at the time. Tied up with work, I hadn't watched TV or listened to the radio for several days so it came as a surprise when a relative called me and in the course of conversation asked if I was going to watch the funeral on TV - who's funeral I wanted to know? Certainly my Singaporean colleagues knew about the incident, but didn't seem to think it worth discussing. An entirely normal reaction you might think - I'd feel much the same about the death of the Singaporean Prime Minister - but one quite at odds to the hysterical reaction in the UK and elsewhere reported in the media. For those who have forgotten, Thomas gives a wonderful synopsis of the media spin - that the nation felt Diana's death personally, as one would the death of a close friend or relative. Imagine the whole nation losing a mother or sister simultaneously, and you have the mass media view of the country's mood. And shame on those who either didn't feel it, or failed to show it. But as Thomas argues, can this really have been the case? Clearly the vast majority of people did not sign condolence books, did not lay wreathes, did not line the route of the funeral procession or in any way display any grief. Might not the media view have been slightly distorted, to say the least? By using the diaries of everyday people recording their thoughts on the events of the day through their involvement in ongoing Mass Observation studies, Thomas shows the real mood to be somewhat different. Yes, some people were upset, but the vast majority either mildly curious about, wholly indifferent to or actively alienated by events. All rejected any suggestion that they should feel personally affected by the death, and interestingly many were aware of and firmly rejected what they saw as media attempts to manipulate their emotions. Thomas has written an excellent book, heartening in its depiction of the basic common sense of most people and even more heartening in how many people are able to see through media hype. If I have given it 4 stars rather than 5, it is because of the sometimes dry narrative and over repetition of the same facts. But a book I highly recommend to anyone interested in popular culture and the media
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