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 4:03 pm
287 Julie Says:
Ade … the Tommy Emmanuel one
aha - well tommy is from down under (oz) and he pays a maton aussie guitar, suprisingly.
the one in the video is a martin om series shape (as is mine).
he’s probably playing the Tommy Emmanuel signature series EBG808 Artist:
http://www.guitar.com.au/guitars/acoustic/maton/ebg8082.htm
funnily enough my hand-made geetaar cost more money than his
i shit myself every time i take it to a gig in case some idiot steps on it or nicks it.
problem is the bloke who made it is getting on for 70 - so maybe i need to have a chat with him so he makes me a spare
March 1st, 2008 at 4:02 pm
273
pppy
Don’t pay attention to that bastard,pppy.
Most of the posters here are parents and we all now how hard that can be even with both parents present ,let alone when you’re on your own.
I bet you are a class act as a parent, whereas I don’t believe them is clearly showing his classless simplistic colours.
March 1st, 2008 at 4:02 pm
*******
304 Dee
sorry, I was not kicked out for having an affair, i see my kids daily, and i give the money only a little bit, which she doesnt even think i give her.
the reason why Shannon doesnt get the press is because everyone already knows the horrors of single motherhood and the dangers to children. it is old news. sure, your child is brilliant but the social damage created by benefits and a mother centric legal system is catastrophic.
on the other hand, Madeleine has opened up a view on how deeply ingrained child-hatred is amongst most social classes in this country.
March 1st, 2008 at 4:02 pm
Gandolf 320
Will you come with me, hold my hand…
aww that was so nice
x
March 1st, 2008 at 4:01 pm
pppy, come take the love train.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qiFzgxSObM
March 1st, 2008 at 3:59 pm
DuncanR
You are so kind. I owe you one.
xxx
March 1st, 2008 at 3:58 pm
Gandolf
My hands are shaking…calm me with your wise words….
March 1st, 2008 at 3:58 pm
WHOOSH CLUNK
There is went.
March 1st, 2008 at 3:58 pm
313 Julie
You and I both know to have a brain cell, you need a brain.
March 1st, 2008 at 3:58 pm
Julie, I always do.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGW-PSdnTXE
March 1st, 2008 at 3:57 pm
Mods and Adm
Could TB be allowed in on a trial basis? Maybe for just a window of time each day? Or every other day? Once a week?
I’d like to hear from him again.
I won’t ask again; accept your judgment but can’t help asking.
***************
Mods and Admin
It was put to him in no uncertain words that there would have to be communication between him and Admin about certain undertakings which need adhering to. TB chooses not to contact Admin on this matter. Also there have been some attempts to post without agreement, and he’s rather left himself out in the cold.
March 1st, 2008 at 3:56 pm
304
i-dont-believe-them Says:
March 1st, 2008 at 3:50 pm
——————————–
If you hear a sudden “whoosh-CLUNK”, it’s your last brain cell falling out your ear and landing on the floor!
March 1st, 2008 at 3:56 pm
310 Just me
Hey babes
Just to warn you, you may want to cut all ties with me, as I am a single mother, sponging of the government, and by that very nature, common.
March 1st, 2008 at 3:55 pm
309 - me - sorry just scrolled the last posts, I thought you meant batman the usual poster
March 1st, 2008 at 3:53 pm
308 -?????? did batman say that????
March 1st, 2008 at 3:52 pm
304 Dee
hmmm… apparently we are all common though darling. Being common and claiming benefits is an evil way to live according to batman, the single dad from london.
Lets bet he had an affair and his wife kicked him out, and he has limited visitation to his child, who he does not have this weekend hence the time he is sitting here winding up all up.
He pays (diddums) too much maintenance and had not enough contact and is a little bit bitter.
how am I doing so far?
March 1st, 2008 at 3:51 pm
Sorry Val
March 1st, 2008 at 3:51 pm
It will be interesting to see if any of the papers run a story tomorrow on Kate spending Mother’s Day without Madeleine, if they don’t then I would say this confirms the fact that the press are gearing up for a turn-around in public opinion.
