Of all the national newspapers that got sent to print in the early hours of this morning only one managed to strike a tone that could be considered a fitting acknowledgement of International Women’s Day.
The i, continuing a tradition that has dated back to 2015, filled its front page with stories written by women or about women, focussing on notable sporting, scientific and sociological triumphs as well as on issues they continue to face to this day.
It contrasted starkly to national media headlines elsewhere, which focussed almost exclusively on an interview given by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to Oprah Winfrey.
The Daily Mail pitted Meghan Markle next to the Queen above a headline that read “Duty Means Everything” while the Star blackened out her eyes and dubbed her “an American actress” trying to do “Notting Hill 2”. The Express also criticised the “self-serving TV chat”.
This is cool isn’t it pic.twitter.com/7Xbh3FMgVI
— Alice Jones (@alicevjones) March 7, 2021
Of course, no sooner had the ink dried on the pages had Piers Morgan, the Good Morning Britain host, taken his seat in front of the cameras to embark on his three hours’ worth of hate.
Labelling the Oprah interview a “two hour trash-a-thon of our monarchy and royal family” he hit out at pregnant Meghan after she tearfully admitted to being suicidal and accused the pair of trying to portray the entire Royal Family as a “bunch of white supramacists by dropping a “race bombshell”.
They had in actuality just let loose that there had been “concerns and conversations” before their first child was born about his skin tone and “what that would mean or look like”, something Labour has suggested should be investigated as a matter of urgency.
But, quite regrettably, many people’s minds have already been made up about Meghan Markle thanks to a media campaign that dates back years, and it should be no surprise that Morgan’s vitriol actually resonated with many people.
Rod Bishop repeated the familiar trope that Meghan was only in it for the “fame and attention” that came with the royal family, while others tried to pick holes in the many concerning revelations that came from the interview.
It has been admittedly quite sad to see all that that comment, all that hate, on this, the international day for women.