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 2nd, 2008 at 1:34 am
The taxi story does not fit in with the timings that the Tapas group gave so is obviously not true.
March 2nd, 2008 at 1:32 am
740
brandon flours
Charlie Chaplin?
March 2nd, 2008 at 1:31 am
739
annie1
Less blondes in China than Morocco, probably not.
March 2nd, 2008 at 1:30 am
annie1
No mention of the cab either
with payne and kate
March 2nd, 2008 at 1:29 am
stevet
who was that bloke in the B&W films?
March 2nd, 2008 at 1:29 am
Steve - do you know something we dont - a siting in China now -
March 2nd, 2008 at 1:28 am
dcb
Is he being deliberately dateless because of his edits of lare
March 2nd, 2008 at 1:27 am
An old Chinese saying:- if you know where something is you dont look for it.
March 2nd, 2008 at 1:26 am
bloody hell Brandon - NO - but he sure as hell ( i m o) knew that they hadnt a snowflake in the Alps chance of finding her there
March 2nd, 2008 at 1:25 am
If you see his blog Brandon - he didn’t even know about the sighting till 2 days after we had talked about it on here. What a Team Mccann eh!
March 2nd, 2008 at 1:24 am
Dont worry I am on my best behaviour tonight
Babs has left the building
March 2nd, 2008 at 1:24 am
IF you are a MCCann supporter - then you would support their cause not just them - so instead of sitting banging on a keyboard - why are you not in Yorks. helping the family of missing Shannon to come to terms with the issues involved and encouraging them to enlist the support of the likes of you - why are you not there - supporting the very cause that the McCanns are fighting for - come to think of it - why are the McCanns not there with Shannons family - up there in sunny Dewsbury?? WHY - because everyone associated with the McClan are shitting themselves - because they KNOW that if justice is done, the very least that they can expect is a custodial sentence for blatent child neglect -(all in my opinion) of course
March 2nd, 2008 at 1:23 am
723
annie1
You didnt expect him to go to france did yer
March 2nd, 2008 at 1:21 am
Just having a late beer Brandon
March 2nd, 2008 at 1:21 am
Oh no Brandon!
March 2nd, 2008 at 1:20 am
Night Karen
Dont forget your checks and its mothers day tomorrow!!!!
Hi DCB cant sleep?
I have a theory about that……………………..
March 2nd, 2008 at 1:18 am
1. It wouldn’t have taken so long if they had gone to see for themselves.
2. Why no mention of the taximan sighting in Portugal?
March 2nd, 2008 at 1:17 am
Quote from The Times Saturday March 1 2008
‘Poor little Shannon - Too poor for us to care that she is lost?
Quote - When a female relative was giving interviews about the missing child on the day after Shannon disappeared, her husband loudly reminder her to charge ‘a fiver for a feel’ (of her breasts) then roared with laughter at his own wit. Emotion charged press conferences featuring distraught relatives are a freature of searches for missing children. No such media events have been possible in this case because - despite considerable effort - it would appear that officers have been unable to find anyone who is up to the task.’
Unquote …..
POOR SHANNON!!!
March 2nd, 2008 at 1:17 am
Mc Cann Supporter
Why?
Please tell me why?
Have you not seen all the interviews??
not the tabloids, the ones they talk on?
I wont go into the neglect or the failure for them to put their hands up now, but
WHY?
Innocent till proven guilty doesnt make an answer!
Not with all the Things they have done! IMO
Please just write a 5 or 10 point list explaining why you support them!
I really would love to know.
Apart from Gart and other weirdos and a few that avoid a direct question and repeat blind faithness for the Mc Canns I havent had the chance to ask!
March 2nd, 2008 at 1:14 am
Brandon
I’m mostly better - still a sniffle or two.
March 2nd, 2008 at 1:12 am
Goodnight everyone.
Night Brandon.
March 2nd, 2008 at 1:11 am
Gerry blog - today
We did hear from the UK police that the French have officially ruled out the reported sighting of Madeleine in Montpellier. It is disappointing that it took so long, particularly after the widespread coverage the reported sighting received in the media.
DISAPPOINTING THAT IT TOOK SO LONG???? what the bloody hell is the man saying - to me it sounds like “we knew it wasnt her, so what took you so long?” - like - “we dont trust the police - anywhere”
What bloody arrogance - Give me just 10 minutes with them - just 10 minutes!!
March 2nd, 2008 at 1:10 am
Hi Karen
Hope you are better now
Just thought the bog didnt have a
’special mothers day bit’
did it?
I wonder why
March 2nd, 2008 at 1:08 am
714
RedRooster Says:
March 2nd, 2008 at 1:02 am
711
a McCann Supporter Says:
March 2nd, 2008 at 1:00 am
***************************
yeah right yer knob like they wouldnt have told the world if they had PMSL
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Starting to get nasty and personal now are we. That seems to be your only form of attack - to insult the poster who believes the McCanns - can’t you come up with something more original??? You are pathetic!!
March 2nd, 2008 at 1:06 am
706
RedRooster Says:
March 2nd, 2008 at 12:55 am
703
a McCann Supporter Says:
March 2nd, 2008 at 12:52 am
**********************
im sure they would McFool IF they could get some positive publicity for it….dont pretend they give a sh@t about anyone but themselves. We’re not as gullible as you.
——————————————————————————————
That’s rich coming from a mottly bird, no-one could be as gullible as you believing everything that you read in the media. Just because I don’t ‘tow the line’ it doesn’t mean that I am gullible. The McCanns don’t need the publicity, they have enough, but as in Shannon’s case it isn’t reaching the right people, the ones who have abducted their daughters!!
March 2nd, 2008 at 1:05 am
Goodnight all! Countdown to interviews.
March 2nd, 2008 at 1:04 am
717
SteveT Says:
**************
according to a McTroll
March 2nd, 2008 at 1:03 am
Karen, Be carefull, we are all bastards!
March 2nd, 2008 at 1:03 am
Ciara, sorry chick not a good time…?
March 2nd, 2008 at 1:02 am
SteveT
He’d deserve it.
All that education and he doesn’t know what a key is for.