Madeleine McCann: What Shannon Matthews Is Worth, Asda And PR
MADDYWATCH - Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann and Shannon Matthews
THE SUN: “£20k reward in Shannon hunt”
THE Sun yesterday offered a £20,000 reward to find missing “little princess” Shannon Matthews.
Good on the paper. But does a reward help? Has it helped Madeleine Mccann? And why £20,000 when Madeleine McCann garnered so much more? Is a reward index linked to the missing child’s age? Or is it because Shannon’s parents are not middle-class - not doctors - and smaller amounts mean more to them?
We also printed posters urging our vast army of readers to help in the hunt for the nine-year-old schoolgirl. And last night her anguished mum Karen, 32, said: “I’m so grateful for all you are doing. It’s a fantastic gesture and means so much to us. We just hope it brings her back.”
Then, hugging Shannon’s stepdad Craig Meehan, 22, she added: “Our message to people is never give up . . . because we won’t until we find her.”
THE TIMES: “Poor little Shannon Matthews. Too poor for us to care that she is lost?”
“Her family may seem feckless. Neighbours can’t afford to run a PR campaign. How the public spotlight faded on missing girl.”
Shannon..?
Sarah Payne, smiling in her school uniform; Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, in their Manchester United shirts; Madeleine McCann, staring inquisitively with her distinctive bleeding iris . . .The names and faces of these girls who have disappeared are etched into the public’s collective memory.
Camera crews camped out in their home towns for weeks or months. Donations totalled thousands — even millions — of pounds. Members of the public, many of them strangers, came in their hundreds to offer help and prayers for their safe return.
Yet the trauma and mystery surrounding the disappearance of one nine-year-old girl almost two weeks ago appeared to drift from public consciousness within days…
She’s not Madeleine McCann. No doctors. No logo. No Maddy Catty. No watching the parents. The media treatment is no fault of the McCanns. But are we bored of missing children stories. Have the press caught Maddy fatigue?
Contrast the media-savvy McCann campaign with the brave efforts of Petra Jamieson, 30, a friend of Shannon’s mother, who managed to persuade her local branch of Asda to donate 24 white T-shirts on which the girl’s photograph had been printed.
What happened to Shannon Matthews? Who can we blame? The parents?
A deprived background, a dysfunctional family and a down-on-its-luck Yorkshire mill town: none of this is Shannon Matthews’s fault, yet it seems that she is paying the price.
No holiday scene. No excuse for hacks to go to hotter climes. Yorkshire in winter. Grey. Grim.
GLASGOW DAILY RECORD: “Mother’s Day Wish”
THE distraught mum of missing schoolgirl Shannon Matthews last night cried: “All I want for Mother’s Day is my princess back.”
DAILY MIRROR: “ALL I WANT FOR MOTHER’S DAY IS MY PRINCESS BACK”
Shannon Matthews’ desperate mother last night movingly declared: “All I want for Mother’s Day is my princess back.”As police continued searching thousands of homes for the missing nine-year-old schoolgirl, mum Karen, 32, said: “It is a special family day and we would all spend it together.
“Shannon would usually buy me a present or make me something at school.”
Stepfather Craig Meehan, 22, added: “It is going to be a heartbreaking Mother’s Day.”
LIVERPOOL ECHO: “Where’s media cry for poor Shannon?”
HOW disturbing that 10 days after Shannon Matthews disappeared, we still know so little about her. Her favourite band? The school she attends? The name of her best friend? All details that should be on our lips but aren’t.
But we do know her favourite song.
Somehow the vanishing of this little girl with her pony tail and fringe has failed to capture the media’s imagination; a story regularly consigned to the inside pages.
Why? Why do some cases attract saturation coverage and others don’t? I suspect it’s down to image, which stands for everything, and the skill now needed to work the notoriously fickle media.
Madeleine McCann’s parents have been criticised for employing a professional PR and for playing the media game, providing photo opportunities and press calls. But it’s paid dividends. The world now knows their daughter’s name and what she looks like.
Shannon’s mum can be no less distraught than Kate, but whether she has the support or the finance to get a media campaign on the road is doubtful.
But at the end of the day there is a little girl out alone in a harsh, cold world. And we should all be working together to get her home.
What part does the media play in finding a missing child? Don’t we have the police to search for Shannon and crack the case?
THE OBSERVER (Blog): “Speaker gets new spin doctor”
A Whitehall spin doctor who was a spokeswoman for Madeleine McCann’s parents has been hired to help the Commons Speaker, Michael Martin, deal with the media, it was announced today.
Not Campbell?
