How the UK Media unfairly reports on the Duchess of Sussex.
By: Nikki 11.1
44-year-old former actress and current Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle, has been seen as a controversial figure ever since she married into the Royal family. She has faced racist and misogynistic backlash and mistreatment from both the UK media and the general public, due to her being of mixed race. From being said to have ‘brainwashed” her husband Prince Harry, to being blamed for ruining his relationship with his family, Meghan has undeservingly been put through countless instances of being accused of being a manipulative or narcissistic person.
Meghan Markle has openly stated in an interview with Oprah in February 2021, that members of the royal family had even had “concerns” about how dark the colour of her son Archie’s skin would be. This kind of behaviour is appalling especially considering it is coming from a family with such influence and power over the UK and other nations in the Commonwealth. The way they use their platform can impact the way that the media and the general public will end up treating the Duchess of Sussex.
Regarding racism in his family, Prince Harry has stated that “It's not racism, but unconscious bias if not confronted, if not acknowledged, if not learned and grown from, that can then move into racism. And the way that I understand it is that we all want to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem.”
The UK media’s coverage of Meghan has been unfairly negative, especially in comparison to Prince William’s wife Kate Middleton. Kate has constantly been praised by the media over the years, but if Meghan does the exact same thing, the story will be twisted to make her appear in a negative light. In 2018, while Kate was pregnant with her third child, an article titled “Not long to go! Pregnant Kate tenderly cradles her baby bump …” was published by Daily Mail. In 2019, Daily Mail published an article about Meghan doing the same thing, however this time the article was titled “Why can’t Meghan Markle keep her hands off her bump? … Is it pride, vanity, acting – or a new age bonding technique?”7 The double-standard these women are held to is absurd and is telling of the media’s bias towards Kate, a white woman, compared to Meghan, a biracial woman.
Meghan Markle herself has given the media little reason to present her in such a negative way – she has a history of being an outspoken feminist who stands up for what she believes in and is an inspiration to young women around the world. At the young age of eleven, she wrote to a company regarding a sexist commercial they had made and managed to convince them to change the wording of the commercial. As well as this, in 2017, she wrote an article for the Time magazine about the stigma surrounding menstruation. Meghan currently hosts a podcast called Archetypes where she discusses the stereotypes that women all over the world face.
The UK media need to be held accountable for their depiction of Meghan Markle. The hatred she has faced is nothing short of cruel and she is certainly not deserving of this resentment towards her. She is a prime example of the many people worldwide that are portrayed unfairly because of their race by the media. Meghan is owed a massive apology from UK media outlets and this kind of biased and discriminatory behaviour has no place in media today and should no longer be tolerated.
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