The Duke and Duchess of Sussex or Harry and Meghan, as many people know them, have been in the news almost nonstop since they were married several years ago. While the Royal Family has always been of interest to many Americans, including myself, Meghan is different. She is a modern day Grace Kelly for my generation and younger. She is living the fairy tale or so I would believe based on the coverage that I see in mainstream media, The coverage, however, seems to vary based on which side of the pond you live. The American coverage seems to be overwhelmingly positive and the British coverage appears to be the opposite, extremely critical. Is this because Harry dared to marry an American? Is the British side more accurate because up until a week or so ago, they were residing in Great Britain? Or do the Americans, who have less skin in the game, cover the Duke and Duchess in a more neutral manner?
Since there is so much coverage of the couple. The best way to compare all the media outlets is to look at one recent issue. Since their choice to step down was covered around the world, this is a logical event to examine to compare how the media portrays the couple.
BBC cited in class as a trusted source had a multitude of coverage for this event. Overall the cite did a nice job of explaining the details of what was happening in an unbalanced way. This article provided so much information that I was unaware of before reading this article. Since BBC is British, this coverage felt contrary to the complaints heard about how Meghan had been treated by the British Press.
The Daily Mail, a famous British tabloid, put a very different spin on the decision. Their coverage was biased and clearly felt Meghan was the problem. This coverage was cited as a contributor to their decision to step down and it is easy to see why, especially when compared with the unbiased BBC coverage.
The American press loves this couple for the most part and almost all mainstream media sites had positive coverage for this decision. The coverage was supportive of the couple as well, as seen by the popular morning show, GMA, and their coverage showing all the celebrity tweets in support of the couple.
Last week Bill Maher dipped his toe into the fray and gave a unique perspective in his weekly New Rules segment. I have to imagine his view of the archaic monarchy is likely shared by many. While it felt like a slap in the face to my fairy tale dreams about the Royal Family, it offered an opinion that I had not fully considered.
I think the American media and unbiased British sources I saw, do a nice job of coverage. Since my goal is to be a voyeur into the fairy tale lifestyle, I want the coverage to be airy, light and as positive as possible. The British tabloids can take all their negative coverage and piss off as they say in the U.K.
