In the media landscape, anonymous sources have an important place. For politicians and celebrities, sometimes it’s the only way they can share information about themselves, however, misusing anonymity makes it tricky for gaining the public’s trust.
But now, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are the latest celebrities who will no longer be speaking off-the-record through unnamed sources, as per The Telegraph.
The publication reports that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s Archewell communications team will strictly only speak to the media on the record, and if that’s not possible, then they won’t speak at all.
The royal couple’s decision comes after Meghan’s recent privacy lawsuit against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) claimed that the Duke and Duchess asked their then-media manager Jason Knauf to meet with the authors of Finding Freedom, in order to share their opinions on certain events that were written in the book.
While Harry and Megan initially denied their involvement in the book, an appeal by ANL led to the court hearing sections of an email that was sent from Megan to Jason. Said email included information he shared with the authors of the biography which, of course, made it into the book.
The book’s authors, Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand, also confirmed that they spoke with close sources to the couple for the body of work.
“The Queen offered Windsor which the couple gratefully accepted,” the memo read. “They are also very happy to have the space and privacy that Windsor affords. Being able to go for long walks, etc.”
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been actively campaigning against the media’s use of misinformation since they left the royal family at the start of 2020. In fact, Harry has notably worked with Aspen Institute’s Commission on Information Disorder to correct the regulations on reporting.
Not long after Harry worked with the Aspen Commission, they shared a report on the misinformation crisis on their website which also featured ideas on how to move forward.
“For the better part of a year, we at the Aspen Commission have met regularly to debate, discuss, and draft solutions to the mis- and disinformation crisis, which is a global humanitarian issue,” the Duke said at the time.
“I hope to see the substantive and practical recommendations of our Commission taken up by the tech industry, the media industry, by policymakers, and leaders. This affects not some of us, but all of us.”
Of course, information travelling through sources who speak on behalf of famous faces is common place. However, Meghan and Harry are clearly hellbent on changing how things work.
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