Brian Williams; Princess Diana.Photo: Art Streiber/MSNBC/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images; Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images
ForBrian Williams, the death ofPrincess Dianawas unlike any other news story of his career.
“Because she was unique, this was unique,” he tells PEOPLE. “I’ve covered wars and plane crashes and presidential elections and assassinations — this doesn’t nicely fit into any of those categories.”
The 11th Houranchor, who narrates an episode on the Princess of Wales' tragic death following a Paris car crash in August 1997 for theWe Interrupt This Broadcastpodcast, recalls his own memories of that night from behind the MSNBC desk.
Williams was visiting a friend being treated for cancer in Connecticut when he received a word that major news was breaking.
“We still had pagers in those days, and I carried one. The first page said ‘911’ and the second was the number to our assignment desk. I called, and they made it clear to me that I should get in the car and go,” he says. “MSNBC was headquartered in Secaucus, New Jersey, so I had three states to drive through and listen to radio coverage while en route.”
We Interrupt This Broadcast.Courtesy of We Interrupt This Broadcast
The journalist recalls that, at first, it was only known that there had been a car accident in Paris.
He continues, “I sat down in the chair, and the coverage just started. It’s something in my line of work we’re used to — you work without a script and without a net. You have autobiographical notes in front of you. You mostly have to rely on your instincts and memory and knowledge of the subject.”
Brian Williams.Virginia Sherwood/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images
While reports were coming in that Princess Diana had indeed died, MSNBC didn’t relay that information immediately.
“We just weren’t ready to do that. Our standards executives had not put it through the filters that we deemed necessary and were not comfortable going through with the story,” Williams says. “There’s no walking back once you’ve announced that Diana has died.”
After consultation with European outlets and a report from the U.K.’s Press Association, they made the announcement.
“I had no idea what I was going to say. No idea how emotional it was going to be in the moment. This is 36-year-old woman, the mother of the future king,” he recalls. “It is indeed hard after a quarter century to express how big and mythical a figure she was.”
Princess Diana.Antony Jones/UK Press via Getty Images
Even without the modern advances of cell phones and social media, Williams says, “On nights like that, you can almost feel people tuning in.”
“It’s hard to explain, but it’s a strange dynamic,” he says. “These were days when you got a call from a loved one saying, ‘Turn on the television. Are you watching this?’ and you didn’t know exactly what you were going to see. These kind of global village moments that brought people together, that made people call friends and family to make sure they were watching a momentous event — and this certainly was one.”
source: people.com
