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
March 2nd, 2008 at 12:01 am
RR,
I’m okay. Just a young guy there says his parents are away for the weekend and he came in and the small bedroom had lots of smoke in it. There is a strong smell of gas too and the emergency services are still here. No one hurt or injured , that’s the main thing.
Hope you are okay RR, sorry for rushing away.
I love this song and am posting it for you, hope the link works. It never seems to for me I don’t know why.
http://pop.youtube.com/watch?v=59Q8KcsPg5Y&feature=related
March 2nd, 2008 at 12:00 am
651
brandon flours Says:
March 1st, 2008 at 11:58 pm
Okidoke! Thanks
Whats Gandofs problem with QPR?
Is he coming tomorrow?
Shall I meet him?
***************
whats gandys problem fullstop…..go back and check this evenings offerings and tell me hes a nice guy
March 1st, 2008 at 11:59 pm
Crystal clear
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rQazjM-bCo&NR=1
March 1st, 2008 at 11:58 pm
“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?”
———————–
IMO the treatment dished out to Mcanns by certain press, media websites certain individuals would seriously deter any parents of missing children from choosing the publicity campaign. Something to be proud of???
March 1st, 2008 at 11:58 pm
Okidoke! Thanks
Whats Gandofs problem with QPR?
Is he coming tomorrow?
Shall I meet him?
March 1st, 2008 at 11:57 pm
No doubt there will be some spin in the morning news
March 1st, 2008 at 11:57 pm
Then to bed! Night night all good people and to hell with the others!
March 1st, 2008 at 11:56 pm
645
gillyflower Says:
March 1st, 2008 at 11:52 pm
RR
So sorry.
I’d put a headstone there.
and maybe your mum and dad would like to talk, but cos its been so long they don’t like to bring the subject up. P’raps they don’t know how to broach it?
(((((((((((((((((((((((((((((hug))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
*****************
thanks I think I will. I dont think I could ever talk to them about it. They are both quite old now and neither of them are in good health. I just dont think I could, I guess im gonna regret that when they are gone but I just dont know how to do it. But thanks anyway
March 1st, 2008 at 11:55 pm
No news?
March 1st, 2008 at 11:53 pm
Brandon,
Doctors still in hiding.
March 1st, 2008 at 11:52 pm
RR
So sorry.
I’d put a headstone there.
and maybe your mum and dad would like to talk, but cos its been so long they don’t like to bring the subject up. P’raps they don’t know how to broach it?
(((((((((((((((((((((((((((((hug))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
March 1st, 2008 at 11:51 pm
642
brandon flours Says:
March 1st, 2008 at 11:49 pm
just popped in for a quickie
any news?
no news that im aware of…sorry
**********
not sure if i can oblige with that
March 1st, 2008 at 11:49 pm
641
Marie Nicholas Says:
March 1st, 2008 at 11:48 pm
638 RR
I know you feel guilty, I didn’t want to say it myself.
I’ll tell you one thing, a twin always wants his twin to survive him. As long as you live, you live for both. You have to be a twin to understand that. So, take care of yourself, it is the best you can do for him.
***********************
you’re right and I will, thanks
March 1st, 2008 at 11:49 pm
just popped in for a quickie
any news?
March 1st, 2008 at 11:48 pm
638 RR
I know you feel guilty, I didn’t want to say it myself.
I’ll tell you one thing, a twin always wants his twin to survive him. As long as you live, you live for both. You have to be a twin to understand that. So, take care of yourself, it is the best you can do for him.
March 1st, 2008 at 11:46 pm
Ciara…
Hope everythings ok, i’ll be here when you get back
March 1st, 2008 at 11:32 pm
637
Marie Nicholas Says:
March 1st, 2008 at 11:30 pm
Time for bed now.
I hope Ciara’s neighbours are OK.
XXX
************
me too and I hope shes ok too.
March 1st, 2008 at 11:31 pm
636
Marie Nicholas Says:
March 1st, 2008 at 11:27 pm
RR
Maybe you needed to understand that your grief was, and is still real. Even if your brother is never mentioned, and had a short existence, he meant everything for you at a time. You were 3 months old when you lost him. You haven’t forgotten him.
I find this great, and miraculous in a way. Don’t you think?
***********************
Yes I guess it is really. I dont think about him all the time, just sometimes you know, and I wont ever forget him even though I never knew him. I feel guilty sometimes if you understand what I mean
March 1st, 2008 at 11:30 pm
Time for bed now.
I hope Ciara’s neighbours are OK.
XXX
March 1st, 2008 at 11:27 pm
RR
Maybe you needed to understand that your grief was, and is still real. Even if your brother is never mentioned, and had a short existence, he meant everything for you at a time. You were 3 months old when you lost him. You haven’t forgotten him.
I find this great, and miraculous in a way. Don’t you think?
March 1st, 2008 at 11:26 pm
634
Ciara Says:
March 1st, 2008 at 11:20 pm
Oh, RR the cottage next to me is on fire. Two fire engines, police, ambulance. I can smell burning.
I’ll be back. Just going outside to see.
***************
omg I hope everyone is ok…
March 1st, 2008 at 11:20 pm
Oh, RR the cottage next to me is on fire. Two fire engines, police, ambulance. I can smell burning.
I’ll be back. Just going outside to see.
March 1st, 2008 at 11:18 pm
632
Ciara Says:
March 1st, 2008 at 11:16 pm
RR,
I’m always here.
((((((((hug)))))))))))))) xx
***************
I dont know what i’d do without you.
March 1st, 2008 at 11:16 pm
RR,
I’m always here.
((((((((hug)))))))))))))) xx
March 1st, 2008 at 11:09 pm
629
Ciara Says:
March 1st, 2008 at 11:06 pm
RR,
you okay?
************
Yeah im ok babe, but I really could do with a hug
March 1st, 2008 at 11:08 pm
Ciara come here will you, I need you
March 1st, 2008 at 11:06 pm
RR,
you okay?
March 1st, 2008 at 11:06 pm
625
Marie Nicholas Says:
March 1st, 2008 at 10:56 pm
RR
I am interested in twins because I am a twin myself.
Even though you lost your twin when you were very young, you must have missed him a lot, especially at an age when you couldn’t understand why you were suddenly deprived of him. I won’t go into explanations here, but I know for certain (tests), that twins keep the image of themselves as one of a pair throughout life, and even so when one of them has gone.
I don’t know if it is helpful to talk about it with your parents now. If they didn’t at the time, they probably were unable to. It was more shocking for you to discover it by yourself than if they had told you at an early age, I bet.
Having a twin is both a blessing and difficult. But being the eldest, or the yougest, or an only child, or the child in-between, isn’t easy either, so nothing to worry about. You sound a pleasant man as you are.
************************
I do miss him, I miss him loads but I never spoke to my parents about it because I thought it would hurt them too much. My parents are elderly now both in their 70s and I dont think its fair to bring it up. I guess they didnt want to hurt me. I dont know but it must have been hard for them to deal with. Im a middle child and i’ve never even spoke to my 2 brothers about it. I dont think I ever will. Its crazy really that i’ve talked about it tonight to so many people that I dont really know. But it has helped more than you’ll ever know. Thanks
March 1st, 2008 at 10:59 pm
626
Ciara
I think you are right.
March 1st, 2008 at 10:58 pm
622
SteveT
It’s a hard one Steve but I think at that age, the teenage years when there is so much to cope with and come to terms with then it may be best left. You are not 100% certain anyway so it’s not like you’re lying or holding something back. However, it’s a personal decision and I’m sure you and your wife will make the right one.