Â鶹´«Ã½

World

    • Princess Kate media frenzy: Royal family learns that if you don't fill an information vacuum, someone else will

    Kate, Princess of Wales, stands on centre court during the trophy presentation after Serbia's Novak Djokovic defeated Switzerland's Roger Federer during the men's singles final match of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Sunday, July 14, 2019. (Laurence Griffiths/Pool Photo via AP, File) Kate, Princess of Wales, stands on centre court during the trophy presentation after Serbia's Novak Djokovic defeated Switzerland's Roger Federer during the men's singles final match of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Sunday, July 14, 2019. (Laurence Griffiths/Pool Photo via AP, File)
    Share

    A media frenzy was born on Feb. 27, when the hashtag .WhereIsKate exploded online with speculation about the whereabouts of the Princess of Wales. It opened a rabbit hole of amateur detective work, memes, bizarre theories and jokes -- mixed with genuine concern about Kate's health -- into which thousands of people descended until her announcement last week that she was recovering from cancer.

    The episode offered the royal family -- and everyone else -- a lesson in the modern world of online media: If your silence leaves an information vacuum, others will rush to fill it. And the results may be messy.

    "The royal family's mantra is never complain, never explain," said Ellie Hall, a journalist who specializes in covering Britain's king and his court. "That really doesn't work in a digital age. It doesn't take much to get the crazy things going."

    It was, in part, entertainment for some people with too much time on their hands. Except it involved real people with real lives -- and, it turns out, real medical challenges.

    Anatomy of an information vacuum

    On Jan. 17, Kensington Palace announced that Kate was in the hospital recovering from a planned abdominal surgery and would not be doing any public events until after Easter. There was relatively little online chatter, or official updates, until it was announced on Feb. 27 that her husband, Prince William, would not be attending his godfather's memorial service due to a "personal matter."

    That's when the theorizing really began, noted Ryan Broderick, who writes the Garbage Day newsletter about the online environment.

    Where was Kate? Was she seriously ill -- in a coma, perhaps? Did she travel abroad to undergo plastic surgery? Had she been replaced by a body double? Was there trouble in her marriage? Did she leave William? Had she been abused? Unsubstantiated rumors made it all the way to American talk show host Stephen Colbert. Memes appeared that included putting Kate's picture on the face of an actress in "Gone Girl," a 2014 film about a missing wife.

    After two decades in which people have uploaded their lives to a system of platforms run by algorithms that make money off our worst impulses, "we have wondered what the world might look like when we crossed the threshold into a fully online world," Broderick wrote on Garbage Day. "Well, we did. We crossed it."

    "Conspiracy is the Internet's favorite sport," Sarah Frier, author of "No Filter: The Inside Story of Instagram," posted on X, formerly Twitter. "It starts here and becomes mainstream. At one point last week, MOST of the content on my (X) feed was about her. None of it was right. This is just what people do for fun and followers now."

    Then came the grand, unforced error -- the palace releasing a photo on March 10 of Kate and her children that it later admitted had been digitally manipulated, without leaving clear exactly what was done.

    Even before that, a ham-fisted public relations strategy by the royal family's handlers had lost control of the narrative, said Peter Mancusi, a journalism professor at Northeastern University and a lawyer with his own business in crisis counseling.

    Providing some proof of life, some morsels of information -- even a staged shot of Kate waving from a balcony -- would have filled the vacuum, he said. Mancusi contrasted the strategy with that surrounding King Charles, where it was quickly announced around the same time that he was fighting cancer. It has never been made clear exactly what kind of cancer the king has, but people are inclined to grant some degree of privacy with that diagnosis, Mancusi said.

    Mancusi frequently deals with clients who resist releasing damaging or uncomfortable information that usually winds up getting out anyway. Best to be pro-active or, as Hall said, "feed the beast."

    "It's just human nature, and it's the nature of a lot of companies when bad news hits, to go into a defensive crouch," Mancusi said. "But hope isn't a strategy anymore."

    Clear and verifiable information can help matters

    A montage of the front pages of some of Britain's Sunday newspapers pictured in London, Sunday, March 24, 2024. Support has poured in from around the world for Kate, the Princess of Wales, after she revealed in a candid video message that she is undergoing chemotherapy for cancer following major abdominal surgery. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

    Despite the temptation to ignore rumors and conspiracy theories, it's best to respond quickly with clear and verifiable information, said Daniel Allington, a social scientist at King's College in London who studies disinformation. "Once people start speculating that you are lying to them," Allington said, "it's very hard to get them back on board."

    In an article published on vulture.com 12 days before Kate announced she had cancer, author Kathryn VanArendonk seemed to anticipate that truth in a discussion about how the monarchy is not built for the modern information era.

    "Catherine may be going through some private experiences she does not want to share widely," she wrote, "and the internet has broken everyone's ability to assess what's a supervillain-level coverup and what's more likely to be something sad and mundane."

    Cancer is something too many people can relate to. They understand how hard it is to speak those words to loved ones, much less the entire world. Kate's video was a candid, emotional and effective way of sharing very personal information, said Matthew Hitzik, a veteran in crisis communications from New York.

