The Perceptions, Reports, and Effects of Princess Diana’s Death

The death of Princess Diana had a very significant impact on nearly the entire world; which is made apparent by the extensive media coverage of it. Diana was such an influential figure that when she suddenly passed away, it left hundreds of thousands of people in a state of shock and disbelief; not to mention her own family. There are several different reports, accounts, and speeches addressing Diana’s death, all with different levels of emotion, different messages, and different authors or speakers.

The first article we studied regarding Diana’s death was released first in the form of a broadcast by the BBC. The BBC, also known as the British Broadcasting Company, is a major media network in the UK. The fact that the BBC is a reliable and respectable network gives this article its ethos and proves that what it is reporting is accurate.

This article has no specific intended audience; it is meant for everyone in the general public to see. The BBC intended everyone to see this report because it was a very important and unexpected event The report does not have very many instances of pathos, although it does reference how the Queen and Prince of Wales were feeling immediately following the accident, saying that they were “deeply shocked and distressed”. By adding this account to their report, the BBC adds a level of emotion to their article.

The message and purpose of this article is a simple one; to inform the public about Princess Diana’s death and how it happened. The BBC describes the events leading to Diana’s death in detail so that the public will be properly informed. Unlike some media sources, the BBC doesn’t try to exaggerate the story or use some other type of fallacy to gain the audience’s attention, they simply report the true facts. This article, although it is informative, does not portray the full extent of the emotion felt with the loss of Diana in the way that other articles do.

The second article we studied was Queen Elizabeth’s speech addressing Diana’s death, which had more of an emotional tinge to it due to the fact that the Queen had known Diana on a personal level. The Queen’s authority to speak about Diana and her death goes without question, after all, she was Diana’s mother-in-law.

Like most of the articles we studied, the intended audience of this article is the general public. This article uses quite a bit of pathos which is to be expected since the Queen had known Diana personally. The Queen advocates how good of a person Diana was and how much she had meant, not only to the royal family, but to the entire world.

The public had not been addressed in length directly by a member of the royal family until this speech. The Queen wanted to inform the public of the perspective of the royal family regarding Diana’s death. Queen Elizabeth’s message was that Diana was going to be missed greatly by many people and that Britain should unite in mourning. In addition to speaking of mourning Diana, the Queen also identified the mixture of emotions felt when dealing with loss. Diana’s death was hard to cope with, especially in the royal family, which is not only made evident my the Queen’s speech, but also by the eulogy given by Earl Spencer at Diana’s funeral.

The eulogy given by Earl Spencer at Diana’s funeral was the third article we studied. The Earl is one of the few people fit to give a eulogy at Diana’s funeral and it’s no wonder he was chosen to do so.

The audience for this article is obviously the people attending Diana’s funeral and the thousands that were watching it on television and listening to it on the radio. This article is without a doubt the most emotional of the four we studied. Eulogy’s are generally very emotional pieces, but due to Diana’s immense impact and effect on the world, the level of emotion far surpassed that of an ordinary eulogy.

The message in this eulogy is unusual compared to others. The Earl speaks of how amazing Diana was as a person,the way Diana was hounded by the media, her insecurity, and how the mixture of media pressure and self-consciousness nearly destroyed her. The Earl’s main message was that Diana’s two sons must not suffer the way that she did at the hands of the press.

The final article we studied was the Wikipedia entry for Princess Diana. Wikipedia is usually not a very reliable resource when researching a topic like this so the ethos in this article is weak.

Since this is an internet article, anybody can see it, which makes the audience of this article the entire world. There isn’t much pathos in this article due to the fact that it is meant mainly to inform.

The article’s message is to inform people about Diana’s death and how it happened. It also talks about the controversy surrounding Diana’s death and where Diana is supposedly buried. This article is relatively accurate when describing Diana’s death which strengthens the logos.

Princess Diana was loved by many and the many reports, accounts, and speeches addressing her death portray just how important of a figure she was to the world.