Ian Marie, chairman of the British Media Editors’ Organization, has resigned after his verdicts on a recent interview between British Prince Harry and his wife Megan Mark have condemned the industry.
In an interview broadcast in the United States on Sunday, Prince Harry said that some British tabloids were racist and fanatical.
Mary, chief executive of the editorial board, said in a statement on Monday that “the UK media is not fanatical and will not be diverted from the vital role of holding the rich and influential accountable.”
Mary’s verdicts provoked a sharp backlash from many editors, including several black, Asian, racially mixed, and ethnic minority journalists and editors, who set out their objections in a letter to the head of the Editorial Society.
The signatories of the letter also include representatives of the Guardian and Financial Times, as well as the HuffPost web media.
Several organizations withdrew their nominations for the annual Editorial Society Award, one of Britain’s most prestigious journalism awards.
The award ceremony is expected on March 31.
The board of the editorial board on Wednesday sought to clarify the situation, saying in a statement that Mary’s initial statement “did not reflect what we all know that much remains to be done to improve diversity and inclusion in the media”.
In a statement on Wednesday night, Marie confirmed that she was resigning.
“While I do not agree that the association’s statement was in any way intended to defend racism, I accept that it could have been much clearer in condemning fanaticism, and this has certainly been disappointing,” said Mary.
In an interview broadcast in the United States on Sunday, Megan Mark stated, among other things, that she had committed suicide after joining the British royal family, as well as accused the royal family of racism.
Even before the interview was broadcast in Great Britain, news appeared that the royal castle was conducting an internal investigation into allegations that Mark had terrorized the castle staff in 2018 after marrying Harry.
An investigation into the operation of the couple’s charity fund is also being carried out, the media reported.
The interview of Prince Harry and Megan Mark has caused a great deal of resonance in British society, but one of the most popular journalists of this broadcaster, Pierce Morgan, has already left the British TV channel and insisted on television that he did not believe what Mark said.
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