It has been an open topic that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have a myriad of issues with the British press. The two filed a number of lawsuits against some publications for its malicious reporting. However, in another blow to the Duke of Sussex, he lost his battle with the Mail on Sunday.
Independent Press Standards Organization, where the prince filed his complaint, backed up the newspaper over the couple. It ruled that the Mail on Sunday didn't breach media rules for publishing an article about Prince Harry's post on Instagram.
The post in question was made on April 22, 2019. In celebration of Earth Day, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle posted a series of photos that showcased the wildlife in Africa. The Mail on Sunday alleged that the snaps that featured the elephant, lions, and rhinos "didn't quite tell the full story," per Express.
The publication claimed that the animals were "tranquillized and tied with ropes," which were not seen in the pictures, to be relocated. IPSO said in its ruling that the complainant failed to explain the "circumstances in which the images were taken." Their followers, additionally, didn't see that there was a rope around the elephant's hind legs because of the way it was edited.
Sources denied that the photo was intentionally altered, insisting the rope was cut off due to Instagram's format. However, IPSO ruled that the images didn't clearly show that the animals were tranquillized and tethered.
"The photograph of the elephant had been cropped to edit out the animal's tethered leg," the ruling read. "The publication had demonstrated that the photograph could have been edited differently and the complainant accepted that the album could have been uploaded in a different format which would have made editing the photograph unnecessary."
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's caption also didn't note that the images were already published - unedited - in 2016. Hence, the committee deemed the Mail on Sunday's report was not misleading as the Sussexes failed to explain the circumstances in which the photographs were captured. "The complaint was not upheld," it ruled out.
It was not the first time that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex stood off against the British press. According to Insider, the former actress has an ongoing separate lawsuit against the Mail on Sunday for publishing a part of the private letter she wrote for her father, Thomas Markle.
The publication argued that Meghan Markle herself knew that her letter would be published. Prince Harry, on the other hand, also filed phone-hacking lawsuits against The Sun and The Daily Mirror last year.
