The August 31, 1997 was a Sunday under the star sign of ♍. It was the 242 day of the year. President of the United States was William J. (Bill) Clinton.
If you were born on this day, you are 28 years old. Your last birthday was on the Sunday, August 31, 2025, 307 days ago. Your next birthday is on Monday, August 31, 2026, in 57 days. You have lived for 10,534 days, or about 252,832 hours, or about 15,169,964 minutes, or about 910,197,840 seconds.
Date: 01 September 1997
By Iver Peterson
Iver Peterson
Group of 28 reporters, editors and journalism teachers issues 'statement of concern' about state of journalism at a time when entertainment or sensationalism is often favored over more serious news coverage; statement will be basis for eight or more gatherings of journalists around country over coming 12 months; statement is idea of Bill Kovach, curator of Niemen Foundation at Harvard University (M)
Date: 01 September 1997
By Amy Harmon
Amy Harmon
Members of group of major news organizations, which includes Time Inc, Cable News Network, The New York Times Co, Wall Street Journal and Associated Press, say they will allow their on-line editions to be rendered invisible to some Internet users rather than conform to rating system that screens material dealing with sex or violence; group says it supports open access to information on the Internet; drawing (L)
Date: 01 September 1997
By Iver Peterson
Iver Peterson
Monterey (Calif) County Herald on Aug 24 became part of Knight-Ridder Inc chain, which already owns six other dailies in San Francisco Bay Area; it is latest example of expanding trend that newspaper industry executives call clustering; concept is playing out in various markets, including New Jersey, where Gannett Co acquired Asbury Park Press and Home News and Tribune of East Brunswick; by assembling collection of dailies within a region, called clusters, newspaper chains can achieve savings on administration, production and distribution costs; they can also strengthen their defenses against competition by offering special cluster-wide advertising deals to big advertisers; map; photo (L)
Date: 01 September 1997
By Sarah Lyall
Sarah Lyall
Many Britons, seeking solace over sudden death of Princess Diana in car crash in Paris, focus rage on country's ever-popular tabloids, whose enthusiasm for publishing stories about her has always been matched by public's eagerness to read them; echo sentiments of brother, Earl Spencer, who has accused media of playing direct role in her death; photos (M)`
Date: 31 August 1997
By Michiko Kakutani
Michiko Kakutani
Michiko Kakutani on growing use of 'jock slang' to talk about all kinds of events; holds sports' permeation of American culture goes deeper than language or gesture; finds it has to do with 'the very way we look at the world'; notes color commentators have made jump from sports broadcasts to 24-hour news, providing constant patter of snap judgments, personal anecdotes and pure speculation on everything from Gulf War to Chinese takeover of Hong Kong; cautions that rules of sport do not work so easily in world at large (M)
Date: 01 September 1997
By Richard Sandomir
Richard Sandomir
Rapid deployment of Fox Sports Detroit underscores rush to control regional sports by Fox Sports Net, a joint venture of Fox Inc, unit of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, and Liberty Media, programming arm of Tele-Communications Inc; Fox Sports Net plans to use growing network of local sports programming to compete with ESPN for national advertising and possibly for national rights to pro sports (L)
Date: 31 August 1997
By Richard A. Shweder
Richard Shweder
Richard A Shweder reviews book Private Matters: In Defense of the Personal Life, by Janna Malamud Smith (S)
Date: 01 September 1997
By Craig R. Whitney
Craig Whitney
French police launch criminal investigation into whether chase by seven photographers on motorcycles led to high-speed car crash in tunnel along Seine that killed Diana, Princes of Wales, her companion and Harrods heir, Emad al-Fayed, driver of Mercedes limousine, and left bodyguard seriously injured; identify photographers as six French and one Macedonian working on commission for photographic agencies; place all in formal detention; will also seek to determine whether they violated laws requiring immediate witnesses of accidents to give aid on scene; say Emad al-Fayed died instantly at 12:35am, when sedan smashed into wall of tunnel; his body is identified at main Paris morgue by father, Mohammed al-Fayed and flown to Britan for immediate burial; doctors at Pitie-Salpetriere hospital say Diana suffered crushed chest, head injuries and massive internal bleeding from ruptured arteries to heart, and died of cardiac arrest at 4 AM; Prince Charles arrives from Scotland and accepts body from Pres Jacques Chirac, accompanied by Diana's sisters, Lady Jane Fellowes and Lady Sarah McCorquodale; they depart for London; photos of wreckage; diagrams of crash scene (M)
Date: 01 September 1997
By Warren Hoge
Warren Hoge
Prince Charles accompanies body of former wife, Diana, Princess of Wales, back to Britain to nation convulsed with grief over her death in high-speed car crash in Paris, in which companion, Emad al-Fayed and limousine driver also died and bodyguard was seriously injured; had earlier attended church services near royal holiday estate in Balmoral, Scotland, with sons William and Harry, Queen and Queen Mother; is accompanied to London by Diana's two sisters, Lady Jane Fellowes and Lady Sarah McCorquodale; brief, silent ceremony at Royal Air Force base outside London is attended by Prime Min Tony Blair as simple wooden coffin bearing royal standard is taken from plane by air force guard; body is taken to Chapel Royal at St James's Palace; funeral arrangements to be announced by royal family within day; mourners sob openly in streets of London; throng arrrives outside Kensington and Buckingham palaces; thousands jam St Paul Cathedral for memorial service; Prime Min Tony Blair praises Diana as people's princess, underscoring widely-held view that she succeeded in establishing rapport with ordinary people with skill that has proved elusive to other members of royal family; says nation is utterly devastated and in state of shock; her brother, Earl Spencer, bitterly accuses press of playing direct role in her death by constantly hounding her; body of companion, Emad al-Fayed, 41-year-old Harrods heir, is returned to London and buried after brief Muslim ceremony at Regent's Stret Mosque; Trevor Rees-Jones, surviving 29-year-old bodyguard, remains hospitalized; Paris police say Mercedes limousine crashed into wall of highway tunnel alongside Seine late at night while trying to speed away from photographers on motorcycles; photos (L)
Date: 31 August 1997
By Craig R. Whitney
Craig Whitney
Diana, 36-year-old Princess of Wales, dies in high-speed car crash in Paris with companion, 41-year-old Emad Mohammed al-Fayed, and limousine driver; bodyguard is critically injured; she succumbs to massive injuries at Pitie-Salpetriere Hospital in southeast Paris; nighttime accident, in highway tunnel on right bank of Seine under Place d'Alma, demolishes Mercedes limousine; reportedly occurs while car was being pursued by photographers on motorcycles after leaving Ritz Hotel; police detain several motorcyclists for questioning; photos (M)