The often lackadaisical coverage of Mother Teresa’s death, coming as it did in the middle of funeral preparations at Westminster, was remarkable even in an age noted for its celebrity worship. Tom Brokaw’s comment was but one example of many. Mark Harris wrote trenchantly (and accurately) in Entertainment Weekly (9/19), “…when news broke of Mother Teresa’s passing, all of television paused for the approximate length of a sigh before getting back on the gravy train.” On the day of Mother Teresa’s funeral, The New York Times featured a minuscule front-page story on the event above a much larger column announcing: “Diana’s Death Resonates Most Among Women in Therapy.” Oh.
The striking contrasts between the coverage of the Princess and the saint were difficult to miss. Like many papers, The New York Times ran acres of worshipful articles about the Princess of Wales in the days leading up to her funeral. All well and good. But that same paper’s coverage of Mother Teresa’s life had an entirely different edge. Usually buried in the middle of the first section, articles about the Saint of the Gutters invariably mentioned her “sometimes controversial” teachings (presumably her pro-life stand, not the Gospels). Also inserted were snipings from one Indian