There’s a major debate going on regarding Prince Harry’s tour of duty in Afghanistan. The UK press and agencies like Reuters knew about Harry’s service and all agreed to hold the story until Harry, 23, came home. How the cut-throat UK papers were persuaded to do this is amazing in itself. There were ‘hints” about Harry in the German and Australian press but The Drudge Report blew it out of the water. Harry had been really happy fighting the Taliban for ten weeks because he was “just one of the guys” with no special privileges. Now he’s been dragged home but still hopes to return to combat. The debate continues: Was it right for The Drudge Report to out Harry? Was it wrong for the news agencies to make that deal and suppress the story? What’s your opinion?
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You could get into dangerous waters when the press agrees to go along to keep something out of the papers. Maybe in this case it was warranted, but where do you draw the line? Freedom of speech and freedom of the press shouldn’t be toyed with.
Surely you are not falling for this exercise in Public Relations 101?
The Royals and the British Government agreed to send Harry into “battle” — under the safest possible circumstances — and then allowed the story to conveniently “leak” at a pre-determined time, in this case, 10 weeks.
Now he is “reluctantly” being called home after that nasty press divulged the secret of his meritorious service to crown and country.
It’s enough to make one gag.
But Harry is now a “hero,” and a high profile narrative resulting in tons of adulatory press is born, deflecting from the usual coverage of the royals and their endless vacations and high-living which are enjoyed at the expense of the British people.
Mission accomplished indeed.
Well that question is just nuts. Of course it was correct to supress the story and of course it was wrong to leak it! The politics of the situation aside, hanging a neon arrow over a battlefield pointing out the highest profile target is insane. This is a story that has no real news value other than catering to the celebrity watchers. Of which I’m one, yeah, but if knowing Harry’s whereabouts is going to cause harm to the person standing next to him, hey – I’m all for being kept in the dark.
it was correct to suppress the story. Putting someone(s) in harm’s way intentionally–look at all the flak Geraldo Rivera got–is just bad journalism and appalling on a personal level.
Speaking as a journalist, I do think it was wrong to leak the information. Embargoes on stories happen all the time for many reasons.
It’s not a freedom of speech issue because they weren’t say the press could never report the story, just wait till a certain moment.
In this case, common knowledge that Prince Harry was in a war zone could have exposed him to unnecessary danger (not from the Taliban, who probably knew he was there anyway, but from wackos in the world). It’s a much different world than when Prince Andrew flew over the Falklands.
Right or wrong, we are at war. At no time is this kind of reporting going to be appropriate. Apparently the Drudge Report doesn’t know or care that lives could be at risk here. Not just Prince Harry’s. There is no doubt in my mind that the Drudge Report feels justified in printing this just as there is no doubt in my mind that they’d feel blameless if Prince Harry & company had been killed by a suicide bomber after the story came out. I for one would be happy if Drudge would go back to discussing who Paris Hilton is sleeping with this week & leave the whereabouts of the military overseas out of the public eye.
10:53am Yes I agree – that is what I think too.
Surely you are not falling for this exercise in Public Relations 101?
The Royals and the British Government agreed to send Harry into “battle” — under the safest possible circumstances — and then allowed the story to conveniently “leak” at a pre-determined time, in this case, 10 weeks.
Now he is “reluctantly” being called home after that nasty press divulged the secret of his meritorious service to crown and country.
It’s enough to make one gag.
But Harry is now a “hero,” and a high profile narrative resulting in tons of adulatory press is born, deflecting from the usual coverage of the royals and their endless vacations and high-living which are enjoyed at the expense of the British people.
Mission accomplished indeed.
This is 100% correct.
Get your facts straight – Drudge didn’t out Harry – it was outed in January by some women’s site.
Damn – he’s nice looking.
It was planned this way from the first day he went to Afghanistan. The Royals and British Government leave nothing to chance. Duh, the spin of the century. BTW, I think Harry is basically cuter than William.
Hey Janet, how are you and the dogs. Yes,VERY wrong. They put his life in danger!
