Media: Diana coverage set record

The death of Diana, Princess of Wales was the subject of more newspaper coverage than even the most dramatic events of the Second World War and set a media record, according to a press-cuttings agency.

The assassination of President John Kennedy and shooting of John Lennon "pale into insignificance" in terms of column inches in the press, said Durrants Press Cuttings, which monitors 200,000 newspapers and magazines a year. No other subject in the agency's archives, which go back to 1880, compared with the coverage devoted to Diana's death, funeral and subsequent stories. "The nearest one can get to this level of media exposure takes us back to the 1940s and the Second World War," said the Durrants managing director, Tony Law. "But while the war was an ongoing focus for Britain's newspapers, not even the major events of the period - the outbreak of war, Dunkirk, VE-Day - achieved anywhere near the press coverage devoted to Diana." Royal births, weddings and deaths of the 20th century achieved only a small fraction of the press attention.