The selected “real life” event was the news that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, also referred to as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, has decided to step back from the royal duties. The story was covered in both digital and traditional media outlets due to the impact it was expected to have. The story was first released in late February with media outlets stating that the couple would do their last official duty on 31 March 2020 (English, 2020). One of the reasons why this particular news was selected was the history of how the media reported the couple’s relationship with the royal family, the manner in which the news was released, and the repercussions of the same. It is critical to note, as English (2020) explains, that Meghan and Harry have suffered negative publicity, with much of this directed to Meghan due to the fact that she is not of royal blood. The additional fact that Harry’s mother, the late Princess Diana, had also suffered under the weight of her responsibilities and expectations of a royal made the split from the royal family more interesting.
This essay will analyze the media content surrounding the news based on a collection of secondary sources. As mentioned, the news was covered across various media platforms such as both local and international TV, newspapers and radios; and also digital platforms. All these platforms are aimed at reaching different types of media users. In particular, the essay will analyze media content relating to the assumed reasons for the split between the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and the royal family. Several academic studies will be used in this analysis to bring out a clear picture of the bias that was used in the selected media content. Qualitative analysis will be used to analyze the theoretical/scholarly literature and will focus on culture, bias, and acceptance. The justification for this is the fact that the story had personal implications to a young family as well as traditional and political to two of the world’s largest countries both in size and economy. Additionally, the framing theory will be used to explain how the media perceived and presented their form of “reality” to the public.
Literature Review
Schildkraut and Gruenewald (2019) argue that framing of messages is critical in shaping how the target market perceives and interprets information. There are several reasons why media outlets frame their messages differently according to Maalej (2019). The first is for agenda setting, which is defined as the manipulation of relevance that is placed on information for public consumption. Using this reason, one can argue that different media outlets can have the same story but use different words and tones to reach out to their readers based on what they want those readers to believe (Cohen, 2015). Agenda setting has mainly been used for political reasons (Protess & McCombs, 2016). In various countries, media is used to reach out to different people with texts meant to manipulate their reasoning to vote for a specific person. Guo and McCombs (2019) give the example of Cambridge Analytica, a media consulting company, that has been accused of interfering with elections in different countries using the same approach. According to Fink, Hausmann, and Di Minin (2020) framing has also been used in digital media outlets to shape how people react online.
Critically, the evaluation of human relationships, whether political or social, can also be affected by framing. Hansen and Cox (2015) explain that different forms of human interaction can be shaped by how the media perceives those said relations. According to Moghaddam (2017), this has mainly affected political relationships but can also affect social ones. For example, friendships between political leaders can be used to communicate good international relations regardless of whether there are policies to this effect. King-O’Riain (2019) goes further to argue that even though people think of migration as the complete movement from one part to another, marriages offer an interesting look into the concepts of migration. The study focuses on the marriage of Price Hillary and Meghan Markle in regards to the framing of messages about their relationship in the media. According to Jarrett (2017), marriage into the royal family often meant that one had to marry a fellow royal. In the event that a royal member wants to marry someone who is not considered to be of royal blood, he or she has to ask for permission from Her Majesty the Queen. Princess Margaret, the Queen’s sister was also meant to marry a soldier, but could not acquire permission from the Queen for the same. This example just goes to show how marriage is not only viewed as sacred but also important for the sanctity of the throne and royal family.
Media Content Analyzation
The media content that was analyzed was collected from various digital media outlets. It is important to note that even though the news story was also released via traditional media, for the purpose of this assignment, only the online versions will be analyzed. Some of the outlets where the media content was pulled from include Washington Post, PBS, The Guardian and The Sun among others. there are various rationales that can be given on why the selected media content was preferable for the assignment. The first is the fact that the story raised a lot of interest among the public. Apart from the two countries involved (where the couple was coming from), other parties were also deeply involved in the growth of the story. Additionally, there are parties that were invested in how the story was told rather than the impact of the story itself. First, the fans of Meghan Markle (as she was an actress before her wedding to Prince Harry) were an integral audience for the news. Secondly, international players also followed keenly in order to anticipate any political fall-outs that would have been experienced in case the split was not amicable. a second rationale for the media content selected is that it was widely reported across different types of media. The news was reported in local news outlets all over the world, not just in the US and the UK.
Since all the media content used was found online, all the data was collected digitally. Critically, all the information used in this study was collected from secondary sources and a proper citation was used to give credit to the owners of the information. The collected information was sourced online using various search engine optimization strategies. For instance, the use of keywords proved useful in attaining the information needed. whereas there are few studies that have fully analyzed the marriage between Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, and their split, there are numerous studies on marriage within the royal family.
It is important to note that Meghan Markle was not considered a royal at the time of her marriage to Prince Harry. In fact, newspaper, TV and digital media platforms argued that she was not best placed to marry a Prince. According to blogs such as News Talk and The Sun, Meghan did not fit within the royal family. For example, the newspaper The Sun insisted on calling Meghan, former reality star (Kavanagh & Pemberton, 2019) instead of her official title.
