In one of her numerous interviews on American cable channels, before she became engaged to Prince Harry, the Duchess of Sussex responded candidly to a question about how she got involved with the UN. She said, she was invited by the UN to join a women’s group, after an article she wrote about female empowerment on her Tig website. Her reaction to the invitation was to ask to intern at the UN to learn and understand exactly what they did, because she could not lend her name to a campaign by just turning up at an event to wave and smile. She wanted to play a full part in any charity she put her name to.
She is following that laudable principle since she moved to the United Kingdom and her marriage to the Duke. The British news media has not tried to understand this powerful phenomenon the Duke has unleashed in the United Kingdom. Rather the reaction to her work ethic, has been characteristically hostile and totally dumb.
It says a lot about the British news media, including the plethora of website podcasts and online news sites, that they pay no attention to the work she is doing for her known charities and others who are thriving by name association.
They would rather report on frivolities than the serious business of helping women go back to work to help their families and reduce the cost of unemployment to the country and the personal satisfaction and empowerment these women feel.
The Daily Telegraph – a broadsheet ‘serious’ newspaper – has a girly magazine, which supposedly supports Smart Works. I was a *subscriber to this newspaper, before the Duchess was made the Royal Patron, until a month ago. Never during that period and now, has the newspaper’s so-called royal reporter gone to the charity to find out what impact their association with the new Royal Patron has had on their work. We would see how Smart Works work capsules would be reported. I am not expecting any change by these despicable reporters. It would be left to the Royal’s communication team to utilise their instagram account to crank up full blown publicity for the capsules.
That goes for all the other charities, which by the way, are doing rather well. The point is that these so-called royal reporters are very lazy journalists, who have been spoon fed gossip and soppy stories by their ‘contacts’ at Kensington Palace and Buck House. They do not cross check stories nor follow-up. They hardly know any other way.
In the the thick of snow last winter, the Duke and Duchess travelled to Bristol in the South West of England to meet charities and the good and beautiful people of that historical city. By all accounts the visit was a success, as far as the local people and people, who watched on television were concerned.
However, a day or two after the visit, a morning TV programme presenter “a terrible excuse for a man” led the conservative tabloid thrash to opine stupidly and harshly on the Duchess writing humane messages on bananas to a group of street workers. According to the gutter Sun newspaper they spoke with one of the streetworkers some days later and she had condemned the Duchess for her gesture. It happened that this woman was not one of the recipients of the food package the banana was included. She used to be a street worker, but was no more and could not condemn ‘something’ she did not benefit. Her reported condemnation was very odd and a sham.
As lazy journalism goes, instead of the journalists going to talk with that Bristol charity the Royals visited, they stayed in London and resorted to writing their usual rubbish and nonsense about the Duchess.
If they had spoken to the charity, they would have found they had received massive upswing of support from North America to New Zealand. The Sussexes had, by going to the charity, and by the Duchess’ natural instinct to write humane messages of support to their clients, ignited worldwide support, including finance. Needless to say none of the newspapers, has since done any in-depth interview with that Bristol charity. Success generated by the Sussexes does not suit their murky agenda.
The same story goes for the dogs charity. TV news outlets reported the official first day the Duchess went to the charity. The newspapers and magazines would, as usual reported on her attire and where you could buy them. The visit was relegated to her carrying a small cute dog. The charity has been otherwise ignored by the news media until the Duchess goes visiting again. However, that charity continues to make tremendous progress since she became their Patron.
The overwhelming fact is that, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex do not need the newspapers to report on their activities. Even when they turn up at events, their overriding interests are to report on ‘bad’ things they only see, but no one else does. They are redundant in the scheme of everything the Sussexes do. It is why their supporters should ignore what they write or say and avoid their newspapers like the plague.
With TV news, there is a convention to report all the Royals, just like our politicians, objectively without bias. The reporters could have personal Royal favourites, which they do, but cannot show that in their reports. However, a small TV station gets around this convention by broadcasting Royal documentaries, that inevitably are always packed with biased nobodies, including Samantha Grant (of all people) that spout ignorant arrant nonsense about the Sussexes, especially the Duchess, who some people in the UK are still getting to know better, even though she has been married to the Duke for almost sixteen months.
The majority of the British public supports the Sussexes inspite of the nonsense these newspapers trott out almost daily. The truth of the matter is that, British tabloids used to throw their ‘weight’ about years ago, but no more. That ‘power’ died with the onset of the Internet and the subsequent arrival of social media platforms a few years ago.
The Sussexes are subsequently in a good place with their charity endeavours. Big corporations from Disney Organisation to Oprah Winfrey Network/Apple to individuals that are engaged in community and social conscious activities are working with the Sussexes. That is a testament to what they stand for and their acute sense of responsibilities.
The Sussexes are charting a new course of Royal charity support, which some old royalists do not understand. Of course this is 2019, if the Royal Family does not adjust to its realities there would be problems ahead. Fortunately the Sussexes are on board.
*PS.
I cancelled my subscription to the Daily Telegraph, when they appointed dog-face Camila Tomney as a Deputy Editor. I did not think my subscription fee should be a very small part of her salary. She is an abominable human being.
Image via sussexroyal Instagram