Madeleine McCann And Shannon Matthews: And Jamie Bulger
MADDYWATCH - Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann and Shannon Matthews
THE INDEPENDENT: “Missing: The contrasting searches for Shannon and Madeleine. Has class influenced the rewards offered and publicity given to two campaigns to find missing children? Cole Moreton goes to Dewsbury to investigate”
Shannon’s parents are not doctors. The child is not blonde, neither is the mother.
Shannon’s uncle, Neil Hyett, lives next door to her, and has had his house and garden searched. The media frenzy of last week bewildered him, but like many others in Dewsbury Moor he says he now wishes he could find a way to make it continue. “It’s all gone quiet, hasn’t it?” he said at the sparse community centre from which the leaflet and poster campaign continues to be run. “Last week, you couldn’t park for television vans. Now they’ve all been sent away on other stories.” Even The Sun’s support yesterday caused disappointment. “I’m devastated, to be honest,” said a coach driver, as others around him agreed. “That poster should have been on the front page.” It was on page 17.
Madeleine McCann
Age: Four. Parents: Kate, 40, a GP. Gerry, 39, a cardiologist. Siblings: Twins, now aged two.
Home: Detached house, Leicestershire.
UK press stories after nine days: 465.
Rewards offered: £2.6m: the ‘News of the World’, Stephen Winyard, Philip Green, Simon Cowell, Coleen McLoughlin, ‘The Sun’, Sir Richard Branson, J K Rowling.
Public donations: £1.1m:
J K Rowling, Bryan Adams, David Beckham, Cristiano Ronaldo, John Terry, Phil Neville, David Moyes, the England cricket team.
Wikipedia profile: 2,182 words after nine days.
Shannon Matthews
Age: Nine. Parents: Karen, 32, and Leon Rose, 29. Stepfather, Craig, 22. Siblings: Six boys and girls, from her mother’s partnerships with five different men.
Home: Three-bed council house, Dewsbury Moor.
UK press stories after nine days: 242.
Rewards offered: £25,500. Made up of £20,000 by ‘The Sun’, £5,000 from Huddersfield firm Joseph International, £500 from Wakefield pensioner Winston Bedford.
Public donations: Thousands at most, including Leona Lewis.
Wikipedia profile: 151 words after nine days.
SUNDAY PEOPLE: “Lost little Shannon ’snatched’”
Devastated friends and family of missing schoolgirl Shannon Matthews last night insisted the nine-year-old was snatched.
Says cousin Vicky Saunders: “Shannon’s quite a timid girl and wouldn’t like to go off on her own.
Family friend Petra Jamieson adds: “She’s the ideal daughter who behaves well. We want everyone to remember Shannon, like they do Madeleine McCann.”
THE SCOTSMAN: “Madeleine sighting in France is ruled out”
We are all looking for Madeleine McCann, and at her…
A reported sighting of Madeleine McCann in southern France has been officially ruled out. Gerry McCann revealed that French police have established that the young girl seen by a Dutch tourist in Montpellier last month was not his missing daughter.He said it was “disappointing” that it took so long for this to happen after “widespread” media reporting of the sighting.
In his latest blog, Mr McCann writes: “We did hear that the French have officially ruled out the reported sighting of Madeleine in Montpellier.”
We watch the McCanns. And we scrutinise their every word. They now even report on the case.
THE OBSERVER: “’James would be 18 now - the pain of losing him will never go away’
Fifteen years ago, the murder of toddler James Bulger by two young boys horrified Britain and inflicted deep wounds on their home city of Liverpool. In this moving interview, James’s mother Denise Fergus tells Elizabeth Day that the passing years have not diminished the pain over the loss of her son and her anger towards his killers, Robert Thompson and Jon Venables.
In the aftermath of the trial in November 1993, the Daily Star carried pictures of Venables and Thompson underneath the headline ‘How do you feel now you little bastards?’
Denise Fergus still cannot bring herself to walk near the Walton railway line… It has been 15 years since the murder of her son James Bulger on this stretch of track; 15 years since he was beaten to death by two killers who were themselves children.
The pain of losing him will never go away. But there’s so much more in my life that I determined long ago not to be a victim any more. I don’t let things hurt me so easily as I once did. Like it was hurtful when the papers called him “Jamie”. That was never his name. It was like a strange label they invented to sum him up in one word. It’s the same now with Madeleine McCann. The papers call her “Maddy”.
Maddie, Shan And More: the media’s look at missing children
Posted: 2nd, March 2008 | In: Madeleine McCann, Tabloids Comments (443) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
Comments
- susan jones on Susan Boyle Weeps As The Press Set About Destroying Her
- The Real Stig on The Great Cathay Pacific Blocked Toilet Mystery
- SoDak-GhostDog on Interview With Survior Of James Arthur Ray’s Sedona Sweat Lodge
- Katie Norman on I’m A Celebrity: Joe Bugner’s Career In Pictures
- HOTWATER on Madeleine McCann: The Media Creates A New Maddie Monster And Twists The Facts
March 2nd, 2008 at 3:54 pm
175
Denzylle
It has always struck me the britain”s lingering victorian feeling towards children…even now I feel it is very strong
Very different to the latin/southern culture where children and adults spend an awful long time together having a life together and not set at different times to suit the PARENTS more than anythingelse really….hence the sad “Madeleine”s abduction”…..
