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In the letter, Elizabeth Hartley, Associated’s group editorial legal director, said the programme did not, in its current form, “comply with the ViacomCBS editorial policies or align with its stated values.”
Associated, which is seeking to appeal the Duchess’s recent High Court privacy victory, cited four examples to demonstrate wrongdoing. It said one of the most “egregious” was the use of the headline: “Meghan’s seed will taint our Royal Family.”
“The original, unedited, headline in fact was a report of the suspension from UKIP of someone over this and other racist texts about Meghan,” Ms Hartley wrote.
“The headline you have broadcast is neither accurate nor could it be said to be an expression of ‘creative integrity’. It is a thoroughly dishonest misrepresentation of a newspaper headline and article which was the opposite of racist. No one viewing the programme would have understood this from the montage.”
Associated called on CBS to remove the montage from the footage without delay.
The Sussexes had nothing to do with the choice of headlines, a source close to them said.
