In typical good taste, the Italian tabloid magazine Chi today published a picture of Princess Diana lying in the infamous Parisian tunnel and her autopsy sketches. Their publication started a British media frenzy: The Sun, that upstanding bastion of journalistic integrity, ran “SHAME ON YOU!” as their front-page title, whilst the Daily Mirror ran a more modest “Dying Diana Photo Fury”, nevertheless showing a flair for double alliterations…

Warning: This post may cause offence.

So far Umberto Brindani, the Editor of Chi, has defended running the images, which he dubbed “tender”. His defence? “I published the pictures for a very simple reason – they have never been seen before. In my opinion, [the death picture] is not a picture that is offensive to the memory of Princess Diana. As a thorough and informative news magazine, we have merely reported the publication of a book in France regarding Princess Diana’s death.”

Indeed, the book, Lady Diana: The Criminal Investigation, by Jean-Michel Caradec’h, posits that the death of Lady D was the result of a complex plot which possibly included the MI6. The book (and the article by Chi) includes the coroner’s drawings, which show in grim detail the location of all of the injuries found on Diana’s body.

Is is journalism or is it morbid obsession? Or is it, as usual, a way to capitalise on the sorrow of others? After all, our intern had to run to 5 different news kiosks to find a copy of today’s Chi. The old newspaper guy told her they were “flying off the shelves, also because besides the pictures of the fresh corpse, they’re also having a World Cup special.”