Entertainment
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s bombshell Oprah interview sparks over 4,000 Ofcom complaints as fallout continues
Ofcom has been flooded with complaints from viewers over Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey.
The two-hour special, which aired on ITV on Monday, March 8, saw more than 11million people people tune in to see the couple open up about Royal life.
It quickly became the most watched show of the year, with the fallout from their chat still happening to this day.
The TV watchdog has now announced that they received 4,398 complaints over the episode.
It is not clear what the objections were over, and whether any action will be taken by Ofcom.
The tell-all interview originally aired on CBS on March 7, and saw the Duke and Duchess of Sussex make a number of shocking revelations about life inside the royal family.
During the candid conversation, Meghan opened up about her suicidal thoughts as she struggled to come to terms with life in the spotlight.
However, it has now been revealed that ITV edited the chat, removing ‘misleading’ headlines from the original footage.
Throughout the special, headlines popped up on-screen which were said to have been manipulated to support the couple’s claim they were subjected to racist coverage from publications in the UK.
Associated Newspapers lodged a complaint to CBS over ‘deliberate distortion and doctoring’ in a segment of the interview, arguing that the portion was designed to showcase the British tabloid coverage of Meghan may have been racist was ‘seriously inaccurate and misleading’.
In a letter sent to CBS on Friday, Associated Newspapers’ legal director, Elizabeth Hartley, said: ‘Many of the headlines have been either taken out of context or deliberately edited and displayed as supporting evidence for the programme’s claim that the Duchess of Sussex was subjected to racist coverage by the British press.
‘This editing was not made apparent to viewers and, as a result, this section of the programme is both seriously inaccurate and misleading.’
According to the Telegraph, an ITV spokesman stated it would remove three manipulated Daily Mail, MailOnline and Mail on Sunday headlines, plus a headline wrongly attributed to the Guardian.
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Harry and Meghan’s Oprah interview: Key moments
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have spoken to Oprah Winfrey in a bombshell interview about their decision to step back as senior working members of the Royal Family.
Here are the key points from the interview, which UK viewers can watch at 9pm on ITV on Monday, March 8.
- Meghan says it was Kate who made her cry over flower girls, not other way round
- Meghan says Harry was told there were ‘concerns how dark’ Archie would be
- Harry and Meghan reveal the gender of their baby due in summer
- Meghan sobs as she says pressures of royal life drove her to the verge of suicide
- Prince Charles stopped taking Harry’s calls after he quit Royal Family
- Harry says Meghan saved him from being ‘trapped’ like Prince Charles and Prince William are
- Princess Diana would be ‘sad and angry about how this has panned out’
- Meghan and Harry share adorable new video of son Archie at the beach
- Harry confirms terrible rift with William and says their relationship is now just ‘space’
- Queen ‘ghosted Harry during Megxit talks and got aide to say she was too busy’
What is Ofcom and what does it cover?
Ofcom is the regulator for the communications services that we use and rely on each day.
The watchdog makes sure people get the best from their broadband, home phone and mobile services, as well as keeping an eye on TV and radio.
Ofcom deals with most content on television, radio and video-on-demand services, including the BBC. However, if your complaint is about something you saw or heard in a BBC programme, you may need to complain to the BBC first.
Its rules for television and radio programmes are set out in the Broadcasting Code.
The rules in the Broadcasting Code also apply to the BBC iPlayer.
This Broadcasting Code is the rule book that broadcasters have to follow and it covers a number of areas, including; protecting the under-18s, protecting audiences from harmful and/or offensive material and ensuring that news, in whatever form, is reported with due accuracy and presented with due impartiality.
Audiences can complain to Ofcom if they believe a breach of the Broadcasting Code has been made.
Every time Ofcom receives a complaint from a viewer or listener, they assess it to see if it needs further investigation.
If Ofcom decide to investigate, they will include the case in a list of new investigations, published in the Broadcast and On Demand Bulletin.
An investigation is a formal process which can take some time depending on the complexity of the issues involved.
Ofcom can also launch investigations in the absence of a complaint from a viewer or listener.