The issue of race has also been used in media content revolving around Meghan and Prince Harry. It is interesting to note that US-based media focused more on the issue of race in the royal family compared to UK media content. For example, PBS stated that suspected racial bias in the royal family put the UK at a crossroads (Vinopal, 2020). Additionally, Hatzipanagos (2020) of the Washington Post argues that social class and title were not enough to protect Meghan from racism in the UK. It is assumed that this racism was not only from the UK citizens but also from the royal family (Nicoll, 2019). English (2020) goes further to suggest that racism, and the failure to report the racism among media outlets in the UK, led to the decision to split from the royal family.
Concerns about the role the death of Princess Diana played in the relationship between Prince Harry and the royal family have also been used to explain the predicament they found themselves in. Mulkerrins (2020) argues that Prince Harry felt that his wife was being treated in the same manner as his mother. Due to the fact that Princess Diana died when Harry was young, Nicoll (2019) believes that Prince Harry felt that even though he could not protect his mother, he was in a position to protect both his wife and child from the negativity associated with the royal family.
It is critical to point out that the split from the royal family also had political implications between the US and the UK. The first political implication was revealed by the media when President Trump, the President of the US did not receive an invite to the royal wedding (Yeginsu, 2018). Media outlets reported that although Meghan and Prince Harry wanted to invite former President Obama and First Lady Michelle, they could not because they did not want to invite current US President, Donald Trump (Yeginsu, 2019).
Qualitative content analysis was the chosen method of data analysis in this study. the approach allows one to interpret and describe themes and events. This was the best approach due to the fact that all the data that was used for the study was from secondary sources. One of the advantages of qualitative content analysis is that it focuses on communication in its entirety. This means that it focuses on text, images and even videos as documented. Secondly, the approach allows for the inclusion of cultural and traditional practices that might affect the study. In this case, this strength of the approach is particularly important due to the numerous traditional practices of the royal family. The approach was also appropriate for this study because it is the best approach for assessing human interactions.
Results
As mentioned previously, the frame theory will be used to analyze the results collected. The theory can be defined as an approach that analyzes how individuals, groups and societies organize and perceive information. An analysis of information from the Washington post in regards to the wedding of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry shows that the media outlet was more positive compared to The Sun about the future of the couple. “When Meghan married Harry in a much-watched ceremony in 2018, dozens of articles were published about what her biracial identity meant to black women in Britain and the U.S. alike”, which is an excerpt from Vinopal’s (2020) article on PBS.
Secondly, an analysis of articles from The Independent shows that they focused more on the differences between Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton, who is married to Prince William and is the Duchess of Cambridge. Both of these results show how framing can affect how messages are perceived by audiences. The Washington Post has a larger audience in the US and used its framing to either show that the UK was not open in terms of race or that Meghan Markle had proved to the world that love conquers all. These two messages are framed in a way to show how the US is superior to the UK both in terms of how far the US has come in regards to racial bias and also how they are more accepting than the UK. The two examples are given also show how culture and political interests can affect the framing of messages on media outlets. The Independent, which has a larger audience in the UK compared two women based on the fact that one was born in the UK and the other was not. However, the analysis also shows that the differences highlighted by the Independent touched on the difference in race between the two women. On the other hand, the bashing of European culture by the Washington Post was meant to prove that the US was more superior to the UK.
An analysis of media content between media outlets in the US and those in the UK also revealed the different cultures between the two countries. Articles on the split between Meghan and Prince Harry and the royal family in the US revolved around the unaccommodating nature of the Europeans. On the other hand, media outlets in the UK focused more on the lack of importance of family traditions among US citizens. To the UK citizens, Meghan and Harry broke from an old family tradition and more blame was put on Meghan than Harry for the decision. The differences in culture and tradition as framed by both media companies in the US and the UK also revealed the difference in values. Media outlets in the UK suggested that the values of US citizens were too modernized with no sense of attachment. On the other hand, media outlets in the US suggested that the values of Europeans were too archaic with no room for personal development and health. For example, this excerpt from Hatzipanagos of the Washington Post shows the different ways they chose to frame their messages: “Royalty, social class could not shield Meghan from racism in Britain” (Hatzipanagos, 2020). On the other hand, one article from the Guardian reported that Meghan received twice the criticism compared to Kate. “A number of the pieces associate Meghan and her family with drugs and violence. These include articles that make claims about her nephew’s involvement with drugs, as well as claims that guests were given “party bags” of cannabis at Meghan’s first wedding,” (Duncan & Bindman, 2020).
Discussion
The representation of the marriage between Meghan Markle and Prince Harry can be compared with previous literature on the marriage between Prince William and Kate Middleton. Crucially, Kate Middleton is also not of royal blood, just like Meghan. During the first year of their marriage, she was also heavily criticized due to the fact that she did not know much about royal tradition. Additionally, she was framed as a “media-hater” as she sued various media firms for taking pictures of her and her family. Although UK media still criticizes the future Queen consort, the arrival of Meghan changed the way the media referred to Kate Middleton.
One practical lesson that can be learnt from all this is that framing of information is highly dependable on the outcome the sender would like to receive. In media, the most controversial stories sell. Therefore, in the case of the UK and the US media outlets and their differences in framing, one can argue that both media outlets understood the kind of content that would entice their audiences. It can be argued that the media used different strategies to communicate with their different audiences. However, a recommendation based on agenda setting would be that media outlets in both the US and the UK synchronize their framing methodologies in order to reach target audiences on the opposite markets. This would have led to more favourable outcomes as more of their individual media outlet content would have been consumed.
References
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