A group of UK newspapers accused CBS of taking the headlines out of context during Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s highly publicized interview with Oprah Winfrey during a “deceptive montage” designed to mislead viewers.
Associated Newspapers, editors of Mail Online, Daily Mail and The Mail On Sunday, sent a scathing letter to CBS accusing the network of presenting adulterated and out of context images as headlines during the special “Oprah with Meghan and Harry” on Sunday night.
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The letter sent on Friday and obtained by Fox News began with internal CBS messages about the network emphasizing accuracy and integrity, but notes that the recent special did not meet the network’s standards.
“As a responsible and honest broadcaster, we therefore believe that you will reject, as we do, the deliberate distortion and adulteration of newspaper headlines in the deceptive montage of British newspapers broadcast on ‘Oprah with Meghan and Harry’. Many of the headlines were taken out of context or deliberately edited and displayed as supporting evidence for the program’s claim that the Duchess of Sussex was subjected to racist coverage by the British press. This issue has not been made apparent to viewers and, as a result, this section of the program is seriously inaccurate and misleading, “wrote Associated Newspapers legal director Elizabeth Hartley.
This image provided by Harpo Productions shows Prince Harry, from the left, and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, talking to Oprah Winfrey. (Joe Pugliese / Harpo Productions via AP)
(AP)
Hartley wrote that one of the most striking examples was a headline “Meghan’s seed will stain our royal family”, which was shown during a montage.
“The original, unedited headline was actually a story about someone’s UKIP suspension because of this and other racist texts about Meghan. The headline you conveyed is not accurate and cannot be considered an expression of ‘creative integrity. ‘It is a totally dishonest misrepresentation of a headline and newspaper article that was the opposite of racist. No one watching the show would have understood that by editing, “wrote Hartley.” The Associated Newspapers unquestionably supports freedom of speech and the First Amendment. We do not believe in trying to stifle debate or criticism on the basis of precise facts. This is not, however, proven to be the position in relation to this assembly. “
The letter then stated that the creators of the CBS special “apparently felt the need to create these headlines in the absence of evidence to support their point of view on a subject whose ramifications are extremely important and harmful” and the result reflects poorly on producers.
“In light of the above, and given that these inaccurate statements have been the subject of prominent public scrutiny in the UK, we anticipate that it will already take steps to investigate the assembly and determine how it came to be produced. In the meantime it remains available to you. to viewers on demand. If you’re not asking questions, do so, if you stick to the principles of precision and integrity you adopt and remove the montage from the footage without delay, “Hartley wrote before adding sample images.
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Hartley also accused the show of misusing the word “niggling”, which she wrote is a common term in the UK.
“In conclusion, the program in its current form does not conform to ViacomCBS editorial policies or align with its stated values. In terms of accuracy and integrity, the program is clearly committed to the inclusion of this misleading montage,” wrote Hartley. “Therefore, I must thank you for your urgent confirmation that the offending content will be removed from the program that is being made available to the public. We also understand that a new broadcast is being planned for tonight. The montage must therefore be deleted before that broadcast.”
CBS did not immediately respond to a request for comment