Chairman Ian Murray of the important British journalists’ association Society of Editors has resigned on Wednesday. That happened after a storm of criticism of his reactions to Meghan Markle’s statements about the way the British media have treated her and Prince Harry.
–
Murray is the second big name in the British media world to step down in the wake of Meghan and Harry’s high-profile interview with American talk show host Oprah Winfrey last weekend. He says he takes responsibility as chairman so that the association’s reputation can be rebuilt.
Murray had claimed in a statement from the union that there is no racism in the British media, something Meghan and Harry claimed in their interview – a claim he called an “unacceptable attack.” Following the statements, several major media and other stakeholders said they were distancing themselves from the reaction and the presentation of the National Press Awards, which the Society of Editors is organizing at the end of March.
The union then issued a supplement that the original statement “was not in line with what we all know, which is that there is still a lot to be done in the media when it comes to diversity and inclusion.”
Murray insists he did not want to defend racism and that the press has a ‘proud history of denouncing racism’, but admits that the statement ‘could have been much clearer in condemning racism’ and that the British media still have a lot of work to do on inclusion and diversity.
At Piers Morgan
The British channel ITV said goodbye to top presenter Piers Morgan on Tuesday, who had said on the channel that he did not believe the stories about the psychological pressure that Meghan had experienced at the British court. He was “sick of the shameful interview.”
Meghan said she had considered suicide because she did not receive any support from the Windsors, when she did ask. The British TV watchdog received more than 41,000 complaints about the comments made by the now ex-presenter of the morning show Good Morning Britain.
– .
