From the rampant speculation about Kate Middleton’s public whereabouts early in the year to the heartbreaking revelation of her cancer diagnosis in late March, there’s been no shortage of headlines in the first part of 2024 about the Princess of Wales.
With the reams of coverage of Kate’s diagnosis comes a lot of dilemmas for the media at large. When does the press coverage become excessive? At what point do reporters realize that they have to take a step back and let Prince William and Princess Catherine deal with the devastating news in private? Is news information in the age of the internet simply too big to be contained?
Sam McAlister, the former BBC news producer who booked Prince Andrew for his landmark 2019 Newsnight interview about his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, has her thoughts. McAlister is back in the public eye since Scoops — her best-selling book about The Duke of York’s disastrous Newsnight interview — is the subject of the new Netflix
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movie Scoop, starring Gillian Anderson as Newsnight interviewer Emily Maitlis and Rufus Sewell as Prince Andrew. Billie Piper also stars as McAlister.
In a Zoom conversation on Wednesday to talk about the real-life Prince Andrew interview and the recreation of it in Scoop, McAlister told me that the obsessive drive by journalists — some who are legitimate and some who are not — is fueled by the public’s high demand for information.
“There’s such a pressure, particularly in our current times to land a scoop — to land information — to create some kind of sensation. I think that means, obviously that there’s a public appetite for it,” McAlister observed. “So, we create what we ask for and in a sense, a lot of this is driven by the public appetite, even when we really don’t want to say we’re interested. I think lots of people are.”
What makes the race for information difficult in Middleton’s case is it’s about the sensitive subject matter of the princess’ cancer battle.
“In this particular matter, it’s about a young woman and a mother in the most perilous situation with her health and with her life,” McAlister said. “We all wish her nothing but the best and only if she had been able to keep that private, I’m sure it would have been a much better situation for her. My heart bleeds for her.”
BBC Is Under Fire For Its Kate Middleton Coverage
Sam McAlister’s observations about excess media coverage came two days before The Hollywood Reporter on Friday ran the BBC’s statement regarding the complaints they received from viewership about Kate Middleton’s cancer diagnosis.
According to THR, the BBC was criticized by viewers who claimed the outlet’s coverage of the princess’ personal health battle was “excessive and insensitive.”
However, the BBC noted (via THR) that its coverage “reflected the significance of this story and the outpouring of support for the princess from around the globe.”
“As part of our analysis, we examined the intense speculation there had been in the preceding weeks about the princess’s health,” the BBC said in the statement. “We also reported on Catherine’s request for privacy and detailed the statement from Kensington Palace regarding the princess having the right to privacy in relation to her medical issues.”
‘Scoop’ Star Piper Reacts to Kate Middleton Media Coverage
The media’s fascination and coverage of the royals — particularly in the UK — has been going on for decades. As such, it challenges journalists across the pond like Sam McAlister whether a story about a member of the British Monarchy is truly in the public interest or is too intrusive.
Billie Piper — who stepped into McAlister’s shoes to make Scoop — told me in a Zoom conversation Wednesday that she has a difficult time understanding why there’s been so much drive behind the Kate Middleton story.
“It’s a very odd relationship that the British public has with the royal family. I don’t understand why it elicits the reactions that it does,” Piper said. “I don’t personally understand it. It’s brutal. It’s brutal.”
On the flip side, Piper said the pursuit of Prince Andrew to talk about his relationship with disgraced financier and registered sex offender Jeffrey Epstein is a matter that’s completely in the public’s interest.
“With this story, particularly, we’re talking about victims of a certain type of behavior, so it felt like that interview had to happen,” Piper said. “It was an opportunity for him to say something and [he] became incredibly avoidant … delusional, really.”