Sheree Dodd is an experienced communications expert who worked for John Prescott at the time it was revealed he was having an affair with his diary secretary.
Just another job…
Madeleine McCann- The PR Storm
Posted: 1st, March 2008 | In: Madeleine McCann, Tabloids Comments (798) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
Comments
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March 1st, 2008 at 1:55 pm
166…Maria
“”"”I knew, for example, that the police didn’t arrange a TV appeal to the abductor”"”"
Er….which “abductor”…..surely you mean “alleged abductor” ?
March 1st, 2008 at 1:53 pm
Of course Shannon won’t get the coverage Madeleine got/gets. Our fickle celeb-feted public feeds off the PR surrounding the McCanns, and has done from day one. People expected, when Madeleine went missing, to see the sort of parents on their front pages, that, well, without intending offence, we’re seeing in the Shannon case. Instead they got Barbie Kate and Dr Gerry - with their middleclass friends, and high connections. That whetted our appetites: HOW COULD THESE TWO POSSIBLY HARM THEIR DAUGHTER? Why, it could happen to any of us!! There but for the grace of God, etc.etc…..said The Mail and Middle England nodded and tut-tut-tut-ed over their mugs of Typhoo…how LUDICROUS, to even suggest that the parents could be involved. Because if people like this could be involved - what does it say about us???
So we conveniently ignored the few facts, because we had too - the alternative was just too close to home for comfort for many.
Kate, via her mother, wailed months later…after the little inconvenience of becoming an arguida in her daughter’s disappearance, which strangely seemed to cool the public adoration…that “they would all sympathise more if I was two stone heaver with bigger boobs”. Yes, really, she did. She said that. And now we have a bigger boobed, heavier mum of a missing child, and is she getting public sympathy?
No - she’s not. Her daughter - to the media at least, simply isn’t worth as much to them as Madeleine is. How disgraceful. What a sad, sad snapshot of our society.
The McCanns means sexy in PR speak. Even though Barbie Kate and Dr Gerry are the Official Suspects….we don’t care …. we want our suspects styled and tanned and good looking…and packaged and glossy.
How sad is that?
March 1st, 2008 at 1:51 pm
156 Ian
Its all too sad, I feel a bit down today. I wonder if one of my sons went missing what help would i get? probably very little, I live in a little council house, I am fairly presentable but there is one thing that I have that the mccanns don’t.
Feelings.
I would be totally unable to stand, eat, sleep, focus, talk, walk or function until my child was found. In fact I would have to be sedated.
Running, blogging, washing apartments, and cuddles, meeting the pope, palming remaining kids into childcare (which by the way seemed acceptable in the day for the twins but not for them at night).
SHUDDER
WHERE IS MADELEINE.
March 1st, 2008 at 1:49 pm
164…A B
Thought you had gone for good.
btw….
Responses to “Madeleine McCann: What Shannon Matthews Is Worth, Asda And PR”
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This is a thread for Shannon also.
March 1st, 2008 at 1:48 pm
153 lilith
The part of your tale I would question is about the eye defect.
Too many people, like grandparents, would know about that.
March 1st, 2008 at 1:47 pm
I think we should all prepare ourselves for the Kate is to ill to be interviewed card
March 1st, 2008 at 1:47 pm
Dee
I gave to the fund, although not a large amount.
Of course, I can’t say yet whether I’m happy or not!
If they prove to be innocent, then, yes, I’m 99% happy. I’m sure they did their best to use the resources well. I guess they’ll have taken advice over the choice of M3. I can’t see them deliberately choosing a poor firm although they may now have some regrets.
There is just one exception (the 1%!!) but it’s a drop in the ocean. I personally wouldn’t have minded the two mortgage payments because it enabled them to stay on in Portugal a bit longer but I think it was a poor decision all the same. I gathered from reports (could be wrong) that GMc wanted to come home earlier, partly to get back to work, partly to establish some sort of normality for the twins. Reports said that family and friends strongly thought this was the best move but Kate would not agree because she felt, understandably, I suppose, closer to Madeleine where she’d last seen her. They were said to have spent all their savings (not the fund) on the house they rented in Portugal, whose lease ran out in September. I can understand why she wanted to stay on BUT I think it would have been sensible for the wider family to club together to pay the two mortgage payments to enable them to do so. What they did was perfectly legal, and it didn’t bother me personally, but it was, IMO, a very unwise decision. If I’d been a director, I would not have wanted to agree to that particular decision; I’d have appealed to the wider family. Maybe they felt their family had done enough.
