Diana at 50 or 70?

At what might have been her 50th birthday had she lived, Diana is still the favourite muse of the fourth estate. It's okay that she's not around anymore to create the news that in the past sold millions if not billions in newsprint. All you need is a computer generated image of the late princess with a whimsical take of how her life might have turned out had she survived and voila you have a story!

There is good journalism and there is tacky journalism, and Tina Brown seems to excel in the latter. For someone who knew Diana and had lunch dates with her, could Brown not have paid a more fitting tribute to her in print? C'mon Ms award winning journalist and editor, were you that dry on ideas that you had to resort to putting a dried up looking Diana on the cover of Newsweek. Of all things the Newsweek - that which was once seen as a respectable publication.

But I suppose those days are over, considering that The Daily Beast has merged with Newsweek to form The Newsweek Daily Beast Company. One can only hope that TIME Magazine does not go the same route.

The Tacky Photo

Pic courtesy of dailymail.co.uk

Would Diana really look like this at 50? I doubt it. At 70 maybe. Ms Brown is about 57-ish, does she look as lined and haggard as this? Or perhaps she has had more botox than what she imagined Diana might have had if she were still alive.

The Fantasy Story

As Brown imagines it - Diana would have remarried at least twice on both sides of the Atlantic, Dumped Dodi Al-Fayed for being unreliable, moved to New York,would have had flings with men of power, chosen Prince Charles to be her best male friend, have Camilla as her Facebook friend, been jealous of Queen Rania and bonded with Carla Bruni-Sarkozy.

Kate Wise......

According to Brown the rising public adoration of Kate would have provided Diana with some tricky moments but she would have had an edge over Kate because of her epic suffering in the eyes of the public. The article also says that secure in her flawless Spencer pedigree Diana would have championed the Middletons against the palace snobs and made Carole Middleton her new BFF.

Well I doubt Diana would have been threatened by younger royals making a mark on the world stage. In her lifetime she had carved out a unique niche - as a fashion savvy royal and as a Florence Nightingale of sorts. To date no one has yet to fill those shoes.

It is likely that she might have dumped Dodi. But being friends with Charles and Camilla.....? Civil maybe but friends? Um that I think would fall under the category of being "Pure Fiction".

For someone who was appointed CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) for her services to overseas journalism and who has been honoured with four George Polk Awards, five Overseas Press Club Awards, and ten National Magazine Awards, Brown thinks and writes as one who honed her skills in the gutter press.

If attention is what she wanted, Brown certainly got it with her controversial Newsweek cover. But that kind of journalism will not earn one respect or credibility and certainly no awards.