Tina Brown: You Ask The Questions

Do we really need to hear more about Diana? Why won't you let the poor woman rest? CAROLINE NEWEY, by email

There's been a lot of noise but not enough understanding. I wanted to write a book that saw her in the context of the society forces that shaped her and document the celebrity culture she moved into.

Was Diana murdered? PHIL SHARP, by email

Categorically NO. She died because she was in a car with a drunk driver and she was wearing no seat belt.

Would you abolish the monarchy? GEOFFREY WATT, by email

No, except on the grounds of cruelty to animals. Their caged existence in the multimedia era is more intolerable than it may be possible to bear.

You - or your publicists - have successfully created the impression that you were a friend of the late Princess, with endless references to a couple of meetings you had with her. Yet Diana was always assiduous at cultivating editors with occasional lunches. What makes you think that made you a friend rather than merely a useful acquaintance? FRANCIS LEESON

I don't think I was a friend and never have said so. I have always spoken of her as an acquaintance who met her as a working editor. As you say, she regularly met with high-profile editors to promote her story; I was one of them.

If you had stayed in Britain, what do you think you would be doing now? Was British journalism just too small a playground for you? DAVID MILTON, Bristol

If I stayed in Britain I'd probably doing very much what I have been doing in the US, editing and writing. Those are my passions and I'd probably be doing them on the moon if I emigrated there. England too small? No, just too familiar. I wanted the excitement of new adventure. The great thing about America is it's too big to ever feel bored.

What did you learn from the failure of Talk magazine? ALEX WILLIAMS, by email

Be careful what you wish for. I wanted a stake in my own venture rather being a salaried employee. Then I realised how exceedingly nice it was to be an employee who could leave whenever I wanted. The unspoken horror of being an entrepreneur is that you can't pack a bag and say, "I'm off".

Do you ever talk to Harvey Weinstein? ELLEN GOOD, by email

Often. He came to my book launch party in New York and I just received an email 10 minutes ago congratulating me on A N Wilson's review in The Sunday Times. We are on good terms these days. It's old history now and everyone makes mistakes including both of us.

Is it possible to put together a high-profile publication without money? STEPHEN WALKER, by email

Sadly no, despite all romantic dreams otherwise. Media today is just so expensive, just getting on to a news stand. That's why I'd advise doing it online instead. There you can do it cheaply and swiftly, reinventing as you try to get it right.

What is your biggest regret? NICK COOPER

That my mum isn't here to see The Diana Chronicles published. She would have so enjoyed it.

Is there a future for the print media? SIMON THORPE, by email

Yes, but in a very targeted and niche-related way. I think people will always like the choice, just as radio wasn't killed off by television.

Of working journalists, which do you admire the most in the US, and which do you admire the most in the UK? BEN HARRIS, in the US

Very much admire Steve Brill who started the American Lawyer and Court TV. Jann Wenner who started Rolling Stone magazine. Michael Kinsley, the great columnist, former editor of the New Republic and founder of SLATE the online magazine. The most in the UK, well, it takes a lot to beat my very own husband Harold Evans, whose Sunday Times was the golden era of investigative journalism.

Will your friend Hillary Clinton be the next President of the United States? If not, who? ROBERT MILLER

Hillary is a formidable force but she may also be the only Democrat who can lose the general election since opinion still remains so divided. Fascinating to see Mayor Bloomberg of New York moving towards running as an Independent. He would be a superb candidate but Independents never have won yet. Gore is still my hope that he will enter the lists. After all, he won last time, he'd just be running for re-election

You hosted dinners for Tony Blair when he first came to the US as Prime Minister. Did you ever imagine he would end up as Bush's lapdog? OLIVER DERRICK

Blair followed Bush out of genuine conviction I do believe. The mystery is why he is not more angry about the horrifying incompetence in the way his ally prosecuted the war.

What single issue of the New Yorker are you the most proud of? MARK CAVENDISH

Perhaps the Black Issue where we assembled an incredible roster of African-American talent linked to a seminar at Harvard with many writers who continued to write afterward.

Is there a secret to succeeding in New York? How does being British help? EDWYN SUCH

There is no secret to succeeding in New York except succeeding. It's a town of winners and losers and nothing in between. No, being British doesn't really help. Winning is the only thing that helps.

Is there more of a buzz about London these days than New York? Which is the more civilised city? JO DAVEY

New York is the more civilised city at present. Very little crime and though expensive not as cripplingly prohibitive as London.

What's your favourite New York restaurant? MICHAEL MACDONALD

Michael's on West 55th Street. Just a fabulous, humming commissary for the New York media.

Do you ever wish your children had grown up in London rather than New York? RUTH PRIEST, by email

Sometimes I wish that but, contrary to the myth, New York schools are fantastic. They combine the rigour of the British system with the outward-going, more relaxed and personal adaptation of the American way.

Is the British media a feral beast? And the US media? ALAN ROBERTS

The British media is indeed a feral beast and America is the feral beast that never sleeps.

Are you friends with Anna Wintour? What's she like? SARAH YOUNG

I don't see much of Anna only because the fashion world has never interested me much. Whenever we do cross paths we are on genial terms.

Do you work out every day? SALLY BRIDGE

Yup, or I become a feral beast.

Tina Brown's The Diana Chronicles is published by Century at £18.99