Media top headlines May 4
Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s warning that unvaccinated people could kill their grandma’s and more round out today’s top media headlines.
A columnist for a British news outlet questioned Tuesday whether Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, “got to” CNN, after an international correspondent’s package challenging various aspects of the Royal’s Oprah Winfrey interview disappeared from their website.
The claim comes just over a month after British journalist Piers Morgan said Markle complained to a U.K. regulatory agency about his now-former employer ITV, following critiques he made on “Good Morning Britain” that ultimately led to his parting with the program.
Regarding the Winfrey interview, U.K. Daily Mail columnist Dan Wootton pointed out that CNN London correspondent Max Foster broadcast a “first-rate” report allegedly debunking many of the claims Markle made against the Royal Family.
Foster’s report — 18 days after the Winfrey program — included accounts from former family staff members who spoke about how the Windsors worked hard to get Markle prepared for her unique and high-profile new life.
The report, Wootton noted, was inserted amongst numerous gushing reports about Markle and Prince Harry’s interview and the sharing of their “truth.”
“So notable was the broadcast, I immediately tweeted about it because it was the first indication the left-wing US broadcast media might finally be shining a light on the obvious inconsistencies in the interview,” wrote Wootton on the Daily Mail’s website.
During the report, Foster said that there are indeed several critics pointing to inconsistencies in Harry and Meghan’s account to Winfrey.
The report, dubbed on a chyron as “Royal Reckoning”, began with Foster noting that whichever “side” an observer is on, the discussion of topics such as suicide prevention and racism allegations are serious and hard to argue against. It included a series of 7 challenges to claims made during the interview.
Criticisms described in the now-missing CNN report included first-off that the Sussexes chose Winfrey and CBS to broadcast their interview, rather than fulfill a prior pledge to work with more grassroots or independent media outlets.
Another claim was that Markle never studied Harry online, despite a former friend reportedly saying that she had always been “fascinated” by the royals, especially the late Diana, Princess of Wales — as well as a disputed comment about being married to Harry three days before their formal ceremony.
That claim was seemingly debunked by the Daily Mail obtaining a copy of the marriage certificate.
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In his column, Wootton said the potentially damaging report has been “erased from history by CNN”, but added that a source at the Atlanta-based broadcaster told him the removal would not have occurred due to any outside pressure.
Video reports, he noted, are at times removed for third-party copyright violations or sunset clauses.
But, Wootton added that his sources within the Royal Family consider whether the network “got spooked” by the prospect of upsetting its “woke” viewership.