I mentioned this in several posts yesterday, but it’s worth doing a stand-alone story about it, especially since the issue highlights the fact that royal communications offices are clownshows. The way royal comms offices work is through intimidation, bribery and an archaic briefing system. The Windsors don’t want to talk on the record, or they’ve been convinced that speaking on the record would be a bad thing. The Windsors also believe that they can control the British media – they can negotiate practically anything they want from the BBC, and they’ve made significant inroads to controlling royal coverage on ITV, Sky News and other outlets. It helps that it’s quite common for many PR/journalists/editors to move between working for newspapers, Tory governments and royal offices, often within the space of a few years. It’s all connected, is my point.
What’s funny is that the palaces forget that outside of their incestuous island, that’s not the way anyone does business. When Anderson Cooper said that the palace “demanded” a copy of Prince Harry’s 60 Minutes interview, it outraged Americans and the American media community. That’s (literally) so foreign to us, the idea that any media outlet would provide an advanced copy of a critical interview to the people being criticized. As it turns out, Buckingham Palace also wanted an advanced copy of Harry’s Good Morning America interview, and Michael Strahan pointed out ON AIR (as did Cooper) that we don’t do business that way in America. This also had the added benefit of stopping Kensington Palace and Buckingham Palace before they openly lied about being contacted, which is what happened around the Sussexes’ Netflix series.
It did leave some questions though – questions about whether Tom Bradby and ITV did provide an advanced copy or clips of Harry’s sole British interview, which also aired on Sunday. HuffPo spoke to an unnamed source at ITV who claims that they gave “details” of the interview content to the palace:
HuffPost reached out to ITV’s Tom Bradby, whose interview with Harry aired Sunday, to see if the palace also placed demands on the interviewer in order to comment.
A source close to the network told HuffPost on Monday that the palace was not shown the program before it aired. The source added that the palace was “given details of its content and offered the opportunity to respond, but declined to do so on the basis of not having seen the film.”
Buckingham Palace did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.
Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace, which represents Prince William and his family, previously asked to see clips before commenting on claims made in Netflix’s recent “Harry & Meghan” docuseries.
Yeah, offering details about what’s in the program is standard procedure. The extent to which a journalist or producer offers details or context, well, that’s up for debate. Keep in mind, I’m not blaming BP for staying silent or not offering a comment for the record – that’s their right, and clearly they have some kind of (stupid) strategy they’re playing out. But it’s idiotic for BP’s communications team to go around, demanding to see media outlet’s interviews before they air. That alone should raise serious questions about the cozy relationship between the palace and the British press.
The Anderson Cooper clip has well over 6 million views.
60 Minutes reached out to Buckingham Palace for comment. Palace representatives demanded that before considering commenting we provide them with our report prior to it airing, which is something 60 Minutes does not do. https://t.co/JK98Zzaopk pic.twitter.com/VylhJ7SIz9
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) January 9, 2023
.@michaelstrahan: “Do you think in the 21st century, there is a place for the British monarchy?
”Prince Harry: “I genuinely believe that there is … not the way that it is now.”https://t.co/3H8haerzWR pic.twitter.com/tGeuZocHJp
— Good Morning America (@GMA) January 9, 2023
Screencaps courtesy of ITV/The Telegraph and 60 Minutes.
Who do they think they are, Elon Mush?
I don’t know if that’s a typo but I am down for calling him that forever.
Journalism simply doesn’t exist in Great Britain any more. The media over there is corrupted and corrupting.
Honestly that was my favorite part of the Anderson Cooper interview LOL. Anderson being very emphatic and flatly stating “which is something we never do” was a great note to end the segment on. Also the fact he comes from an American dynasty makes it even better, even if he’s just stating standard industry practice which has nothing to do with him being a Vanderbilt. Michael Strahan did the same and it was nice seeing a black man tell the Windsors to shut up.
yes! and strahan emphasizing they asked while the segment was already airing was just delicious
ITV needs access to the RF, so it is a definite yes.
The sad part is the English press deprive the population of journalism.
They were at the bottom of the annual list of most trusted media in Europe until brexit.
Someone over there forgot that America is no longer under British colonial rule and we don’t answer to their king. Their ‘demands’ are meaningless. (Evidently, they’re several hundred years late with this news.)
We’re independent, and we do as we please (like Harry does now!)
Of course they did! They’re clamoring for first dibs on Katie Keen’s two finger Christmas piano recital for 2023…
Lol! Bravo to our American journalists for telling the royals “not only no but hell no!”
I really enjoyed Strahan as an interviewer. This is the first time seeing this clip of them, I also liked that H called himself a privileged white male without the usual derision I hear from people using that term.
I can’t imagine how freaked out BP and KP are right now, especially the comms professionals. They have to recognize how the interviews are landing. He’s the only one that learned from any media training and now it’s used against them 😂
I can’t wait to see the Colbert interview, it’s going to be interesting. The fact that H can answer hard questions without any hint of an angry reaction, and acknowledge his past choices (drug and drinking) without seeming proud or disgusted is really remarkable, especially with what we know about his family background now.
