"They don't just report the news, they create it": on Meghan, Harry and the Press

[MrsMaxDeWinter]

The much trumpeted story of the Dior deal is such a classic tabloid creation, isn't it.

I enjoyed this Grazia article that lays bare the utter nuttiness.

First the tabloids report the rumours as though they are true.

"Meghan to sign with Dior!"

No sources, just speculation based on Meghan and Harry wearing clothes by Dior a handful of times.

Then when both the Sussexes and Dior report that the rumours are not true, (Dior spokesperson said they are "nonplussed" about where the rumours came from) they spin it into "Meghan Rebuffed by Dior!"

This has also happened with Meghan's much rumoured run for the presidency: Robert Jobson actually wrote, with a straight face, in his book published in April 2023, that she was absolutely, certainly and most definitely going to run for president in 2024.

I mean any critical person would realise that the timelines don't make sense, she would have needed a fundraising Super PAC by the time the book was published, and in any event, Democrats don't normally challenge a sitting president ... but hey ho, Meghan is running for president in 2024 because a "Royal Correspondent" said so (and they are so knowledgeable about the American presidency) and a tabloid published it.

And it's the same with The Tig. She is going to launch it any day now. She wants to rival Gwyneth Paltrow! Story after story, based on nothing but speculation.

Rumour after rumour, speculation published as "news" to create media stories about a woman whose plans are not known to the tabloids because she and her husband made it crystal clear even when they were in the UK that they don't engage with the tabloid press.

And there are no "palace sources" who can speak with any kind of plausibility about the Sussexes, so the tabloids make it up as they go along, whipping up headline after headline, driving their readers into a frenzy over things they create ...

While ignoring the important news, like the damning questions by the judge in the Mirror Group case, who asked why the journalists, among them Piers Morgan, have not come to court to testify in the phone hacking trial ...

Oh no, that's not as important to report on as Meghan's fictitious Dior deal, completely implausible rumours of her presidential ambitions, and the speculated upon plans to best Gwyneth Paltrow!

https://graziadaily.co.uk/life/in-the-news/meghan-markle-smear-campaign-dior-spotify-faking-interviews/

Back to the header of this thread.

So all this tsunami of negative news about the Sussex's, what's been happening is that the royal family has been spending more money than ever before (apparently even more than the supposedly expensive Meghan). Well, you don't say.

Well, the rota kept that quiet.

After the 'expensive' Sussexes left, the money allocated to them and the Wales did not go down - despite the now 'evicted' Sussexes paying back for Frogmore.

Although to be fair, the royals did cut down on the gas in some of the rooms.
https://www.royal.uk/sites/default/files/documents/2023-06/The%20Sovereign%20Grant%20and%20Sovereign%20Grant%20Reserve%20Annual%20Report%20and%20Accounts%202022-23%20v1.pdf

It's been headline news all day. Nobody's kept anything quiet. They've spent more than they received this year, it's all the extra royal events.

I spend a lot of time watching the news - have only heard about it here 🤷. Maybe print media?

It was on the news bulletins this morning, and the BBC Six O'clock news tonight.I think it's been quite widely discussed in the media. All the figures were given.

BBC News - Heating down but spending up for royal finances
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-66045447
This is the BBC report

https://news.sky.com/story/royal-familys-accounts-lift-the-lid-on-spending-but-do-not-tell-us-their-true-cost-12911387
Sky news questioning the real cost.

Will watch News at 10 👍🏽

I believe it costs us 1.29 each? TBH I would rather spend my 1.29 on them than many others....

The report came out yesterday.
Heard nothing all day. Watched the BBC at 1 and 6 and saw nothing.

I do remember when the Sussexes renovated Frogmore it came out immediately (it was top of the costs on the report, for some reason). The news imploded immediately, despite the fact that we had other more important news.

That's strange, because I saw it on the main news reports today. Anyway, I've copied links from the BBC and Sky.

I'm talking about the BBC news on telly. Now can be found on I-player.

It was on the news at 7pm? on Channel 5 as I was waiting for the doctor programme.

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/royal-family/royal-family-cost-how-much-2023-b2366188.html
Plus this from the Independent. Quite wide coverage.

Although to be fair, the royals did cut down on the gas in some of the rooms.

Now that is a surprise given most of the hot air took up residence in another country…

😂

It does seem apparent that the hot air actually stayed put in the UK.

You say potatow- I say potatoe 💨

Hang on. Nan's woken up 👏

mmhhh.......

ArcaneWireless

My compliments

Some of the MSM have been covering the royal expenditure today for sure but tabloids have deflected attention running the news that H & M have officially moved out of frogmore after a courtier announced it- which they also said is now a greatly enhanced asset. The Kensington Palace apartment which would of cost twice as much still needs renovating, nobody can live there at the moment. At least they got Harry to carry the cost of Frogmore.

The royal expenditure report is a good example of what is in the public interest.

I think the tabloids have been focussing on Madonna or the latest on poor Maddie, from my quick perusal.

It's in the public interest. Yes, because it's public spending. The accounts have been published. No one's hiding anything.
It's been covered by the media.
It's the same sovereign grant amount as last year. Taxpayers aren't paying more.
Some newspapers prefer to go on about Harry.

Same old to me.

The thread is about the press reporting though, and the difference between in the public interest v of interest to some of the public.

For those that might have missed it.
Key points on RF expenditure

– £86.3 million – The total taxpayer-funded Sovereign Grant, made up of £51.8 million for the “core” funding and an extra £34.5 million for the reservicing of Buckingham Palace.
– £107.5 million – Official net expenditure by the monarchy, a rise of £5.1 million or 5% from £102.4 million in 2021/2022.
– £1.6 million – Amount spent from the Sovereign Grant on the late Queen’s funeral.
– £700,000 – Amount spent from the Sovereign Grant on the Platinum Jubilee (including £300,000 from 2022-23)
– 517 – Full-time equivalent staff paid for from the Sovereign Grant, including fixed term contracts, up from 491.
– £27.1 million – The wage bill for staff, up £3.4 million, or 14%, from £23.7 million the year before.
– £2.4 million – Cost of housekeeping and hospitality for the royal household, up £1.1 million from £1.3 million.
– £3.9 million – Cost of official royal travel, a drop of £0.6 million or about 13%, from £4.5 million the previous year.
– £1.02 million – Cost of 179 helicopter journeys made by members of the royal family.
– £186,571 – Cost of charter flights for the King and Queen to Rwanda for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
– £146,219 – Charter flights for the King and Queen’s first official state visit, to Germany in March 2023.
– £25,687 – Cost of a residence-to-residence charter flight for the King, when he flew from Aberdeen to Northolt in October 2022.
– 9.7% – Proportion of staff from ethnic minority backgrounds working for Buckingham Palace, compared with 9.7% in 2021-22 and 8.5% in 2020-21. The target was 10% and is now 14%.
– 16.3% – Proportion of staff from ethnic minority backgrounds working for Kensington Palace. (13.6% last year)
– More than 2,700 – Official engagements by members of the royal family in the UK and overseas, compared with 2,300 last year.
– £5.9 million – Prince of Wales’s private income from the Duchy of Cornwall landed estate – for about six months he spent as a new heir to the throne in 2022-23.
– £6.9 million – Amount of money kept by the landed estate for day-to-day running, instead of going to William as salary.
– £12.8 million – Salary the King received as the Prince of Wales from the Duchy.
– £24 million – The total annual Duchy of Cornwall profit for 2022-23, which would ordinarily have been William’s full salary.