Prince William and Prince Harry pressed for higher standards in news media following a BBC investigation that found journalist Martin Bashir used “deceitful behavior” to secure a landmark interview with Diana, Princess of Wales.
William, Duke of Windsor, said it brought him “indescribable sadness” to know that the lies presented to his mother contributed to the “fear, paranoia and isolation” that plagued her in the years prior to her death.
“But what saddens me most, is that if the BBC had properly investigated the complaints and concerns first raised in 1995, my mother would have known that she had been deceived,” William said.
An independent report published Thursday after a monthslong probe found that Bashir acted inappropriately and breached the publicly funded broadcaster’s editorial guidelines in order to gain access to the royal, who famously told him in the November 1995 interview that “there were three of us in this marriage.”
The line referred to her husband Prince Charles having an affair with Camilla Parker Bowles, who he would go on to marry in 2005, eight years after Diana’s death in a car crash in August 1997.
William said that the lies that were presented to his mother contributed to her statements, resulting in a false narrative, and asked that the program never be aired again.
Harry, Duke of Sussex, went a step further and explicitly blamed the media for his mother’s death in 1997. Many have attributed the paparazzi following her for contributing to the car crash that killed her in Paris.
“The ripple effect of a culture of exploitation and unethical practices ultimately took her life,” Harry said. “To those who have taken some form of accountability, thank you for owning it. That is the first step towards justice and truth. Yet what deeply concerns me is that practices like these — and even worse — are still widespread today. Then, and now, it’s bigger than one outlet, one network, or one publication.”
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
