Drudge beats MSM again with Prince Harry story
By now most of you have probably heard that Prince Harry has been secretly serving in Afghanistan.
The Drudge Report, not major media outlets like CNN or The New York Times was the first American outlet to break the story (there is some dispute about whether or not Drudge was the first in the world or not to report on this). This is a complex story, however.
British media outlets knew Prince Harry was in Afghanistan for months and agreed not to report on the issue. Now that the cat is out of the bag papers like The Guardian have decided to confirm that Prince Harry has been in Afghanistan since December.
Details of Harry’s deployment were blacked out, with all forms of British media signing up to a reporting embargo. Close friends and many senior generals were also not aware of the prince’s plans, in a bid to prevent the Taliban being inadvertently alerted.
In an interview with the press just before his Afghan deployment, the prince said: “I would never want to put someone else’s life in danger when they have to sit next to the bullet magnet.
To be honest, I’m not sure how I feel about the arrangement. I respect the desire to not make Prince Harry’s unit a bigger target for the Taliban than it already was. I do think it’s inappropriate to try to protect Prince Harry more than a typical soldier would be, but it makes sense to try to limit the danger that his fellow soldiers are in. On the other hand, I don’t like the idea of the media complying with government wishes to keep information from the public secret.
Perhaps the biggest question, however, is this: Did the Royal Family and the U.K. Press really believe that something like this could be kept secret in the Internet age? Are they that out of touch with how new media and the Internet work? Even if they could have realistically kept this a secret through traditional press, it seems highly unlikely that this wouldn’t eventually show up on the Internet.
Rule No. 1 about the Internet: The Internet always finds out.
The other big question is did the Main Stream Media in the U.S. know about Prince Harry’s deployment? Did they make the same agreement? Is that even an appropriate agreement for the U.S. media to make with a foreign government?
Or, perhaps worse, did the U.S. MSM get beat once again by a much nimbler new media foe? CNN.com is calling this “breaking news,” which leads me to believe if they had known about it sooner they would have broken it before Drudge.
Rule No. 2 about the Internet: Being nimble pays dividends.
Is the MSM media nimble enough to survive on the Internet?
February 28th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
Why did the public need to know that Prince Harry was in Afghanistan? What good would have been (or has been) served?
February 28th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
That’s a good point. I don’t know of any good reason to have the public know. Although I don’t know of any real reason to intentionally shield this info from the public either.
I’m not sure if it was a wise decision to send Harry over there in the first place if they honestly thought they could hide this from the public. Honestly, in the Age of the Internet, nothing stays secret.
I think stodgy institutions like the Royal Family and the MSM doesn’t quite get that yet.
February 29th, 2008 at 7:15 am
> Is the MSM media nimble enough to survive on the Internet?
This is a wrong question. The problem is an unethical behaviour of the sites like Drudge Report, who are willing to put the whole unit of british soldiers into life danger, just to increase their own profit. It’s disgusting, I’d say. …or, do you really don’t understand why The Royal Family made that agreement with the british press?
February 29th, 2008 at 9:47 am
Well, CNN is reporting that Price Harry is being withdrawn. So I see two “bads” that came from Drudge leaking this: 1) that Brit troops were put in extra danger (or they wouldn’t have pulled him out so fast) and 2) that the Brits have been denied a prince that has served to actually lead troops in battle ala the classic royal rulers.
Now OK, in the grand scheme of things those are pretty minor “bads” — not to be cavalier about troops in extra danger or anything but, face it they are soldiers and Harry is a “bullet magnet” in the first place — but I can’t help to be just a little bummed that the young prince was denied this roll.
And that’s it… I’m “bummed”. There’s a tiny little voice in my head saying “that damn Press, they couldn’t keep their mouths shut.” Now what are the British people thinking? What are the Generals thinking? I don’t know, but I suspect neither group is happy.
This wasn’t some Mi Lai scandal, this was a relatively minor thing but the (US) Press (and yep, those rogue bloggers count as “Press” in my mind) blew it. Maybe they’re thinking there needs to be tighter controls on the press. Woops.
February 29th, 2008 at 11:28 am
I feel angry that Prince Harry cannot do what he was trained to do and wants to do. It is noble to go and put your life on the line for your country, and he has been denied that. We have few enough people who are willing to do that these days, and those that can and will should have the respect they deserve.
I for one would prefer the press to stop stirring things up generally - everyone would be far safer out there without the press reporting on where our soldiers are. Their lives were seriously endangered during the Iraqi ‘war’ especially, with reporters telling us or standing next to signs which told the opposition where they were.
Prince Harry has been put in danger, and his fellow soldiers too, purely through the media’s greed. The internet should have much tighter controls - when it is for people’s safety, there is no reason to put details like this out to help the Taliban, etc.
And for the record, I think the police / MI5, etc. should be able to keep details of how they conduct operations private - why tell everyone and help the criminals?
Over and out!
February 29th, 2008 at 11:38 am
I’m just here asking questions. I don’t have answers.
I am very sympathetic to the argument about protecting Harry’s comrades. As a journalist at Stars and Stripes I have met many wounded troops, and I have attended Medal of Honor ceremonies for soldiers who died in battle. I have seen the devastation of war.
But what I’m trying to ask here is was the Royal Family’s request even reasonable? As in do we honestly expect that this could have stayed secret in the Internet Age? I respect Harry’s desire to serve. It’s incredibly noble that he would be willing to put his life in danger like that, especially considering his status in Britain.
Here is another question: Do “bloggers” like Drudge need to be treated like the traditional press? If Drudge had been in on this from the start maybe he wouldn’t have revealed it. But he wasn’t. Instead he was presented with a huge scoop, and he pounced on it. Is this just old-guard hubris that people like Drudge don’t count as the press?
I don’t think just striking deals with the MSM works anymore in the 21st century, because what has become the MSM is quickly dying. In 20 years much of today’s MSM media will either be gone or relegated to the fringes of society.
I will say this, my opinion of Prince Harry has been greatly elevated. And even though he has to leave early, by all accounts he served his country well.