Meghan Markle and Prince Harry formally ended their relationship with the four major British tabloids—The Daily Mail, The Sun, Daily Express, and The Mirror—that constantly attacked them in their coverage over the years. Hours later, Meghan’s lawyers filed a response with the Daily Mail’s publishers, outlining how their coverage of her relationship with her father Thomas Markle was overly invasive and distorted to make Meghan look bad.
In legal documents filed today that royal reporter Omid Scobie reviewed, Scobie wrote that the Duchess of Sussex’s legal team claimed:
“The Mail harassed, humiliated and manipulated Thomas, despite repeated requests to leave him alone.””Rather than report on the dispute between Meghan and Thomas, the Mail contributed towards it.””The paper’s report that Thomas tried to contact Meghan by phone and text after the wedding are not true. Other than a missed call at 4:57 AM on May 19, 2018, Meghan did not receive any text messages or further missed calls from her father.” “The Mail has misquoted text messages between Harry, Meghan and Thomas in order to paint all three in a negative light. (The full texts are set out in the documents).””Meghan did not organize or authorize her friends to refer to the letter in People magazine or speak to them.”
The letter Scobie is referring to is the private handwritten letter that Meghan wrote to her estranged father around the time of the royal wedding. Meghan’s friends who spoke to People revealed that letter existed. Later, The Daily Mail’s Mail on Sunday obtained the letter from Thomas and ran selected excerpts of it. Meghan, according to the new court documents, was “distressed” when she learned her friends revealed the letter’s existence to People and also “did not know or believe Thomas would ever share the letter with the media.”
— The paper’s report that Thomas tried to contact Meghan by phone and text after the wedding are not true. Other than a missed call at 4:57am on May 19, 2018, Meghan did not receive any text messages or further missed calls from her father.
— Omid Scobie (@scobie) April 20, 2020
— Meghan’s friends spoke to People as they were concerned about the negative impact of the media campaign against her. She was distressed when she discovered reference to the letter had been made.— She did not know or believe Thomas would ever share the letter with the media.
— Omid Scobie (@scobie) April 20, 2020
Meghan’s lawyers clarified what her real relationship with Thomas was like before in court documents previously filed. They wrote that “the true position is that the Claimant [Meghan] has a long history of looking after her father’s welfare and trying to find solutions to any health problems… she did provide extensive financial support for him, as well as act as primary caregiver for her grandmother… her father did not telephone her to explain that he was not coming to her wedding… her team in Los Angeles did provide him with continued support for which he had expressed gratitude… she had reached out to him prior to the wedding and sought to protect him, as well as to ensure that he would be able to come to the wedding… she did not ignore him afterwards.”
The new documents come after Scobie published a copy of the letter that Meghan and Harry sent the editors of The Daily Mail, The Sun, Daily Express, and The Mirror to notify them that their team will no longer work with theirs or provide access to them. The couple stressed that they believe in a free press and this policy only applies to those outlets because of their past treatment of them.
“It has been said that journalist’s first obligation is to tell the truth,” the couple wrote. “The Duke and Duchess of Sussex agree wholeheartedly. It is gravely concerning that an influential slice of the media, over many years, has sought to insulate themselves from taking accountability for what they say or print—even when they know it will be distorted, false, or invasive beyond reason. When power is enjoyed without responsibility, the trust we all place in this much-needed industry is degraded.”
The couple formally ended their relationship with those tabloids, writing, “With that said, please note that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will not be engaging with your outlet. There will be no corroboration and zero engagement. This is also a policy being instated for their communications team, in order to protect that team from the side of the industry that readers never see.”
“This policy is not about avoiding criticism,” they continued. “It’s not about shutting down public conversation or censoring accurate reporting. Media have every right to report on and indeed have an opinion on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, good or bad. But it can’t be based on a lie. They also want to be very clear: this is not in any way a blanket policy for all media.”
“The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are looking forward to working with journalist and media organizations all over the world, engaging with grassroots media, regional and local media, and young, up-and-coming journalists, to spotlight issues and causes that so desperately need acknowledging. And they look forward to doing whatever they can to help further opportunities for more diverse and underrepresented voices, who are needed now more than ever. What they won’t do is offer themselves up as currency fo an economy of clickbait and distortion.”
This evening Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan told the editors of four major British tabloids that they will never deal with them again. Their letter — written by representivies for the couple and sent to the Daily Mail, Express, Mirror and The Sun — can be read in full below👇🏻 pic.twitter.com/SwF3afIBvG
— Omid Scobie (@scobie) April 20, 2020
Traditionally, those four publications have royal reporters who are given access to the the royal family at events, as they are part of the royal rota media. Meghan and Harry no longer have to invite the royal rota to their engagements and can now choose who gets access to them. The four big British tabloids that spent years scrutinizing their every move won’t be part of that group.
Источник: www.elle.com
