Editorial: Prince Harry’s unfortunate media war

Prince Harry outside the High Court in London after giving evidence against a tabloid publisher he accuses of "industrial scale" snooping. Photo / AP

EDITORIAL

Someone once said blaming the media for society’s problems is like blaming the trees for the wind. Sadly, Prince Harry must have never heard the phrase. Or, if he did, he missed the meaning.

The Duke of Sussex has suffered through cross-examination in court this past week due to his pursuit of British tabloids, who he claims have unlawfully snooped on his life throughout his childhood and young adulthood. In one of four cases he has launched, he claims that 33 articles about him proved illegal intrusion by publisher Mirror Group Newspapers.

No one is suggesting media don’t get it wrong. The Mirror Group has previously paid more than £100 million ($206m) to settle hundreds of unlawful information-gathering claims and printed an apology to phone hacking victims in 2015.

Of course, Prince Harry has been the subject of intense attention but this comes in the same package as the privileges of being born highly placed in the royal family. Unscrupulous methods in gathering information should be outed and punished.

However, Prince Harry calls his campaign about bringing “accountability to power”. His mission “to uncover this exploitation and bribery that happens within our media” bears hallmarks of an unhealthy need to deflect. His continued protests at media organisations may gain some court decisions but will also inevitably attract even more of the attention that he claims to loathe.

Perhaps the prince needs to heed the advice about the media and trees, or at least that from self-help writer Edmond Mbiaka: “The hunger for attention is an enemy of self-love.”