Meghan Markle at the NYT DealBook Summit in November 2021.Photo: NYT DealBook Summit
Meghan Markletook aim at the tabloid media on Tuesday — and addressed her own ongoing court case involving articles published in the U.K.‘sMail on Sunday.
The Duchess of Sussex joinedThe New York TimesDealBook Online Summitin N.Y.C., the same day that lawyers for theMail on Sunday’s publishers appeared before the U.K. Court of Appeal to challenge herprivacy and copyright infringement case win.
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Tuesday’sTimesconversation turned to the position Meghan, 40, holds at the helm of the Archewell Foundation, which she started withPrince Harry, 37, after theystepped back from their roles as senior working royals.
“Being a boss — I’ve read great things about you as a boss, and if you read the tabloids, you can read all sorts of crazy things about being a boss,” said host Andrew Ross Sorkin, who is editor-at-large, columnist and founder ofDealBook The New York Times.
“Well, firstly I would urge you not to read tabloids,” Meghan said. “Because I don’t think that’s healthy for anyone. Hopefully, one day they come with a warning label like cigarettes do. Like, ‘This is toxic for your mental health.’ "
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“In terms of this appeal, I won the case and this issue, frankly, has been going on when I had no children at all, I now have two children as you know,” she said. “It’s an arduous process.”
“But again, it’s just me standing up for what’s right, be it in this case or in the [case for economic and professional parity] we’re talking about today,” Meghan continued. “At a certain point, no matter how difficult it is, you know the difference between right and wrong. You must stand up for what’s right, and that’s what I’m doing.”
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.NDZ/Star Max/GC Images
At Tuesday’s hearing, lawyers for Associated Newspapers Limited said they have a new witness statement from the Sussexes’ former communications secretary Jason Knauf that they alleged shows Harry and Meghan indirectly cooperated with the authors of the biographyFinding Freedom. The lawyers also argued that the judge should not have treated Meghan’s letter as an “intimate communication” between her and her father.
Meghan Markle.NDZ/Star Max/GC Images
“These tactics (and those of their sister publicationsMailOnlineand theDaily Mail) are not new; in fact, they’ve been going on for far too long without consequence,” the Duchess of Sussex added in her written statement. “For these outlets, it’s a game. For me and so many others, it’s real life, real relationships, and very real sadness. The damage they have done and continue to do runs deep.”
Her statement continued, “The world needs reliable, fact-checked, high-quality news. WhatThe Mail on Sundayand its partner publications do is the opposite. We all lose when misinformation sells more than truth, when moral exploitation sells more than decency, and when companies create their business model to profit from people’s pain.”
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“But for today, with this comprehensive win on both privacy and copyright, we have all won. We now know, and hope it creates legal precedent, that you cannot take somebody’s privacy and exploit it in a privacy case, as the defendant has blatantly done over the past two years,” she wrote.
“I share this victory with each of you—because we all deserve justice and truth, and we all deserve better.”
source: people.com
