A brief warning: this article will contain spoilers.
I'm a sucker for the cheesy holiday movies that populate television screens in December. "A Christmas Kiss", "12 Dates of Christmas", and "The Holiday" are among some of my favorites. Unfortunately, I've seen them a million times.
With that in mind, I was really excited when I saw that the most recent Netflix original was yet another romantic Christmas movie. I decided to take a break from studying for my final exams and watch "A Christmas Prince".
The movie centers on the story of Amber Moore, an American journalist who travels to the fictional kingdom of Aldovia to write a story about Prince Richard, the would-be king who is rumored to be abdicating the throne. Frustrated by the prince's refusal to talk to the press, Moore ends up posing as the new tutor for his much younger sister Emily, gaining access to the palace and allowing her to collect exclusive material for her story. In a predictable fashion, Amber and Richard fall in love, Amber's deception is exposed, the two work through their problems and they become engaged before the movie ends.
The movie is flawed with the usual problems that go hand in hand with most romantic comedies: it's unrealistic, predictable, and cheesy. Sometimes, or even most of the time in my case, that's exactly what you want to see. These things don't bother me, and I really enjoyed the movie in most aspects.
Regardless, I saw one unforgivable flaw in this movie: it paints an unfair and terribly inaccurate portrait of journalists.
Lying about your identity to gain information for a story is a serious ethical violation. No journalist worth his or her salt would ever dare to do it, especially without exhausting all other options. Moore's behavior is a direct violation of the Society of Professional Journalist's Code of Ethics, which explicitly states:
"Avoid undercover or other surreptitious methods of gathering information unless traditional, open methods will not yield information vital to the public."
The fact remains that Moore did not even attempt to cover her story in a traditional, open manner. She asked for an interview at a press conference once. She didn't ask for an interview again, she didn't try approaching the prince in person, and she didn't call his PR representative. Instead, she immediately went undercover and wormed her way into the palace.
Amber Moore is a new reporter, but she ultimately comes across as representative of all journalists. Unethical behavior by journalists is the norm in this film; it is simply expected that journalists will do anything it takes to get their story. When Amber's deception is uncovered, not a single soul is surprised to learn that a reporter resorted to such low means.
"Journalist" is used like a dirty word in "A Christmas Prince". No one, not even journalists themselves, actually like members of the press in this movie. These are just a few of the anti-press comments from the film:
"I'm surprised you were able to find a room, with all the press in town. Parasites, the lot of them," says Mrs. Averill, the queen's right-hand woman and palace coordinator.
"Find another career," a veteran journalist advises Amber on the way to the press conference at the beginning of the film.
"Is that true, that you're a journalist?" demands Aldovia's prime minister at the end of the film, asking the question in the same way that one might ask if you were a thief.
"A Christmas Prince" comes to us during a time when the entire news industry is under fire. "Fake news" is like a battle cry exploding from social media. Some of the industry's biggest icons, from Matt Lauer to Charlie Rose, have been fired amid allegations of sexual misconduct. In the wake of the hurricanes, mass shootings, and other tragedies that have peppered the country this year, people are left truly wondering if journalists care more about their stories than the people they write about.
There could not be a worse time for a movie that is so prejudiced against journalists to arrive. This film sends the message that journalists are untrustworthy and unethical people. It may have been unintentional.
I think it's more likely that it was deliberate.
It's important to correct the record at this point. Let it be known that "A Christmas Prince" does not reflect the reporting process in any way. It misrepresents the media and is frankly insulting to the profession.
Good journalists are open and honest about their identities and intentions at all times. We don't deliberately mislead our sources, and we definitely don't pretend to be someone we are not.
We seek truth and report it, but we also minimize harm.
