Princess Diana Death (1997)

25 years ago today. Nine News flash during the afternoon “the news … is not good”.

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I was too young… but I believe Seven had Peter Mitchell go out live during its football coverage. I believe this newsbreak was also shown at the MCG on the big screen.

I’m not sure if the Peter Mitchell newsbreak was shown national or just within the Melbourne area?

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Is there a recording of the match in question?

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Ten would have just moved into its new HQ at this time.

They didn’t have a presence in Europe in those days so they used that freelancer Chris Blackburn for their crosses. It was pretty poor coverage back then from 10. They also hosted coverage of the funeral from here and used the sky news UK feed.

BTQ-7 News intro tonight 25 years ago. Interesting they had the story first then intro

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I note that the great Mike Higgins is the intro V/O

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The ABC uploaded this portion of its bulletin from the night of Diana’s death

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Would the bulletin being controlled in Sydney?

GTV9 often did the national late night updates on weekends back then… I suspect this was extended to accommodate the terrible news. It happened on a Saturday yes?

Full National Nine News bulletin from Sunday 07/09/1997

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Saturday night London time, I think it was around late morning Sunday AEST here.

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I thought news broke (here) in the afternoon… I remember listening to the Essendon/Adelaide match on the radio as it happened? I could be wrong.

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I can remember first hearing about the crash on Sunday with Jim Waley in the morning and that she was in hospital, I remember it as early in the afternoon when I first heard the breaking news that she had passed and then there was significant updates and news breaks throughout the afternoon. I don’t think it was full rolling coverage at that stage back then, but I can’t remember. I can remember I was doing the washing up after lunch when I first heard though.

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I remember waking up to the news about the tunnel crash on the Sunday morning and seeing the death announced on TV later that morning.

As stated above… I think it was afternoon, as Peter Mitchell broke the news. My brother and father were also at the MCG during the footy when a channel 7 news update was televised on the big screen. Apparently the crowd was in shock.

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I believe she past away just after 4am Paris time….which is just after midday in Australia. I would say the official announcement would have been around lunchtime Australian time (1sh). Correct me if I’m wrong… I’ve just google the time.

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The news of the accident came through in the late morning. The announcement she died was after, probably early afternoon AEST. I was out on a drive to Mt Macedon and remember hearing the news of the accident from a shop radio but was on the drive home an hour or 2 later when i heard the confirmation she died.

EDIT: newsflash received from news agencies 1.45pm (I’m guessing AEST)

https://twitter.com/marcdodd/status/1564804552880455680?t=6mSQEbEAtpR3IXc1MFoewQ&s=19

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