The women's magazine that landed an unfortunate scoop
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.So it wasn't Matt Drudge after all who told the world, and the Taliban, that Prince Harry was fighting in Afghanistan. It was, bizarrely, an Australian weekly women's magazine.
New Idea, nicknamed No Idea by some commentators, generally offers a staple tabloid diet of celebrity and royal stories.
On 7 January, the magazine broke the news that Prince Harry was serving in a combat zone in Afghanistan. "Maverick Prince Harry joined his regiment on a covert mission," it revealed. The story was not followed up until a German newspaper ran it on Thursday, and the Drudge Report in the US then picked it up.
In the meantime, New Idea had itself run a second story on 14 February, headlined "Prince Harry goes to war in Afghanistan".
Yesterday the magazine claimed that it had been unaware of a news blackout agreed to by British and some overseas media organisations.
In a statement, it said: "New Idea was not issued with a press embargo and was unaware of the existence of one. We regret any issues the revelation of this story has caused."
In 1989, New Idea, which has a readership of more than two million, was the first publication to reproduce in full the notorious "tampon" telephone conversation between the Prince of Wales and Camilla Parker Bowles.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments