Prince Harry had as much right as the next bloke to carry out duties for which the British government paid to train him and to serve in Afghanistan.  The commendable restraint of the normally rabid British press is just as justifiable as any avoidance of reporting military matters which might affect operations and endanger troops.  Is it necessary for us to know Prince Harry’s every move?  No.  Does it sell media?  Yes.  So, the British press were simply making a business decision to forgo the potential short term profit to secure longer term gain from the after action interviews and footage.

As for whether having a monarchy is smart business or a drag on the British economy, and whether individual members of the Royal Family should or should not be privileged, it’s pretty academic, isn’t it?  My guess is that most tourists don’t go to the British Isles for the fishing and hiking.  Sure, it costs to keep up all those residences and provide all that splendidly tricked-out security, but those costs would be incurred anyway for a presidential establishment that wouldn’t be the draw that the monarchy definitely is.  Have you ever seen how many truckloads of armed-to-the-teeth gendarmes sit around the Elysee Palace?

The British have already tried doing without a monarchy when Cromwell was dictator, excuse me, Lord Protector.  They couldn’t wait for that to end!

As for Prince Harry joining the Peace Corps, that is a U. S. federal agency.  Unless those expressing that sentiment have been living under a rock for the past 10 years, it should not be a news flash that Princes Harry and William have both been pretty heavily involved in charitable work, both on the island and elsewhere, even actually working at it “in country” (Harry in the Kingdom of Lesotho at an orphanage populated mainly by the children of deceased AIDS victims).  It would be so nice if people would do a little more fact checking before engaging in ignorant vitriol.

I’m with PeeDeeCee. It is nonsense to talk about the press’s “obligation” to inform, which includes everything from legitimate reporting to paparazzi intrusions.  Their only valid view of themselves is what will sell a paper, a TV spot and make a buck - or a pound in this case.

Having been stuck with the job of air force press liaison when Prince Philip made a much-vaunted tour of Northern Canada, flown around by the RCAF, including the Arctic and fishing spots around Goose Bay Labrador, a famous BBC correspondent told me that the only reason the press was spending the money following the Prince’s peregrinations was that they couldn’t afford not to be on hand in case the Prince crashed and wiped himself out - or maybe drowned in a fishing spot.

As for the Poor Prince, why should he be criticized for going out to get a gong or two when it is a family tradition going back to 1066? I am aware of many a US general - and others -  who have visited an operational area to get another medal on their chest.

My reaction to Harry’s trip to war was complete disgust.  Here this young member of the royalty, “the” upper class, has concluded that the only way he can prove he is a real man is to travel to some third world country and kill brown-skinned people. 

I saw his little outfit:  the cute fatigues, the stylish little boots, his U.S.-style baseball cap:  looked like he was posing for a cover of Us Weekly, or Teen Now, or People’s Hunks Issue.  Particularly the shots with him with his shirt off playing frisbee:  important national security business going on here.

How pathetic that he didn’t join the peace corps, for example, or that he doesn’t feel compelled to prove his manhood by joining an anti-war demonstration.  Tut tut, not for the royalty. 

It’s a lot like the hounds hunting deer:  Fopish English pampered bloodless men on horses set packs of dogs to terrorize and rip to pieces some poor doe, and the Englishmen rub the blood of the wounded animal into their riding pants to show how manly they are.  Fee fi foe fum I smell the blood of others murdered by the Englishman.

I was so relieved to hear he had “endured” his 10-week desert vacation—what he calls “service.”  Tell that to the poor American schmucks who are back for their third year in this god-awful hell created by Bush and his boy Blair.

Sometimes I think it must be a white male issue, some defect in the DNA, a little quirk somewhere that turns them all into blood-loving murderers who bizarrely take pride in the same acts that would cause reasonable people to be deeply ashamed.

oh boy, rational thoughts, coherent sentences, a polite demeanor, and a seemingly positive outlook?

How did you find your way to truthdig?

all kidding aside, this is exactly how i feel.  props for putting it so well.

One wonders… did the press hide Harry because they wanted to protect him, or were they just embarrassed that a young Brit with his advantage would gladly stoop to the backwards ritual of killing “wogs” to fulfil his sense of noblesse oblige?

