Critics See Double Standard in Planned Funeral Coverage

Television pulled out all the stops last week in the coverage of the funeral for Princess Diana. But the funeral of Mother Teresa a week later is getting less than royal treatment from some TV news outlets.

And that has provoked debate about the media’s priorities.

For the funeral of Princess Diana, all three major networks started live coverage in what were the wee hours of Saturday morning on the West Coast, then repeated much of it later in the day. Cable channels that do not normally cover live news events broke into their regular programming for the funeral. And most Los Angeles TV stations dispatched news anchors and reporters to London for emotional tributes to the charity and humanitarian efforts of “the peoples’ princess.”

But none of the local stations that sent reporters to London for Princess Diana’s funeral--including KCBS-TV Channel 2, KNBC-TV Channel 4, KTLA-TV Channel 5, KABC-TV Channel 7 and KCAL-TV Channel 9--is staffing the funeral in Calcutta.

Nor are cable’s A&E;, Lifetime and E! Entertainment Television, all of which provided live coverage of Princess Diana’s funeral. “We’re just leaving it up to the other news organizations to cover,” said a Lifetime spokeswoman.

The procession for the funeral of Mother Teresa--the diminutive Nobel Prize-winning nun who died last Friday after a life of ministering to the poor, afflicted and dying throughout the world--is scheduled to start around 8:30 tonight (PDT), with the funeral set for 9:30 p.m.

ABC, NBC and CBS have dispatched Peter Jennings, Tom Brokaw and Dan Rather, respectively, to Calcutta, where they will anchor their nightly newscasts tonight, report for other network news shows and then cover the funeral. But the funeral proceedings on those networks will be seen live only on the East Coast and in the Central time zone. Viewers on the West Coast will see it on tape delay at 11:35 p.m. or later so that prime-time schedules and local newscasts will not be interrupted.

The contrast between the coverage of the two funerals has ignited criticism from some TV executives and media critics, who say it demonstrates the importance given to celebrity as opposed to real accomplishment.

“The balance of coverage given Mother Teresa as opposed to Princess Diana doesn’t speak well for TV news,” said Edwin Guthman, professor of journalism at USC. “The coverage is totally dictated by what they think the audience wants. They are walking away from their responsibilities as journalists in a free society. It’s so evident that celebrity carries more weight with them.”

Others contend that Mother Teresa’s funeral will still be getting far more coverage than it might have had it not occurred in such close proximity to Diana’s. Some TV executives and industry observers say that the networks have been “embarrassed” into sending their main anchors because of criticism surrounding the flood of coverage about Princess Diana’s death.

“Honestly, we wouldn’t be sending all of our anchors and covering Mother Teresa’s funeral so extensively if it weren’t for all the Diana coverage,” said one network news executive who requested anonymity. “We’d be strongly criticized if we didn’t cover Mother Teresa in a big way.”

Said another network executive: “I think the network news divisions may be overcompensating, having been criticized for doing so much coverage of Princess Diana.”

ABC’s Jennings said TV news is in a no-win situation: “Mother Teresa’s death has not led to the worldwide frenzy that led us to break into coverage [for Diana]. Given the extent to which the media covered Princess Diana, we will invariably be criticized for our coverage of Mother Teresa. But Mother Teresa is a very important story, and I don’t think the two should be compared.”

CBS News President Andrew Heyward said that the broadcast networks probably would not be doing so much coverage of Mother Teresa’s funeral had it not been for the coverage of Princess Diana. But he disagreed with the notion that the networks had been shamed into it.

“I don’t think it’s accurate to characterize that as being ‘embarrassed into’ covering the funeral of Mother Teresa,” Heyward said. “All news stories occur in a context. The death of Mother Teresa would be an important story under any circumstances. But it may have had even more impact on the public, coming so soon after the death of Diana.”

Even those who criticized the networks for their Princess Diana coverage said that, to be fair, there are major differences in the two stories.

Bob Lichter, president of the Center for Media and Public Affairs in Washington, said: “There were elements of the Diana story that made it of tremendous interest: her role as a celebrity with whom many in the public identified, the extraordinary impact of her death on British society and the monarchy, the shocking nature of her unexpected death.

“Mother Teresa is a more traditional figure who lived a long life and is eulogized for her good works. Mother Teresa represents a tradition of service to a cause greater than the self. Diana represents the mythic inflation of the self. Guess which one resonates with the public?”

Lichter added: “TV is the whipping boy for dissatisfaction with the media. But I doubt whether the funeral of Mother Teresa will get the same amount of coverage in print as Diana. Newspapers were just as egregious in their coverage of Diana as TV.”

John Culliton, vice president and general manager of KCBS-TV, which sent anchor Ann Martin to the Princess Diana proceedings, defended his station’s approach to the two stories.

“The way in which we lost Diana affected the style in which she was covered,” Culliton said. “There was a certain pop culture aspect to Diana. This country got to know her. Yes, both of them did good work, but people knew her better than Mother Teresa. What happened in the media was our reaction to what was happening with the public.”

Sheryl Fair, KABC-TV news director, said it was a matter of logistics. “It’s not because we don’t want to go to Calcutta,” Fair said. “But it’s just a whole lot different broadcasting out of Calcutta than out of London. Logistically it’s almost impossible to deal with.”

KCAL-TV news director Dennis Herzig said: “These are both very tragic events. But there’s a point where you have to make a decision, and we were not in a position to send anyone to Calcutta. But we are giving the story major play.” KCAL will provide extensive live coverage of the funeral during tonight’s regularly scheduled newscasts.

CNN, C-SPAN, MSNBC and Fox News Channel will broadcast the funeral live starting around 9:30 p.m., and some coverage will begin before the service.

KTLA will cover the proceedings during its 10 p.m. newscast. KTTV officials said they had not yet decided how they will handle the coverage.

Spanish-language station KMEX-TV Channel 34 will air a taped-delay broadcast of the funeral starting at midnight.

Radio stations KNX-AM (1070) and KFWB-AM (980) will both broadcast the funeral proceedings live. KABC-AM (790), which broadcast Princess Diana’s funeral, will air periodic updates of Mother Teresa’s ceremony.