Harry and Meg vs. the media

There’s no winning this war

Here’s some advice for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle: Don’t bite the hand that’s going to feed you.

Soon-to-be just a regular Harry is blaming the media — always a lame excuse — for his decision to turn his back on the British royal life. During a speech at a charity event Sunday night, Harry skewered the Fourth Estate in a video later posted to the couple’s Instagram account.

“You looked out for me for so long,” Harry told the crowd, “but the media is a powerful force.”

That “powerful force” is certainly going to come in handy for the couple when they start having to work for a paycheck. They’re going to need media outlets to promote their work — whether they’re producing TV shows and films for Netflix or doing charity work or doing voice-overs for Disney — a lucrative gig the couple were caught on video shamelessly asking for with Disney brass at last summer’s “Lion King” premiere.

Now that Harry and Meghan are splitting with the royal family, they’re going to need the media, said Shannon Felton Spence, a former British public affairs official and a royal expert based in Boston.

“That’s the great irony in this whole thing. They need them more than ever. Without the media, we will forget they exist,” Felton Spence told me. “Everything that they want to do now requires us knowing about it.”

If Harry and Meghan want people to watch their documentaries or buy the products they’re pitching worldwide, they’re going to need the media’s assistance, she said. “They need to relax,” Felton Spence said of the pair.

Two weeks ago, when the couple made their bombshell announcement on Instagram that they were splitting from the royals, they also said they would no longer take part in the “royal rota” or pool system, which includes some British media outlets the couple doesn’t like who distribute information and photos to media around the world.

Instead, the couple said they plan to only work with grassroots media organizations, “young, up-and-coming journalists” and media outlets that are “focused on objective news reporting.”

Felton Spence called their new media strategy “completely ridiculous.”

“Who do they think they are? You can’t control the media like that, especially not if you’re not a big enough draw,” Felton Spence said. “That’s just not reality for a celebrity or for somebody trying to sell a product, which is the position that they’ve put themselves in.”

Blaming the media is an easy cop out.

In this case, as in most, it’s not a good look.

GETTY IMAGES PLOTTING A COURSE: Britain’s Prince Harry and wife Meghan Markle have opted to drop out of operating in an official capacity for the royal family, in part blaming the media, even though they may need the media to help promote their endeavors.

AP IN THE NEWS: The front pages of London’s Sunday newspapers are displayed in London, Sunday, with most touting how the couple will no longer use the titles ‘royal highness’ or receive public funds.