    It didn't end wild online speculation, though. Almost immediately, suggestions popped up that the speech was generated by artificial intelligence or, in an unholy alliance of conspiracy theories, that her cancer was caused by the COVID-19 vaccine.

    But that was nonsense, and felt churlish. A corner had been turned. The Sun in London now runs daily stories with "Brave Kate" in the headline. Trolls "should hang their heads in shame," the newspaper editorialized. The Atlantic magazine headlined: "I Hope You All Feel Terrible Now."

    What shouldn't be lost, however, is how preventable it all was.

    "You cannot blame British newspapers for the miseries heaped on the Prince and Princess of Wales," columnist Hugo Rifkind wrote in The Times of London. "Certainly we didn't help, if only because a princess releasing doctored photographs to the public, for reasons at that point unclear, is an objectively grabby and fascinating story. But the conspiracy theories? The juggernauts of dirty speculation? You could argue, I suppose, that papers should have simply pretended none of this was happening.

    "But it was, and it wasn't driven by us," he wrote. "It was driven by you."

    WhereIsKate? Now we know.

       ------

    Associated Press correspondents Sylvia Hui and Jill Lawless in London contributed to this report.

    CTVNews.ca Top Stories

    A team of tornado experts is heading to Fergus, Ont. after a storm ripped through the area Sunday night.

    Why brain aging can vary dramatically between people

    Researchers are uncovering deeper insights into how the human brain ages and what factors may be tied to healthier cognitive aging, including exercising, avoiding tobacco, speaking a second language or even playing a musical instrument.

    Canada

    • A team of tornado experts is heading to Fergus, Ont. after a storm ripped through the area Sunday night.

    • Two nephews of the beloved Harry R. Hamilton share stories about his life and legacy.

    • The union representing some 1,200 dockworkers at the Port of Montreal has overwhelmingly rejected a deal with their employers association.

    • A man who was critically injured in a police-involved shooting in Hamilton late Sunday afternoon has died in hospital, says the province’s police watchdog.

    World

    Politics

    • Murray Sinclair’s family members say the late justice and senator has been laid to rest according to his wishes.

    • Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced voters in Cloverdale—Langley City will pick their next member of Parliament on Dec. 16.

    Health

    Sci-Tech

    Entertainment

    Business

    Lifestyle

    Sports

    Autos

    Local Spotlight

    For the second year in a row, the ‘Gift-a-Family’ campaign is hoping to make the holidays happier for children and families in need throughout Barrie.

    Some of the most prolific photographers behind CTV Skywatch Pics of the Day use the medium for fun, therapy, and connection.

    A young family from Codroy Valley, N.L., is happy to be on land and resting with their newborn daughter, Miley, after an overwhelming, yet exciting experience at sea.

    As Connor Nijsse prepared to remove some old drywall during his garage renovation, he feared the worst.

    A group of women in Chester, N.S., has been busy on the weekends making quilts – not for themselves, but for those in need.

    A Vancouver artist whose streetside singing led to a chance encounter with one of the world's biggest musicians is encouraging aspiring performers to try their hand at busking.

    Ten-thousand hand-knit poppies were taken from the Sanctuary Arts Centre and displayed on the fence surrounding the Dartmouth Cenotaph on Monday.

    A Vancouver man is saying goodbye to his nine-to-five and embarking on a road trip from the Canadian Arctic to Antarctica.

    • LIVE

      LIVE

      Thousands of people are gathered in downtown Vancouver to observe the city’s 100th Remembrance Day ceremony.

    • A suspect was arrested for allegedly brandishing a knife outside a Vancouver elementary school on Friday – just as the young students were heading home for the day.

    • Several hundred people gathered outside the Ontario legislature in Toronto to honour veterans and remember those who died fighting for their country.

    • Toronto is expected to see an economic boost to the tune of nearly $300 million thanks to Taylor Swift’s upcoming Eras Tour, which will be making a stop in Canada’s largest city for a six-show run later this month.

    • A man believed to be in his 40s has been rushed to a trauma centre following a stabbing in downtown Toronto.

    • Calgarians will be observing Remembrance Day at a number of different ceremonies across the city, including at the Hangar Flight Museum.

    • July 2025 may seem like it’s in the distant future, but for the St. Luke playground committee time is ticking to fundraise the $340,000 they still need to build a new playground.

    • Getting out to the mountains is even easier with a new bus route from a growing Germany-based service.

    • Crowds gathered in Ottawa and eastern Ontario on Monday to honour the sacrifice of men and women in uniform who gave their lives in service of Canada.

    • CTVNewsOttawa.ca looks at Remembrance Day ceremonies in Ottawa.

    • After months of controversy surrounding a dog park in Ottawa's west end, a solution has been reached to divide the park in half.

    • A 36-year-old Montreal man who was out on bail after allegedly uttering death threats to a woman is now accused of murdering her on the South Shore.

    • With fewer interments and rising maintenance fees, the money for Canada's largest military cemetery will run out in three to four years.

    • Montreal Metro passengers can now flag a safety concern by texting a new phone number launched by the STM.

