Scooped Brit tabloids making the ‘right’ noise

The British media today slammed an Italian magazine for publishing a photo showing Princess Diana’s last moments.

The Italian magazine Chi printed a black-and-white shot of the princess receiving oxygen in the wreckage of the car crash that killed her.

One British tabloid – The Sun - responded by saying “Shame on you”, while another – The Mirror - vowed not to reprint the “grotesque” image.

Interestingly both these red tops had the same image reprinted in their editions today– The Sun had it in its front page – but with Diana’s face covered. What difference does that make?

Isn’t it as appalling and disgusting to Diana’s family members as what was done by the Italian magazine?

Anyway, this incident reminds me of what I had read in Piers Morgan’s The Insider, the autobiography by the former Mirror editor. He recounted an incident just after the Diana accident when some exclusive photos were printed in newspapers in mainland Europe. The British tabloids as usual made much noise about protecting Diana’s and her family’s privacy and condemned the publications.

But then, according to Morgan, these dailies were in actual fact angry because they had missed the chance to print the photographs in their dailies!

Coming back to today’s media anger, how much of it is caused by missing the chance of getting their hands first on that last photo?