Privacy, Sensitivity, and Responsibility: Ethical Considerations in High-Profile Interviews
According to the defamation definition, any act twisting the truth creates a false impression and damages the reputation of a person or organization, or even it potentially exposes the person to ridicule. The interview of Meghan Marke with Oprah was full of such allegations, which were called explosive and possibly damaging for the Royal family. Meghan made revelations such as she got suicidal thoughts, alleged the palace for racism, and criticized her son’s skin color, claiming that Kate Middleton made her cry. All these things cannot be considered more than gossip as having no proof of it but were enough to damage the Royal repute.
Allegations of Meghan Markle could be claimed as Libel because she exposed Queen Elizabeth and other family members to public hate. The interview breached privacy because, according to privacy law, publications of private facts are prohibited, and appropriation for commercial use is forbidden. But including Meghan Markle, Oprah Winfrey, CNBC, ITV, and production are equally liable. They committed the act of intrusion into the privacy of Queen Elizabeth and committed appropriation for commercial use because they sold the rights of the interview for millions of dollars. Experts analyzed that CBS anticipated a colossal audience would view the interview. Thus, they charged the advertisers a premium rate of $325,000 for an advertisement of 30 seconds. Forbes also claimed that looking at the high interest in the interview from advertisers, CBS decided to extend the interview time to 2 hours. Nevertheless, Meghan and Harry allegedly got paid $7 million for the interview.
If any of the claims are true, it means the privacy of the Royal family has been sold on the media by Oprah Winfrey, CBS, and family members (Meghan and Harry). Oprah and his team must consider the sensitive aspects of the interview before airing it and if it can result in any legal consideration or public hate.
There must be some rules and regulations for interviewing high-profile personalities so that their privacy would not be compromised and they would not compromise someone else’s privacy during the interview. However, there exists no law about false public speeches. Before conducting such interviews, journalists must ask themselves about their personal and professional values. What are the guiding principles, and to whom should they stay loyal with public or publicity?