March 1st, 2008 at 3:50 pm
291 Julie
Don”t mince your words do you, I will try to stay on your good side!!!!!! lol
March 1st, 2008 at 3:50 pm
301 - i laughed myself when i read that (“mere murder isn’t very evil.”) lol. it sounds like something from a Columbo.
Plain murder, compared to what the McCanns are doing is mild.
the McCanns are killing the reputations of decent people - the Portuguese, the Morrocans, the Maltese, the Russians (not sure about the Russians), and all dark, swarthy men.
March 1st, 2008 at 3:49 pm
273
pppy Says:
March 1st, 2008 at 3:33 pm
269 I really don’t believe you.
DO YOU KNOW ME?
____
Go girl, I was a single mother too for 12 years, when the CSA first started i was pleased, hoping that at long last I would get a bit of help, only to find they are pretty useless! My son is almost 16 now, and has turned out to be a well balanced individual.
March 1st, 2008 at 3:48 pm
280 Whatever your name is.
I bathe them as at the moment they chicken pox. Smart arse.
Every MOTHER knows that cool baths and calamine calm down the itching…..no?
Now go and scale a big tower in a batman outfit, careful not to slip mind.
March 1st, 2008 at 3:48 pm
No worries pppy … I knew what you meant - (for the blushing face you need to type oops between the : : )
March 1st, 2008 at 3:47 pm
285 i-dont-believe-them Says
“mere murder isn’t very evil.”
I had to read it several times to check I it wasn’t me misunderstanding!
If murdert isn’t very evil, what is?
March 1st, 2008 at 3:46 pm
GANDY …. can you behave please
March 1st, 2008 at 3:46 pm
Not you julie xxxx
+++++++++++++++++++
Have edited your smiley, replacing ‘blush’ with ‘oops’
Duncanr
March 1st, 2008 at 3:46 pm
From Kate’s blog
KATE WANTS TO FORCE ALL PARENTS OF MISSING CHILDREN TO BE EXPOSED IN A MEDIA CIRCUS AGAINST POLICE ADVICE.
A stalinist approach to force down out throats they are reel good parents and way ahead of their time too when the plastered Madeleine’s face across Europe.
Even when police warned them that would reduce the chance of finding Madeliene alive close to zero.
Gerry and I have been criticised at times for publicising Madeleine’s disappearance. We did what we felt was best at that time, obviously having no experience of such ordeals. Thankfully NCMEC has assured us that this was the right thing to do. People have asked (usually in a critical manner) “why has Madeleine received such attention when there are thousands of missing children around the world?” My feeling is that the publicity surrounding Madeleine’s abduction was not inappropriate- Every child in such a situation should receive this same amount of attention, but it shouldn’t be down to the family to instigate it. The public awareness of Madeleine’s plight has at the very least, highlighted cases of other missing children and the extent of the problem as a whole, and from that we can take a small bit of comfort.
March 1st, 2008 at 3:45 pm
I-D-B-T
go away
March 1st, 2008 at 3:45 pm
271 Matt
Good afternoon , did you ask for your money back on that Virus programme?
Just been browsing on 3Arguidos and found this among the comments made
by posters in Justice for Madeleine today.
Although it has been said that Leicestershire police are to conduct the interviews it is not assured.
Usually interviews like this are done by National Criminal Intelligence Service and has if they are to be questioned by the police it will be voluntary it is unlikely that they will agree to go to Leicester to be interviewed.It is more likely given that O’|Brien and Tanner live in Exeter that the interviews will be conducted there or if they have London lawyers in London.
If the witnesses are summoned to give evidence that will be done in a court which will probably be the City of Westminster Magistrates Court in London
ng on the 3 Arguidos post you gave to Mary earlier.
Interesting eh, last we heard was the Tapas 7 had one Lawyer between all of
them, probably got one each now IMO
March 1st, 2008 at 3:45 pm
291 julie
PMSL
I am going to risk going to mods for this, but what a twat.