However, when you give, there are no strings attached. The conditions of the fund were clear for anyone to read. I did read them. I also got as much info as I could about the directors. I thought they seemed OK apart from McVey (and how right I was!) because she’s a politician and they will always put ambition first. I thought she might have become a director just for good publicity’s sake. When the cause became less popular, she scarpered!
Of course, if they were found guilty of murdering Madeleine, or killing her accidentally, covering it up, desecrating her body, hoodwinking the world, wasting police time, breaking their families’ hearts, obtaining money under false pretences, I would, naturally, feel VERY differently indeed!! There will be an outcry, if this happens, and I believe the directors of the fund would make a major public statement. (Actually, on second thoughts, I think I’d still rather have given and be proved wrong than not to have helped in the first place. I did what I did in good faith.)
In theory, such funds should not be necessary if the police do everything reasonable and possible but if my child had disappeared, I too would want to go well beyond the “reasonable” and “possible” to look for her. I’d want to follow up every single possible lead, for the rest of my life, probably. That’s why I sympathised with them, especially being abroad with all the additional language, cultural and language difficulties. I knew, for example, that the police didn’t arrange a TV appeal to the abductor, or publish an early description of Madeleine’s clothes, which would have been standard practice here; the McCanns had to arrange all that themselves. Even relatively small things like that cost a lot of money. Of course, I didn’t realise how big the fund would get; neither did they, probably.
Dee, maybe I’ll answer your question properly when we hear the final outcome!
March 1st, 2008 at 1:47 pm
160 aint you the geezer, who referred to the rougher classes, poll tax style.
What a hypocrite, you wouldn’t know class if it kicked you in the arse.
March 1st, 2008 at 1:46 pm
1056 Julie & agw – Yesterday’s thread
“Poor little Shannon Matthews. Too poor for us to care that she is lost?” Not true of Anorak or its contributors Julie. We have been saying much the same thing for some time.
That sounds just a tad hypocritical coming from you, doesn’t it agw?? Your site has been piggy-backing on the Madeleine McCann affair for the past 10 months and profiting greatly in terms of web prominence as a result. And for the most part from posters not so much wishing to raise public awareness about finding Madeleine as infer the guilt of the parents even before they have been charged by the Portuguese authorities.
Meanwhile, not the slightest whiff from Anorak’s administrators about opening a blog on Shannon Matthews, as might be implied by your comment. So, in the cold light of Anorak’s editorial decisions, Shannon Matthews is INDEED “too poor (or, to be more precise, too unworthy media-wise) for (you) to care she is lost”.
Sorry to be so forthright in my remarks, but I just felt that your comment in that post left you wide open, n’est-ce pas??
Mods and Admin
Meanwhile sweetiepie have you seen todays thread or just too lazy to read it? we comment on the news we do NOT report it
March 1st, 2008 at 1:46 pm
There are those who think that Shannon is a comparable story to that of Madeleine McCann.
Of course the huge difference is that Shannon might have been abducted, whereas there is no doubt whastosever in right thinking peoples minds that Madeleine was not abducted, at least not by a stranger.
March 1st, 2008 at 1:46 pm
155 gandolf
Me either, but to dominate the breaking news, with his return? The time of his plane landing? Next it will be the next movement..ahem.
Ach I am tired of all this, I am sick of not being given facts and just be spoon after spoon of what other people want us to believe. I am going to open the mcvities caramel/chocolate digestives and make a cup of tea.
life of Pi by yann martel is a good read
x
March 1st, 2008 at 1:44 pm
153 lilith
A very innovative solution!
March 1st, 2008 at 1:42 pm
There are stil lthose who dont see that the application, in fact the very existence, of a D notice is undemocratic.
There are those who think that Harry is in line for the throne (actually he is third lin line) when his own father isnt going to get past Liz.
There are those who think the Harry story is more than just a ploy to improve the standing of Harry after he couldnt go play with his pals.
There are those who think gandalf had a fucking brother in the story!
March 1st, 2008 at 1:41 pm
149, so why aint you on or starting a Shannon thread.
March 1st, 2008 at 1:39 pm
154
I think we may have to join a long queue
March 1st, 2008 at 1:39 pm
In all honesty, i don’t mind if there is nothing about the re-interviews in the papers, if it means the PJ can do their work properly. We will hear in good time the outcome of what has happened.
March 1st, 2008 at 1:39 pm
139
pppy
I believe this is in part the reason. The McCanns have done enormous damage to the cause of recovering lost children and indeed many other good causes. Everyone suspects that charities and other ‘funds’ are there to pay mortgages now!
No sign of JK Rowling or Branson or the double glazing guy in connection with Reece or Shannon is there!
