Prince Harry got candid during the 2024 New York Times DealBook Summit, and one of the topics he opened up about during his wide-ranging interview with journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin was the issue of press and social media inaccuracy.
"I've seen stories written about myself not exactly based in reality," the Duke of Sussex said, sharing that it was "quite a bizarre upbringing to have what is known as a royal rota covering your every move."
When it comes to the British media (the royal rota is the press pool assigned to cover the Royal Family), Prince Harry admitted that the same people who "were given access" to his charity work "would also write complete nonsense" about himself and his family.
It's something he's had to deal with his whole life, and when Sorkin asked if he read his press or "had a Google alert" on his name, Prince Harry said, "I do when I need to," but said no on the Google alerts front.
"There have been moments when I read a lot and moments when I read nothing and I highly recommend the latter," the duke continued. He added that you "automatically remove the power" from the media when "you stop reading the stuff about yourself."
Prince Harry went on to explain why he didn't stop reading about himself sooner. "With that element of fear comes an element of control. One of the reasons I probably didn't, I guess, remove myself from that situation sooner was that very fear: 'Well, they control the narrative,' whatever I do or say, they can effectively control me and keep me in that space.'"
The Duke of Sussex—who advised people to "never Google yourself"—shared that he didn't have any social media accounts. When Sorkin asked if Harry had a "burner account," he jokingly replied, “Why? Do you want to follow me? Is that’s what’s going on?
He later said that when it came to the nasty comments made about himself and others online, "the people I feel most sorry for are the trolls."
"Genuinely I do. I mean that," the Duke of Sussex continued. However, he pointed out to Sorkin, "I have no doubt that everything we've spoken about today in the last 25 minutes will be spun or twisted somehow against me, and maybe you yourself will be trolled relentlessly, but for that I can only apologize."
When discussing the duke's phone hacking case, Sorkin said Prince Harry has described the British press as "lawbreakers," and wondered if he thought the same thing about all journalists.
“Well, first of all, I wouldnt be here if I thought you were one of them. Just so we’re absolutely clear. But we’ve still got about 20 minutes left," Prince Harry said with a laugh.
Although the duke shared that he couldn't say much about his case, he said, "what I think people have seen more lately, is perhaps a hidden agenda in some mainstream media and also social media. It’s almost like a competition of who can hide the truth or lie or mislead us more."
He explained that "one of the reasons" why he "brought the claim" against Rupert Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers was "specifically for truth and accountability." The Duke of Sussex spoke about media as a whole, saying he finds it "hard to make peace" with the fact that there are writers putting out "clickbait" headlines in articles that are protected because the content of the story itself doesn't break any laws.
"I will be damned if those journalists are going to ruin journalism for everybody else because we depend on it so much," Prince Harry said.
This is the duke's second trip to New York City this autumn after taking part in numerous events during U.N. Climate Week. When Sorkin pointed out that the media is making a big deal out of his wife, Meghan Markle, being back home at a different event in California on Wednesday night, Prince Harry laughed it off, saying the press has reported they were getting divorced numerous times over the years.
"You just sort of ignore it," the Duke of Sussex said.
