Channel 4’s crass sensationalism

My first job was working for Index on Censorship, so I instinctively recoil from prior restraint of the media. Nonetheless, there is a difference between censorship and humane editing, and the defence of free speech ultimately depends upon society understanding the distinction. I can see absolutely no merit in Channel 4 broadcasting the photographs of the crash scene in tonight’s documentary about the death of Diana. True, the programme-makers are not showing the infamous paparazzi pictures of the dying princess herself. But – in exercising this minimal discretion  – they are seeking to have their sensationalist cake and eat it. I imagine that they are privately thrilled by the row, and part of me thinks that by posting on this matter at all I am merely adding a few cubic centimetres to the oxygen of publicity. But there it is: Channel 4 has had its say, and we should have ours.