Ever since Meghan Markle and Prince Harry made shocking revelations
about racism in British Royal Family among many other appalling concerns that
were raised during American host Oprah Winfrey’s interview, it is the British
Media bearing the maximum aggression.

Also Read: Royal family is not ‘racist’, says Prince William after Harry, Meghan’s bombshell interview

Post the explosive interview, many in the British media industry have
called for introspection after Prince Harry and his mixed-race wife Meghan revealed
that it was more or less continuous media trials and hostility towards the
Duchess that drove them away from the royal life.

There was a furious backlash against the Society of Editors, which
represents senior media figures and organises a glittering annual awards
ceremony, after its executive director Ian Murray baldly retorted that the
media are “most certainly not racist”.

Also read: This is what Meghan texted to Oprah during airing of their explosive interview

“The blanket refusal to accept there is any bigotry in the British
press is laughable, does a disservice to journalists of colour and shows an
institution and an industry in denial,” said an open letter signed by more
than 250, mostly minority, journalists.

Also Read| Who is the racist royal, speculates the internet

After doubling down in a bad-tempered interview on BBC News, Murray
resigned late Wednesday, a day after controversial presenter Piers Morgan also
stepped down from his high-profile perch on the ITV network’s flagship
breakfast show.

“If people want to believe Meghan Markle, that is entirely their
right,” Morgan told reporters, after refusing to accept a demand from ITV
bosses that he apologise for calling her a liar on his programme.

“I don’t believe almost anything that comes out of her mouth.”

Marcus Ryder, a visiting professor in media diversity at Birmingham City
University, said the departures of Morgan and Murray were not enough.

“I don’t think it is about one or two people falling on their
swords. This is just a slight variation of the ‘few bad apples’ narrative in
which racism is explained away,” he told AFP.

Also read: How Diana’s divorce settlement with Charles funded Megxit

“It is widely recognised that racism is a systemic problem, and
therefore needs a systemic solution.”

Anti-Meghan tabloids have, however, remained unrepentant in their
headlines and editorials since the royal couple’s incendiary interview with
Oprah Winfrey at the weekend.

The Daily Mail, The Sun and Daily Express newspapers have largely
portrayed Harry and particularly Meghan as disloyal to Queen Elizabeth II, and
as money-grabbing and hypocritical.

“The world is a dangerous place when only one version of events is
allowed,” The Sun’s editorial said on Wednesday, defending Morgan and
complaining that the couple faced no “meaningful scrutiny” from
interviewer Oprah Winfrey.

But for critics, the tabloids themselves fomented a racially charged
atmosphere in their hostile coverage of Meghan before and after her 2018
wedding to Harry.

In a later communication, the Society of Editors board distanced itself
from Murray and said it would “reflect on the reaction our statement
prompted and work towards being part of the solution”.

For diversity campaigners and journalists of colour, the
“solution” for more balanced media lies in addressing the fact that
94 percent of staff in British media are white, compared with 87 percent of the
UK population as a whole, and largely male.

According to a 2016 study by City University London, 0.4 percent of
journalists are Muslim — compared to about five percent in the wider
population — and 0.2 percent are black, compared to 3.0 percent more
generally.

The result is negative coverage of black, Muslim and other people of
colour, even as the Black Lives Matter movement and Covid-19 pandemic have
shone a new light on how endemic prejudice has led to deadly consequences for
minorities.

“Every institution in the United Kingdom is currently examining its
own position on vital issues of race and the treatment of people of
colour,” Katharine Viner, editor-in-chief of The Guardian newspaper, said
in response to the Society of Editors controversy.

“As I have said before, the media must do the same. It must be much
more representative and more self-aware,” she said.

But former CNN host Morgan, who says he is not short of job offers,
reckons he had the last laugh in terms of the public’s response.

“BREAKING NEWS: Good Morning Britain beat
BBC Breakfast in the ratings yesterday for the first time. My work is
done,” he tweeted to his 7.8 million followers on Tuesday, after resigning
from ITV