Hey Janet, how are you and the dogs. Yes,VERY wrong. They put his life in danger!
I agree. This was a set-up by the Monarchy to get Harry out of there.
I admire Harry. He’s been wanting to do his part for a long time. The UK papers were absolutely right for keeping his deployment secret. He’s one of the royals from over there that actually wants to do his part and be anonymous like the tens of thousands of soldiers past and present that do this all the time without it being front page news. I applaud him
THE WARMING WARNING!!!!!!!
Prince Harry should become a Gurka and really become a fighter warrior.
What’s his brother doing – taking flying lessons.
Wonder if he’ll ever pilot a Hawker in Mississippi.
Where’s Clapton at ?
That’s probably an even bigger mystery.
You know for all intents and purpose they should have kept him there and made sure everybody in the world knew where he was located at, so as he’d be a great decoy to those terrorists who’d want to take a shot at him…
Wonder what kind of a bounty, he’d fetch to the Taliban or Al Queda ?
SEND THAT GUY BACK.
Wonder where Pierce Morgan is at, or Clapton (he likes shooting at clay pigeon’s – think of the photo op of him shooting that .50 cal machine gun.
the red head is coming home !
Harry was home by the time of the alleged ‘leak’. Why is Britain in Afghanistan? Did Afghanistan attack the U.K.?
February 29, 2008 10:53 AM
Posted by: Anonymous had it perfectly worded. I couldn’t agree more!
too bad we can’t dress up paris, lindsay, britney, perez hilton, the olson twins, and other celebutards as terrorists and put them into afghanistan for Prince Harry to shoot.
Drudge is a good-for-nothing, self-hating, right-wing, closeted, anything-for-a-buck sleaze. He will get what’s coming.
Do most folks really think he was in Afgh. without any “special protection”. Ha!!. He may have been treated like the rest as to meals, sleeping quarters, duties, etc. But, make no mistake, he was protected by an unmarked special unit. Do you think they would allow him to walk around London, etc. unprotected by secret service, and not have s.s. protection there. It is a spin job. He was in some danger, but he was ‘protected’ for all intents and purposes. This news story should have been entitled “spin City”. They knew the day and the hour he would return and when the story would “leak”.
from where i am, all the girls have the hots for “Sexy Ginge Harry”. go go harry!
we like you better than your brother.
He was just plinkin rags from the weeds with The Kings own Ghurkas keepin six around him.
Phillip will be proud.
They’ll give him the C.B.E.
I think it was right to supress the story – after all Harry will always be a target when he is out on duty overseas; so it’s only right that his location is kept a secret. For his sake and for the other soldiers sake.
It was irresponsible for the Drudge Report and other blogs to leak this information.
I think though there will definitely be a problem in the future when Harry does go to a warzone to fight again. As i suspect his location will be leaked.
Bring Harry home where he belongs. I can’t think of anything worse than having some crazed out, rag head put a bullet in that beautiful body. Harry should be King and then everything would be right in the world.
The australians released the story first with admiration and pity for Harry’s private suffering and frankly this shames the falling British nation to repell socialism, teaching us a lesson not to trust liberals, for not allowing talent freedoms to any fine young man willing to honor his country with his life!
How much cynicism does it take to actually believe that this whole thing was “planned” it’s sad to think that someone is that jaded that they believe that someone as famous, powerful, and rich, has to stoop to some kind of PR stunt. What the hell do you believe this will gain any of the Royals? They don’t get paid according to their popularity. Get over Yourself!
Planned or not the fact is the media endangered not only Harry, but his friends with careless reporting. What happened to “responsible reporting?”
prttymn: Take some time to read the British press coverage of this story — in lieu of running your mouth.
You’ll learn very quickly just what the Royal Family and the British Government — i.e. The Establishment — gained by this little endeavor.
Why do the powers that be keep putting out batches of Kool-aid?
Because brainless idiots who drink it without question — such as yourself — are apparently in abundance.