Prince Harry’s Team Briefed Media Throughout His and Meghan Markle’s Time in the Royal Family, Despite Claiming the Media Was Against Him
A British journalist tweeted news that Prince Harry‘s team briefed the media throughout his and his wife Meghan Markle‘s time in the royal family. This information comes on the heels of Harry maintaining that the press was against him and Markle throughout their relationship. However, in a new interview scheduled for CBS’s 60 Minutes, he claimed that his family used the media to place stories in news outlets.
Prince Harry maintains that his leaked stories to the press
The Duke of Sussex shared with Anderson Cooper in his 60 Minutes interview that his family leaked stories to the media. “And every time I’ve tried to do it [talk to them] privately, there have been briefings and leakings and planting of stories against me and my wife,” said Harry. “The family motto is ‘never complain, never explain,’ but it’s just a motto.”
Harry discussed how private conversations suddenly became public knowledge. He spoke of when he and his father discussed the couple was willing to give up their royal titles. The Duke of Sussex claimed that the offer was reported in the press less than a week later.
“They will feed or have a conversation with the correspondent. That correspondent will literally be spoon-fed information and write the story,” he said in the 60 Minutes clip. “At the bottom, they will say that they’ve reached out to Buckingham Palace for comment. But the whole story is Buckingham Palace commenting.”
However, one royal reporter says Harry’s claims are far from the truth
NEWSFLASH: Prince Harry’s communications team briefed the media (including me) during him and Meghan’s entire time in the Royal Family, right up to the Megxit story.
— Dan Wootton (@danwootton) January 5, 2023
It’s literally their job.
This is a straw man argument by the Sussexes.
Royal correspondent Dan Wootton tweeted his response to Harry’s insistence that the monarchy worked hand-in-hand with the media. His remarks claim Harry and Meghan also had a part in manipulating the press.
“NEWSFLASH: Prince Harry’s communications team briefed the media (including me) during him and Meghan’s entire time in the royal family, right up to the Megxit story. It’s literally their job. This is a straw man argument by the Sussexes,” Wootton tweeted.
A straw man argument intentionally misrepresents an opposing viewpoint or person to make it easier to criticize.
Harry once said that anyone can be a ‘royal expert’
The Duke of Sussex didn’t put much faith in the reporting of his family during the 60 Minutes segment. He criticized the idea of someone in the press being a “royal correspondent.”
“Royal correspondent is a title, I suppose, that is given to a select group of journalists so that those newspapers can use them and their stories with ‘royal correspondent’ as credible fact, just so that whatever the papers print can come with extra credibility,” Harry claimed.
He concluded, “I mean, anyone can be a royal expert. The whole point is to lend legitimacy to media articles, and they get paid for it. And that sort of press pack of royal correspondents is essentially just an extended PR arm of the royal family.”
