10 reasons why ‘A Christmas Prince’ gets journalism totally wrong

Cable television Christmastime romantic comedies are now as ubiquitous during the holiday season as Black Friday sales. Popular channels such as Lifetime and Hallmark have doubled down on the trend during the past few years. Their tried and true formula typically includes a blonde female lead, a blandly attractive male lead and a series of silly meet-cutes in either the winsome charm of small-town America or the frenetic energy of the Big City.

Late last month, Netflix jumped into the market, releasing its first Christmastime romantic comedy titled “A Christmas Prince.” And like the films before it, “A Christmas Prince” sticks to many of the same tropes that have made the seasonal sub-genre so beloved in the first place. Our blonde heroine, Amber (Rose McIver), travels to the small, picturesque and fictitious European country Aldovia and subsequently falls in love with their prince, Richard (Ben Lamb), after a meet-cute misunderstanding.

But unlike other Christmastime romantic comedies, “A Christmas Prince” revolves around the journalism world. Amber visits Aldovia to write a story (her first, after spending years working as a copy editor) about whether the prince will abdicate the throne.

And, like many previous movies about the journalism world, “A Christmas Prince” takes great creative license in its depiction of journalistic practices. Halfway through the film, you realize it’s no wonder Amber never wrote a big story in the past. From her shoddy notes to her lack of transparency and web of lies, Amber seems to know as much about journalism as she does about the prince she’s investigating. Here, we’ve broken down many of the glaring mistakes and breaches of journalistic ethics riddled throughout the film.