    • WEATHER

      WEATHER

      This is shaping up to be one of the warmest Remembrance Days in the past decade, at least, for temperatures.

    • A local author is sharing his experience with alcoholism with the hope of helping other men improve their mental wellness.

    • Many Maritimers turned out in wet and windy weather Monday to remember those who have served, and continue to serve, in Canada's armed forces for Remembrance Day.

    • A Cape Breton senior recalls her life in German-occupied France, and her mother’s death, during the Second World War.

    • Thousand of people gathered at the Menin Gate in the Ypres, Belgium for Monday’s Remembrance Day Ceremony.

    • Remembrance Day is today, and a number of ceremonies are taking place around the province to honour those who gave their lives to serve our country.

    • A pillar in Canada’s history was honoured in Winnipeg Sunday afternoon, with thousands showing up to pay tribute to the life and legacy of the late Murray Sinclair.

    • One Manitoba veteran is on a mission to commemorate and honour those who served our country, and not just on Remembrance Day.

    • There will be two ceremonies taking place in Regina for Remembrance Day, hosted by the Royal Canadian Legion.

    • Regina author Valerie Crowther is celebrating the release of her book ‘War Letters: Linking Lives in the Second World War.’

    • It was a somber day at Mosaic Stadium as members of the Saskatchewan Roughriders officially cleaned out their stalls and closed the book on the 2024 season.

    • Saskatchewan RCMP are searching for a suspect after a man was seriously injured in a farm-related incident in Montreal Lake.

    • It was a somber day at Mosaic Stadium as members of the Saskatchewan Roughriders officially cleaned out their stalls and closed the book on the 2024 season.

    • The Regina Rams claimed the Hardy Cup after a hard fought battle against the Saskatoon Huskies 19-14 on Saturday in the first all Saskatchewan U-Sports western conference final since 2002.

    • Emergency crews responded to the scene on Road 68/Highway 2 east of Thamesford around 7 p.m.

    • The events will start at 10:15 a.m. with a parade that forms up in front of the Delta London Armories, marches east on Dundas Street and turns north onto Waterloo Street to Dufferin Avenue, the west to the Cenotaph.

    • A team of tornado experts is heading to Fergus, Ont. after a storm ripped through the area Sunday night.

    • A Barrie man is at the centre of an alleged $2.2 million stolen used car scheme.

    • Environment Canada issued a weather alert for Barrie, Collingwood and surrounding areas, alerting residents about the wicked winds that are expected to pick up to 80 kilometres per hour in the afternoon hours.

    • Barrie residents gathered on Monday to honour Canada’s veterans and pay tribute to those who served and sacrificed for the country.

    • Representatives of the Windsor Veterans Memorial Services Committee, military representatives, wreath bearers, government officials, and members of the public will attend the Cenotaph at City Hall Square for the outdoor service.

    • Windsor Paralympic champion, Danielle Campo, has been crowned the number one Inspirational Speaker of the Year for 2024 at the Inspirational Speaking Finals.

    • One person has been arrested after Chatham-Kent Police Service (CKPS) received multiple complaints about an alleged drunk driver.

    • Environment Canada says heavy rain and winds could cause power outages on Vancouver Island as an "intense" storm system is set to hit the B.C. coast Sunday.

    • Six deer were struck by vehicles in six different locations in a six-hour period on B.C. highways on Saturday, according to the transportation ministry.

    • The union for locked-out port workers in British Columbia says the BC Maritime Employers Association cut off talks in less than an hour Saturday, refusing to budge on a final offer that the union has so far rejected.

    • The emergency department at South Okanagan General Hospital in Oliver, B.C., will be closed for 31 hours this weekend, the second such closure in a week and the third since the start of November.

    • Police in Kamloops, B.C., are reminding parents and guardians to check their children's Halloween candy after receiving a report of a mother finding a razor blade in one of her daughter's treats.

    • More than two years after Alannah Brown and Douglas Barker were found dead north of Penticton, police are asking for help identifying a vehicle they believe was associated with the crime.

    • The Southern Alberta Recreation Association is officially announcing the Town of Taber as next year’s host for the Southern Alberta Summer Games.

    • The Lethbridge Hurricanes broke open a close game with three goals in the first two minutes of the third period as they defeated the Warriors 7-3 in a game played Friday night in Moose Jaw.

    • There might not a lot snow just yet, but many southern Albertans are still itching to get outdoors.

    • It was just days before the COVID-19 pandemic shut the world down when the Shaft Bottom Boys of Sudbury broke a world record for 'Deepest Concert Underground.' Now, more than four years later, a Timmins band is looking to take the title.

    • Police have arrested a 15-year-old in connection with a break-in and $50,000 in damage done to the Centennial Arena in Elliot Lake in September.

    • Mayors of the five largest cities in northern Ontario met in North Bay the last two days to discuss a range of critical issues impacting their cities and the region.

    N.L.

    Shopping Trends

    The Shopping Trends team is independent of the journalists at Â鶹´«Ã½. We may earn a commission when you use our links to shop. Read about us.

    Stay Connected
    Follow Â鶹´«Ã½