“Is this the ‘Sussex sit’? Meghan commits ANOTHER ‘royal faux pas’,” read the Daily Mail UK in July 2018.
“Meghan Markle’s beloved avocado linked to human rights abuse and drought, millennial shame,” read Express UK in January 2019.
“Kicking up a stink: ‘Dictatorial’ bride Meghan wanted air fresheners for ‘musty’15th-century St. George’s Chapel...but the Palace said no,” read the Daily Mail UK in November 2018.
These are some of the tabloid headlines about Meghan Markle during her time as a working member of the royal family.
“I just didn’t want to be alive anymore,” Markle said to Oprah Winfrey.
In their first sit-down interview, on March 7, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry spoke with Oprah and told the world that one of the reasons they left the Royal Family and moved was because of the tabloids.
Prince Harry mentioned he was worried history would repeat itself, referring to his mother’s death, Princess Diana — for which he blames the media.
During the interview, Oprah read Markle some of the tabloid headlines including the stark dichotomy between the treatment of Kate Middleton, the wife of Prince William, and Markle. For instance, when Middleton was pregnant and held her baby bump, tabloids called it “tender” and awaited the birth. Markle, on the other hand, was questioned by the tabloids on why she couldn’t keep her hands off her bump.
But, despite discussing tabloids treatment of their character in the interview, after the special aired, the tabloids continued. The interview was labeled “MEGXILE” in the papers.
Knowing tabloid scrutiny was a factor in Meghan and Harry’s decision to leave the royal family leads to questions of what the role of entertainment journalism plays in this situation. And how can we do better?
Al Tompkins, a senior faculty member at the Poynter Institute, said there is a very real difference between tabloid reporting and entertainment journalism, which is important to note.
“There’s no part of what they do, really, that would adhere to what we think of as ethical journalism,” Tompkins said.
Tabloids are in a different business than traditional journalists, and their coverage makes a business out of being critical, he said.
But, there are ways to improve the ethical guidelines regarding this area of reporting.
“Our first overwhelming obligation to the public is to seek truth and tell it as fully as we can,” Tompkins said. Tabloids would have to give up their own needs and realize the damage and harm that comes from their current reporting, he said.
That means sticking to the facts, said Daric Cottingham, USC Annenberg Media’s culture and entertainment editor at large. “There’s ways to cover things that are more salacious and more serious and there are ways to do it in a very ethical way,” he said.
To Tompkins, that means, “You source things, you attribute, you don’t use background sources.”
In addition, journalists have to maintain a balance, “We always have to measure the harm that we cause versus the potential good that could come,” from the reporting said Tompkins. Weighing between those options before reporting anything is the most important aspect.
But while it is easy to blame the tabloids, Tompkins said the media is not fully to blame. “We as consumers ought to hold ourselves more accountable,” he said.
Not only that, Andy Schotz, a member of the ethics committee at the Society of Professional Journalists said that celebrity news tends to get excessive coverage.
“As long as there is an appetite for this kind of intrusion into people’s privacy, there’s always going to be somebody willing to go get it,” Tompkins said.
It can be hard for consumers to look away.
People who consume that news, know what they’re consuming, Tompkins said. “I just think people are genuinely fascinated in the misfortunes of the rich and famous.”
Despite that, celebrities still retain a reasonable expectation of privacy, said Tompkins. But that expectation of privacy is a subjective and situational decision on the reporter.
This creates a feedback loop. Ethical journalism can be a part of tabloid journalism, Schotz said.
But, it takes work on both the reporters and the consumers to reach an ethical and moral middle ground.
“All of us are just humans,” said Cottingham. “Yes, these people are public figures, they’re celebrities, they’re in the spotlight. However, that does not mean their entire lives belong on the front page,” he said.