LONDON (AP) – The head of a major British press organization has resigned over his reaction to Meghan and Harry’s television interview – the second senior British media figure to leave amid a heated debate over the royal couple’s allegations about racism and bias.
Ian Murray said he was stepping down as executive director of the Society of Editors after issuing a statement saying many people underestimated the problem of racism in the media. –
Murray said late Wednesday that the statement, in which Harry and Meghan are accused of attacking the press, “could have been much clearer in condemning disorder and that it clearly caused outrage.”
“As executive director, I lead the Association and as such have to take the blame and therefore I have decided that it is in the best interests of the board and membership that I step aside so that the organization can begin to build its reputation,” he said.
In the interview with Oprah Winfrey, Meghan and Harry talked about the intense pressure of media control and suggested that there was a racist element to the coverage of the two-year-old Duchess. Harry also said that the British royal family was ‘afraid’ of the tabloid newspaper, which he said exercised ‘control by fear’. “
The Association of Editors, an umbrella group for nearly 400 newspapers and other newspapers, released a strongly worded statement on the interview, saying: ‘The British media are not of great importance and will not be driven away from its important role in rich and powerful not to be held accountable after the attack on the press by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. ”
But some journalists disagree. More than 160 reporters and editors have signed a letter stating that the Editors’ Association is’ in denial ‘about racism. Katherine Viner, editor of The Guardian, said the media needed to become ‘much more representative and more self-aware’.
Charlene White, presenter of the ITV news, did not want to present the annual press awards and said that the organization asked her to get involved to improve its diversity, but did not keep his words.
“I only work with organizations that practice what they preach,” she said.
‘Since the Black Lives Matter movement really took hold in the UK last year, every institution in this country has finally had to look at its shortcomings and its position on dealing with ethnic minorities inside and outside its walls. But for some unknown reason, you feel as if the British press was released in that discussion. ”
Murray’s resignation follows Piers Morgan’s departure from the TV show ‘Good Morning Britain’ amid a scream over his comments about Meghan.
Morgan, a former editor of pony newspapers, quit on Tuesday, a day after saying, “I do not believe a word she says” in reference to Meghan’s interview. The Duchess told Winfrey that during her time as a working member of the royal family, she was so miserable that she had suicidal thoughts, claiming that she did not receive support from palace staff.
The British media dog said he had received more than 41,000 complaints about Morgan’s comments.