It is a testament to the rotton social structure in the UK. Wheres the bitch Fiona Phillips now? I think the reason is that the ‘upper echelons’ of UK society dont consider their kids anywhere near as important as their personal well being and especially their careers and they think everyone BUT themselves is responsible for the well being of their children.
But yes, I think you are right, the mother of shannon is not ‘presentable’ enough is she - it seems that only the parents matter in these situations and not the kids.
March 1st, 2008 at 1:38 pm
So, and I am not royalist by any means, why should our future King not be the lead story. I noticed that all the snipers (pun intended) were no where near Afghanistan. Incidentally do you know why he was with the Gurghas, my older brother ex- Marine told me, quite a thing in this day and age.
March 1st, 2008 at 1:38 pm
146
clouseau Says
I think I own a small piece of shrubbery - shall we go and claim back what is ours!!!
March 1st, 2008 at 1:37 pm
Stevo, I watched the”closer to me in England” interview .
Gerry was clearly on the edge of his seat when Kate started babbling.
I think it is a real possibility Madeleine’s body is in England.
My theory(all IMO of course)
Kate killed Madeleine before May3.
An elaborate cover up was made.
Sophia Murat was used as a double and has an eye defect.
Madeleine has no eye defect.
After services Sophia Murat was taken away to England.
Part of her trip was witnessed by the taxi driver as she was dropped off at the hotel by Kate and Payne/ Murat.
O’Brien was dumping Madeleine’s body in a temporary resting place with the O’Brien hire car.
All the tapas children were in the same room and the remaining Tapas watched over them.
Weeks late Madeleine’s body was embalmed in the barn and be prepared to be taken to England.
Gerry took her in his suitcase on one of his trips or a relative took her.
She is buried in their McMansion and the “emotional get together with the Tapas7 in Rothley Manor was in fact a funeral service.
March 1st, 2008 at 1:36 pm
147…mary
The Hunt for Maddy thread has also been “saved” to 3A’s.
March 1st, 2008 at 1:36 pm
148
lol
March 1st, 2008 at 1:34 pm
147…mary
http://www.the3arguidos.net
March 1st, 2008 at 1:33 pm
There are those here who are seeking to blame the public for the distinction between the press handling of the Madeleine McCann case and that of Shannon (and others).
This is complete nonsense.
The UK public did not seek to publicise the McCann case nor control the approach taken (e.g. the Sun calling police suspicion ’slurs’). The UK public do not choose to keep the profile of the Shannon case (or the other case where the UK Police seem to have difficulties - the shooting of a child in Manchester) low.
The UK public are not choosing to throw Harry on all the front pages and all the headlines after keeping ’stum’ in control notices applied by the establishment.
March 1st, 2008 at 1:32 pm
146 clouseau Says
I suspect you may own a brick from a mansion in rothley
March 1st, 2008 at 1:32 pm
Some posters have been referring to 3A’s - can anyone explain how to access this? I presume it is another forum. The Mirror one was quite good til they pulled the plug on it but I only use this one now.
March 1st, 2008 at 1:31 pm
The Clouseau clan donated £50 to the fund …..we have asked twice for it to refunded ..as of today we have had no reply
March 1st, 2008 at 1:30 pm
143 gandolf
I wrote to sky news yesterday asking why their top “breakin” story was old gingernut. The presence of this forum and that fact that Madeleine, Shannon and Jersey are the main topics discussed would surely show where public interest lies. I am not suggesting 24 hour coverage, but I do think they press should start listening to the public.
I remember when (pipe in hand and sucking a werthers) when news was pure fact, not speculative and only released when verified. do you
I have lost a beautiful antique item of jewellary - I am considering hiring eddie to locate it for me.
March 1st, 2008 at 1:30 pm
138 Dee
“if they do get found guilty of something, will they also stand charges of fraud and deception”
I am not a specialist in legal matters, so my answer will probably need amending or correcting.
But in such a case, the donors would have to file a complaint, find themselves a lawyer, and sue, unless perhaps a public prosecutor can do it in the name of public morals. I don’t know how it works in England.
I don’t even know how it works in my country, though a few years ago, there was been a big case of skuldeggery in the management of a charity fund collecting money for cancer research. I don’t think the donors got their money back, but the crook got himself years in jail.
March 1st, 2008 at 1:25 pm
puppy, if the truth be told the press react to public demand, and that demand is Madeleine McCann, hence the existence of this board. MM is a soap opera, Shannons is seen as not quite so exotic, but none the less just as important. The great British public have a propensity to blame everyone and everything, except themselves, for their appetites.