Expect ‘zero engagement’ – Meghan and Harry sever ties with UK tabloids

Being a part of the British royal family means your life is under a microscope and tabloids always have a field day reporting on you. For Prince Harry and Meghan Markle who have decided to forgo all their royal privileges and live in Los Angeles, they have had it with four U.K tabloids perpetuating lies about them in their reports and have decided to cut ties with them.

In a very blunt letter to the editors of The Sun, Daily Mail, Daily Express and Daily Mirror, Prince Harry and Meghan expressed their disdain with their reportage on them unapologetically. They also cited the ill-treatment of the tabloids as one of the reasons they took their royal duties down a notch, HuffPost reports.

“The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will not be engaging with your outlet,” the letter read. “There will be no corroboration and zero engagement. This is also a policy being instated for their communications team, in order to protect that team from the side of the industry that readers never see.”

The two have accused the Sun and Mirror of phone hacking and are suing the Mail for publishing a private letter Meghan penned to her father. They are all for free media but not when it is overly invasive and false.

“This policy is not about avoiding criticism,” they wrote in the letter posted Sunday. “It’s not about shutting down public conversation or censoring accurate reporting. Media have every right to report on and indeed have an opinion on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, good or bad. But it can’t be based on a lie.”

“It is gravely concerning that an influential slice of the media, over many years, has sought to insulate themselves from taking accountability for what they say or print — even when they know it to be distorted, false, or invasive beyond reason,” they said. “When power is enjoyed without responsibility, the trust we all place in this much-needed industry is degraded.”