Prince Harry, Meghan Markle COSTLY Privacy: Lawsuit Win Can Harm UK?
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's lawsuit against Mail on Sunday is still ongoing. If they win though, it will not essentially be a good thing. According to a critic, it is not necessarily a win for the right to privacy, but an overrule of journalists' rights to reveal information that has public importance.
If Prince Harry and Meghan Markle win this case, UK's media freedom can be forever changed. And it is unclear if this is truly a positive thing.
The UK has witnessed different controversial lawsuits launched by high-profile figures, mostly celebrities, seeking to protect their privacy through the court system. Harry and Meghan's decision to do so is therefore not unprecedented.
However, while lawsuits of this kind usually involve accusations and charges of defamation, the one by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex against Mail on Sunday is not the same. In fact, it is quite unusual, Aljazeera reported.
Why different? This is because it is not a case relying on defamation as the main issue but only on privacy. Meaning, there was no slandering of Markle's name, or distortion of facts to ruin Prince Harry's wife.
According to Meghan Markle, DMG Media has violated her right to privacy. DMG Media is also known as Associated Newspapers, which is the parent company of Mail on Sunday and other known tabloids that occasionally publish juicy scandals of known figures in the country.
The case is presently being heard via videolink. Meghan Markle is specifically suing Mail on Sunday for publishing a personal letter than she penned to her father almost two years ago.
Speaking with Al Jazeera, Hugh Tomlinson, who is a barrister who previously worked for Prince Charles, the case is not simple. "Whether or not private information can lawfully be published is a matter of balancing privacy and expression rights on the facts of each case," he explained.
As such, if Markle and Harry really do win this case, it is not just a personal victory that can be forgotten already. It has implications for media freedom in the UK, possibly meaning the start of press freedom inhibition. After all, their case can be considered a precedent to say the press should no longer report on public figures if it means reporting things they are trying to keep private.
It remains to be seen if the case can be won.
Markle's case revolved around her being angry that her personal letter for her father, Thomas Markle was made public in 2019. In the letter, she told her father that she was upset with him for contacting the press and not calling her. It can be remembered that in 2018, Thomas declined to be part of her important wedding day because of illness, prompting the letter in question.
In October 2019, Markle filed a lawsuit against the newspaper for the misuse of private information as well as for violating copyright and infringing on her privacy. The basis of her case is the General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018.
Reports had it that Meghan Markle is truly looking to WIN though. She is said to have hired Princess Diana's former lawyer to champion the lawsuit and her friends are also going to be compelled to testify for her.
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