I don’t how many people saw the teaser which was promoted on TV in the last week, but Colbert talked about Prince Harry’s appearance. He reiterated when it would happen and told people to bring with them Corgis and a stolen artifact from a colonized country!
Would the appearance be pre-recorded then? Colbert does record in New York, and can’t see Harry making it there to make a live appearance today.
I think there are pics of him in NY with his security today.
Harry was there. He was pictured coming in and leaving the studio in NY
I am ready for the Colbert & Harry interview. I did see pics late last night (my time) of Harry arriving at the Colbert studio in NY.
I would think Harry must be exhausted, he is doing a lot of interviews now for Spare.
Is Harry going to be doing PR in other countries too?
Or, mostly US/UK?
The Firm simply can not accept that they are 500 years out of date.
We are Americans, we don’t take orders from you anymore.
In fact, you have Zero actual power over anyone on planet Earth.
Figure heads, living in the past.
I personally think that Canada, being the lovely polite country that they are, should be applauded for continuing to take the high road on The Firm. If the citizens of Canada would start a grass roots “Down with the Monarchy” protest, it would be minutes until Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Australia joined in. Inside 30 days, Chuck and Company outta a job. 💕
Honestly, it’s an extremely low priority for the vast bunch of us in Canada. Watch Oz .
I watch as several UK commentators discussed the UK based Royals having to concede the “lucrative US market to the (Sussexes).” One piped up that the UK spin was making inroads………so these attacks are about the Royals making money in the US and the UK media being able to make money off of the Royals when Willy & Kate tour the US.
Making inroads also means the BM is trying to sell their hate in the US. They want us to hate Harry and Meghan too. For sadistic reasons. They’d like their books and projects and shows to bomb so they run out of money and have to return to the monarchy with their hands held out like beggars. The BBC reporters keep snidely asking how much people will actually want to read the book after so much of it was leaked. Seeing as it’s over 400 pages, I’d say people will still want to read it even after the calculated leaks.
The leaks actually helped sell the book. The day before the leaks came out Harry’s book was #5 on Amazon…after it jumped to #1. So thanks British media.
I noticed that they keep asking how are they received in America over and over. They obsess over these opinion polls as if Harry and Meghan are running for office. It’s madness. I mean the book has already sold over a million copies .. I think they printed almost 3 million in the US alone to sell. Harry will get a nice profit from this. Will it be Michelle Obama levels? No because a lot of people don’t care about the royals but it will be more than all the other royal books combined times a thousand. The goal was to get their story out with Netflix and this book. They’ve done that well.
Problem for them is that you can only make a tour to the US so many times before questions arise especially when your own country is supposed to be a priority.
They will never be that important or interesting here to people. The main reason they got press was because of their association to Harry and Meghan plus it was the first time back in ages.
It won’t be the same again except for when Charles comes because he’s king.
Polo, do you think Chuck is that interesting? With The Crown and Harry’s book, I think a lot of the younger generations have been educated regarding Chuck and Diana. I’m a few years older than Diana, so I saw it in real time. That could possibly be the most interesting about Chuck. Can you imagine if the Consort came here with him?
I just don’t think people will care. They might get a few people, but I don’t see crowds. Besides, the bm keep insulting Americans. I’d be surprised if any of the royals want to come where they may be kidnapped into a cult of psychotherapists.
I’m going to guess that ITV did give BP a copy of the interview.
It’s just arrogance’s at this point with the Royal family they are so used to people the media just doing whatever they say. It’s Ridiculously that they have so much control over the British media and that the media who is supposed to be fair and unbiased will do what the royal family wants . And the public still believes that the royal family is innocent and don’t leak anything at all.
As someone who works in the industry, I guarantee those contracts for the interviews included language that any and all media communications must be in electronic form and Harry’s comms and legal team be copied on everything. If there was a leak, ITV will be sued beyond their wildest dreams.
I loved that. Can you imagine the audacity it takes to request that 60 Minutes give you their whole interview so that you can leak it or misconstrue the
stories?
And the fact that they sent the request to GMA AS IT WAS airing – these jokers are not ready for the American media market, that’s for sure. It’s got a lot of issues, too, but fealty to the palace isn’t one of them.
I’m just going to assume from here on in that every UK-based royal article, documentary, or book that doesn’t explicitly say otherwise was run by the palace for approval.
“HuffPost reached out to ITV’s Tom Bradby, whose interview with Harry aired Sunday, to see if the palace also placed demands on the interviewer in order to comment.
A source close to the network told HuffPost on Monday that the palace was not shown the program before it aired. The source added that the palace was “given details of its content and offered the opportunity to respond, but declined to do so on the basis of not having seen the film.””
Why cant Tom Bradby/ITV go ON THE RECORD and tell us this exact information? Oh wait, I know. They can’t because they would be lying…