“My job is to tell how the media is exploiting us,” says Prince Harry in the Netflix documentary he made with his wife. Open any British tabloid and you’ll read a negative story about Harry and Meghan. Where does the apparent hatred come from? And why does this sensational coverage continue?
“Ik ben ervan overtuigd dat mijn vrouw een miskraam heeft gekregen door wat de Mail deed”, zegt prins Harry in het slot van de Netflix-serie. “Alle stress die ze had, al het slaaptekort, dat kwam door hen.”
Zomaar drie krantenkoppen van Daily Mail, stuk voor stuk in vette, grote letters afgedrukt op de voorpagina:
- “Hoe donker wordt de huid van hun baby?”
- “Meghan maakte Kate aan het huilen”
- “Meghan, wie denk je wel niet dat je bent?”
En het is lang niet het enige medium dat zich hieraan schuldig maakt. Het gebeurde vorige week nog, toen Top Gear-presentator Jeremy Clarkson in The Sun een haatdragende column over Markle schreef.
Waar de kranten in Nederland hun inkomsten vooral uit abonnementen halen, moeten de Britse tabloids het vooral van losse verkopen hebben. Titels als Daily Mail en Daily Express merken dat mensen sneller een exemplaar meenemen als er een sensationele kop op de voorpagina staat, vertelt Chris Frost, woordvoerder van de National Union of Journalists (de Britse variant van de Nederlandse Vereniging voor Journalistiek) aan NU.nl.
Frost, ook werkzaam als hoogleraar journalistiek, legt uit dat de meeste Britse kranten kampen met een enorme daling van verkopen. “Tientallen jaren geleden verkochten ze nog miljoenen exemplaren per dag. Inmiddels halen ze het miljoen niet meer”, zegt hij. “Daar worden ze wanhopig van.”
“Everyone knows the British royals”
To seduce those readers, hysterical headlines about British royalty are often chosen. And above all on Meghan and Harry, who have also decided to leave the United Kingdom for this reason. Frost: “The family is a celebrity phenomenon. Everyone knows them. You can always write something about them.” Articles about the royal family increased when Princess Diana married Charles. “He was the first charming guy there and he made the family interesting.”
Newspapers were full of (negative) stories about Diana and photographers followed her everywhere. With a fatal consequence: in 1996 the princess died in a car accident. The car she was in was chased by cars carrying photographers, resulting in a fatal collision.
Often action can only be taken when the stories have been completely made up.
“My biggest fear is that history will repeat itself,” Harry said in 2019. The prince and his wife have since launched a lawsuit against Sunday mail, because the tabloid had published a private letter from Meghan to her father. “I lost my mother and now I see that my wife is also a victim.”
Where do those constant attacks on Meghan actually come from? Many messages have a racist undertone. Frost acknowledges that racism plays a role in the articles about the prince’s wife. “But I actually think hate has more to do with status,” Frost thinks. “Meghan is American, she doesn’t come from an aristocratic family, but she’s part of it now – and the British have a problem with that. They don’t accept that, they don’t think she belongs to the British royal family.”
And so sensational and incriminating pieces are written. According to Frost, because there are no clear rules about what is allowed and what is not. “Often action can only be taken when the stories are completely made up. Then the family starts lawsuits, which they almost always win.”
“The government must have more courage”
What often follows is revenge. For example, if Meghan and Harry win a lawsuit from Daily mail, which creates even more sensational messages about the couple. “We notice that this is a problem for some journalists,” says the president of the journalists’ union. “Not everyone agrees with this attitude. But if your employer says, ‘I want you to write this story or you’ll lose your job,’ then they have no choice. They also have to pay the bills.”
In 2011, things seemed to be changing in the British press landscape. Then it turned out that the tabloid World news hacked into a murdered girl’s phone, so Prime Minister David Cameron decided to investigate. He wanted to see how ethical the press was and how he treated other people’s privacy. A watchdog was therefore created to monitor when borders are crossed.
But despite the fact that newspapers regularly cross the line, according to Frost, the media watchdog is unlikely to take any action. “They look at the complaints and at most shout, ‘You were mean.’ Occasionally a rectification is requested, but it goes no further. I find it sad.”
Tabloid toxicity gets full attention again through Meghan and Harry documentary. But for now, little seems to be changing in the British media landscape, says Frost. “The only thing that can help is for the government to have more guts.”
“The government is extremely conservative,” continues the professor. “And she fears it will affect the upcoming election. Because if you blame the British press, you can be sure they will retaliate and write negatively about you. The media is the only friend politicians have – they dare not destroy that bond» .
