Like many of us over the past few weeks I’ve spent some time watching the documentary that Harry and Meghan have released on Netflix, sharing their side of the story in the media conflict that they have endured over the past six years. If you haven’t watched it yet, or don’t even know what I’m talking about, it’s a hugely eye opening six part series that I think a lot of people would benefit from watching. It makes you understand how the British media works, especially when it comes to the royal family.
The couple dive into how the media collects their stories, from hacking into private family conversations and using minor tip offs to bypass more significant stories about other, more senior members of the royal family. The main message of the series is just another reminder for us not to believe and read into everything we see in the press. Meghan, alongside her friends and family, detail how these false and negative stories have negatively impacted their personal lives – even leading them to consider suicide. Women in the public eye have suffered from constant media chase for centuries, one of them being Princess Diana herself which is very clearly documented in the series as well.
A big topic of conversation is race, and the importance of Meghan in the royal family and across the commonwealth, as a daughter of a black mother and white father. During the show, Meghan makes it clear how she wanted to make a positive change in the royal family, by introducing a generation that better represents the UK. I don’t know how we, as a society, managed to push Meghan away, when she is the epitome of the commonwealth. Raising awareness for issues globally, fighting for change and using her voice to stand up for women, she is everything we needed in a Princess.
One of the most interesting moments for me was seeing how they compared headlines about Meghan, to those written about Kate Middleton. There is a clear dislike towards Meghan, whilst the same writers are celebrating Kate for the same things. In an analysis conducted by The Guardian, they found that 43% of headlines about Meghan between May 2018 and January 2019 were negative, while just 8% of headlines about Kate were. Through that, it doesn’t just show by whom the media is controlled by, but clearly proves how women cannot exist in the same regime without being pitted against each other.
Even though we see lots of change happening in the world and society, one thing doesn’t seem to be changing. Isn’t it time to see laws being put in place to restrict tabloid media to prevent them from publicly destroying our biggest voices? Seeing what happened to Meghan Markle should not be a topic for negative criticism, but a wake up call for women to come together and rewrite history for those who were silenced.
ROARA Magazine 