I think the family allowed cameras because they wanted to keep the fans away from the church and the cameras were just throwing the fans a bone.
It also turned this into more of a performance than a funeral. I've been flipping back and forth. A few moments were touching, but most of what I saw was people showing off.
It could be argued that the whole royal thing is just silliness and that they do absolutely nothing to earn their status. They're just born or married to other royals. At least Whitney had some kind of talent.
There is so much crap on TV. There are two entire channels (at least) dedicated to Golf. There is room for whatever funeral people want to show.
My kids knew who Whitney was because I play her music a lot and because every year I say, "Whitney sang it better. I never saw anyone sing it better than Whitney" when they sing the national anthem. My brother once said, "OK, Kali, let's hear about how Whitney sang it better," as the singer was finishing up. "Well, she did."
If it hadn't been for me, the kids wouldn't know Whitney. But if it hadn't been for his criminal issues and freaky-weird pics in the paper, they wouldn't have known Michael Jackson, either.