A Royal Agitation

By Bill Tang

Grade 9-10 writing class

More than 12 million Canadians tuned in to watch the royal wedding -- many waking up at 5 in the morning just to witness this $32 million spectacle from their beds. Worldwide, more than 2.5 billion others did the same [Source: CBC]. 18 months later, the Duchess of Cambridge went into labour and the door to London’s St. Mary Hospital became the most watched door in the world. But all this for what? Although the recent Royal wedding and pregnancy may evoke a sense of awe in some, its significance is overstated and its coverage has become over-coverage, harmful to society as it distracts the media’s and people’s attention away from more important global issues, leads to violations of the Royal’s privacy and has little economic benefit.

           

The media's fixation on the royal marriage and birth has redirected the attention of people away from issues that matter, often even completely overshadowing them. One example is the case of New York Times journalist James Risen who is being imprisoned for protecting a source and refusing to testify in the criminal case of a CIA leaker [Source: The Guardian]— someone who the media should be jumping to protect. Another example is the recent discovery/admission by the Tokyo Electric Power Company that that radioactive water has been continuously leaking from the damaged nuclear facility in Fukushima, directly into the ocean, since the 2011 earthquake — causing a rise in the radioactivity of groundwater and contaminating seafoods worldwide. [Source: National Geographic]. These are just two of the many recent events which affect us much more than the royals as these events have much more potential to affect our future health and freedom. Nonetheless, instead of having worthwhile conversations about the crackdown on journalism, or the possible dangers of nuclear power, the media seems much more intent on knowing every detail about the wedding and newborn of a monarch across the sea.

However, not only does the media want to know every detail about the newborn, they are dying to know everything about the couple as well, often going to extreme lengths, neglecting the privacy of the couple and the people around them. A string of incidents have occurred since their proposal in 2012, one of which has even led to the suicide of a UK nurse. On 13 September 2012, CNN reported that the French edition of "People" magazine Closer and the Italian gossip magazine, Chi, had both published photographs of the Duchess sunbathing topless while on holiday at the Château d'Autet. However, even after a lengthy prosecution, in February 2013, Chi magazine published the first photos of Katherine's exposed baby bump, taken during her private vacation on the island of Mustique in their second violation of privacy. In the most astounding case of all, two Australian radio hosts, Michael Christian and Mel Greig, ‘prank’ called King Edward VII's Hospital Sister Agnes, pretending to be the Queen and the Prince of Wales. In their call, they ‘enquired’ about the Duchess' condition while she was being treated there for morning sickness. Believing the call to be true nurse Jacintha Saldanha revealed some private information about the Duchess and her condition. Later, she committed suicide after finding out the call was a prank. 

Although some may argue that the economic benefits of the royal affairs far outweigh the costs, their argument is in fact unfounded; the wedding actually turned out to be a mixed bag for the economy. Most of the wedding’s profits were expected to be from increased tourism and souvenir purchases; from these sources the commercial benefit came to just around £2 billion [Source: Thomas White Int’l.]. However, the wedding day being declared a paid civic holiday alone amounted to a £6 billion ‘cost’ due to lost productivity and overtime payments [Source: Guardian]. The costs of that single day are more than 3 times greater than the profits -- in other words, a £4 billion net loss. Apart from the lost productivity, there were even more costs associated with the power surge, clean-up, security, maintaining with road closures. The wedding event also proves bad for small businesses, as the holiday is right around Easter and Mayday, creating a mass of paid holidays and long-weekends all around the same time. More surprisingly, the economic impact was not in Britain alone; many around the world also decided to call in sick to follow the wedding or birth, causing worldwide impact. To add insult to injury, because the media is so fixated on broadcasting every detail of the wedding’s splendor, its economic costs are, like many other issues, overshadowed and ignored.

When all was said and done, the Royal wedding and birth’s costs comes to this: more than £6 billion, the life of a nurse, the Royal’s privacy and our ability to have meaningful discussions about issues which actually affect us in the long run. The costs of distraction and disruption far outweigh the splendor and the awe. The media fixation which has blown the wedding and birth to its current significance is misguided; there are many more issues of greater significance that deserve our attention and the front pages of newspapers and magazines around the world. In a world where there are more than 300 thousand born each day and 117 thousand marry, there is much more to care about. If we continue to obsess over the lives of others, we will inevitably lose check of our own.