ITV forced remove ‘misleading’ headlines from Harry and Meghan’s Oprah interview

ITV was required to erase “misleading” headlines from its coverage of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's interview with Oprah Winfrey.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex's candid interview broadcast solely on ITV in the UK on March 8, a day after it aired on CBS in the United States.

The couple's argument that they were the subjects of racist publicity was backed up by reports that appeared on the television during the tense interview with the US talk show host.

The editor of The Mail on Sunday, Daily Mail, and MailOnline, Affiliated Publications, protested to Viacom CBS, the American television network that broadcast the two-hour documentary last week, about “the intentional manipulation and doctoring of media headlines.”

According to MailOnline, it also requested that ITV delete the “misleading and inaccurate headlines” from the broadcast, which is still accessible on its ITV Hub catch-up service.

“Many of the headlines have been either taken out of context or deliberately edited and displayed as supporting evidence for the programme's claim that the Duchess of Sussex was subjected to racist coverage by the British press,” Associated Newspapers' legal director Elizabeth Hartley wrote in a letter to CBS on Friday.

“This editing was not made apparent to viewers and, as a result, this section of the programme is both seriously inaccurate and misleading.”

‘The real problem with Meghan Markle: she just doesn't speak our language,' read a headline from The Daily Telegraph shown in the interview.

The second line of the headline, which was not displayed, made it plain that the report was mocking the Duchess's practice of using “hippie corporate management speak,” not her race.

Three distorted Daily Mail, MailOnline, and Mail on Sunday headlines would be withdrawn, according to an ITV spokesperson.

It also removed a headline that was incorrectly credited to the Guardian.

“Regarding the headlines The Mail on Sunday have drawn to our attention, we are now taking steps to edit these on the ITV Hub,” the spokesperson added.