At least here in Amerika we have the decency not to be sitting around waiting for Chelsea Clinton to suit up.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelsea_Clinton

Nonsense. The press does not have an “obligation” to the public - the press makes its money from reporting events. The term “obligation” is freely trotted out every time the press needs a rationalization for reporting something that has no effect whatsoever on the public, but has gossip value.

Another BS piece from ER to insult our IQ.  Irrelevant, unnecessary and narcissistic; though his comments on KO’s Countdown are usually OK.  I wonder how much he gets paid fof writing this scat?

Mr. Robinson, I think you are completely wrong here.

I work for an anit-war, veteran centered non-profit; I have been against this war since I marched through the streets the night after we invaded; I was arrested in D.C. in September for non-violent civil disobedience while protesting yet again.  I, like many of my members and the public, have been willing to put my money where my mouth is as far as stopping this misguided, murderous, illegal occupation.

However, dealing every day with men and women who have either enlisted (our member’s service dates back as far as WWII), or who were drafted, I cannot help but have great admiration for those that serve their country.  These people put their lives on the line to do what they-in many cases-honestly feel is the right thing, and I view this as no different than if they were to run into the street to push me out of the way of an oncoming bus.  I understand the tendency of people to equate the war that they, vehemently and justifiably, oppose with those that carry out the orders; I myself held, to some degree, this thought prior to working with this organization.  I live with a veteran who, with tears in his eyes, sorrowfully tells me that the Army he joined abandoned him and his men, but, that he still feels the guilt of leaving those soldiers that he was responsible for and that the simple thought that they may be one of the 4,000 killed or tens of thousands injured will haunt him to his grave.

I say this to point out the fact the military changes a person, that once one is instilled with a sense of duty, not just to one’s nation but to the safety of one’s fellow soldiers, that never goes away.  I did not realize how stron this was until I lived with it every day, and those who would criticize Prince Harry for enlisting and demanding to serve should try to place themselves in his shoes.  I respect his call to service and his determination to stand with his brothers and sisters in arms, willing to sacrifice his life for their safety.

The British press, in my opinion, exhibited an honor that serves as a contrast to the state of the US media.  The choice to band together to protect the well-being of not only a member of the royal family, but of the soldiers that he serves with has to be admired, if nothing else.  It makes me think of the decision of the royal family to stay in London during the bombings of WWII, and I mourn for that dignity that we in the US have, seemingly, forever lost.

Whatever your feelings on the monarchy or the war, please give credit to the British press for assessing the reality of the situation and concluding that the safety of the men and women that have volunteered their lives to serve with honor was infinitely more improtant than a splashy headline to sell a few more papers.  If only we had a glimmer of this integrity stateside, I believe we could all hold our heads a bit higher.

My suggestion to journalists who think that their duty to the reader includes publishing the whereabouts of a British prince in a warzone would be that there are a great many things that need news coverage much more badly.

What a load of tripe, or as Henry might say, bullocks!  Mr. Robinson believes that not reporting his location and activity is a failure of journalistic duty?  I have neither the time nor space (nor really even the inclination) to point out every journalistic failure of the last seven years.  Seriously, sir, you do not look very regal on that high horse.

Moreover, it is a British tradition that men of royalty actually serve their country and go into combat.  It is a good and right tradition that the men who decide to launch wars should at least experience them first hand…otherwise, we end up with situations like the US, where the last two Presidents were draft-dodgers who were all too happy to reign down bombs and send men to die, and they did so without the faintest idea of what combat means or looks like.

Prince Henry’s drunkenness and girl troubles are a social diversion.  His facing bullets is another matter altogether.  Of course, for the modern journalist and his corporate masters the only real question is will it help the bottom line.

Didn’t we wage a war and kick out the royals back in 1783?

Then why in the hell do Americans get so fixated on those inbreds in the 21st Century?

The British royal ramily is one of, if not the biggest bunch of freeloaders in the world.

It cost Britains around 100 MILLION dollars a year to support this welfare family, so let the Brits worry about some clown called Harry.

For the SLUDGE report to “leak” this story smacks of a royal news plant to both give those bunch of incestous clowns some PR and an excuse to get one of their own out of harm’s way.

Too bad we don’t expend this much ink on our kids coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan in caskets.