March 2nd, 2008 at 3:53 pm
181…jo
Perfecto.
March 2nd, 2008 at 3:53 pm
179…SteveT
All safety-first instructions for the clapper will be strictly adhered to.
March 2nd, 2008 at 3:51 pm
180…jo
“”"I dont believe people are ill-informed about their status and all”"”"
I was saying that with tongue in cheek.
March 2nd, 2008 at 3:49 pm
178
Matt
…and some strong pink bars just to make sure
March 2nd, 2008 at 3:47 pm
176
Matt. Says:
March 2nd, 2008 at 3:39 pm
or posters being set up with Madeleine and Shannon pics?
172…jo
I dont believe people are ill-informed about their status and all.I think they are trying now their upmost to be seen as good as gold.People let them be but they will wack them when necessary….especially jo public…
Lets hope it is soon soon soon.
By the way any news about Shannon?Any help being offered by the mcFund?
Or isnt Shannon not as pretty and the whole f….lot???? makes me maaad
March 2nd, 2008 at 3:45 pm
178
Matt
“Two bricks and a very firm clap is a good Modus Operandi.”
Q. Does it hurt?
A. Only if you catch your fingers between the bricks.
March 2nd, 2008 at 3:42 pm
177…jo
Two bricks and a very firm clap is a good Modus Operandi.
March 2nd, 2008 at 3:41 pm
174
SteveT
Naturally it would be the best choice
March 2nd, 2008 at 3:39 pm
172…jo
I sure as heck hope so.
Depends on public reaction really, I would think.
The Powers That Be seem to be rather ill-informed regarding their
present status and past “misdemeanours” regarding their own children.
March 2nd, 2008 at 3:39 pm
Jo
169
I know.
But I don’t think Britain’s attitudes towards sexuality, historically, have helped, and attitudes towards children (seen and not heard) even less so.
March 2nd, 2008 at 3:37 pm
172
jo
Prison?
March 2nd, 2008 at 3:36 pm
168…Denzylle
It just gets curiouser and curiouser this case.
No doubt “Children In Need” Charity should interview and discuss
future plans with the Bank Robbers etc of today.
March 2nd, 2008 at 3:34 pm
162
Matt
Would there be a way to stop the mccfools to have access to this kind of work?
March 2nd, 2008 at 3:33 pm
165
DuncanR
Seams an appropriate punishment. No anaesthetic though!
March 2nd, 2008 at 3:32 pm
165 Duncan R
Just saw your post, if castration means the pedophile will never have a thought
in his head to try any other means of satisfying his sexual deviancy, I don”t mind.
March 2nd, 2008 at 3:32 pm
163
Denzylle
It is not only a british problem.
It is a sad problem all over the world.
Some countries are more disgusting than others may be but the problem remains whole and as disgusting
March 2nd, 2008 at 3:30 pm
Matt
162
I’m amazed, too!
About two weeks ago, we talked about how KM might be prevented from attaching herself to a children’s charity or quango, and I quoted this para. from the Charity Commission’s document, ‘Safeguarding Children’:
‘It is important that each charity’s safeguarding policy and procedures are tailored to the type of contact that the charity has with children and it also needs to take into account any particular vulnerabilities of the children with whom the charity has contact; for example disabled children who are at increased risk of abuse; babies and toddlers who are vulnerable due to their age and dependence on adults; [...]‘
I find it difficult to understand how any quango (even if not constituted as a charity) can work with someone who fails to recognise the integral importance of the final clause of that para.
March 2nd, 2008 at 3:29 pm
165
DuncanR
Sarkosy is having an idea of operating the sickos.
What about women who also abuse children? cutting ovaries then?
The problem has its root in our civilisation/culture/society…fairly f***if you ask me.
Sometime I believe that Arthur Janov might had touched the real problem….I have mentioned his name and work several time here but it did not raise any interest whatsoever….food for thoughts.
March 2nd, 2008 at 3:27 pm
On that depressing not, I”m off for a while.
One last thought, we”ve had protest Marches about the Nuclear Bomb, banning
fox Hunting, the Poll Tax, Iraq war etc but never one to demand due care for
all children, sad isn”t it!!!
March 2nd, 2008 at 3:21 pm
160 - val Says:
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
Might be as effective to simply cut their balls off ????
March 2nd, 2008 at 3:20 pm
162…Matt.
Corporate……even.
March 2nd, 2008 at 3:19 pm
Val
160
I know these subjects have been disussed extensively over the last few days, so I won;t give you my long answers.
But my short answers are -
Abuse and paedophilia are far too well embedded in all layers of British society, and this is probably a result of history and sexual repression. The deeper things lie hidden, the more involved are the powers that be, and exposure of miscreants tends to be superficial or perfunctory - ie. let’s start with the council estates, and leave the public schools and the church until later.
Unlike many on this thread, I’m not in favour of the death penalty for any crime. However, I see no problem with chemical castration for perpetrators of sexual offences.
March 2nd, 2008 at 3:19 pm
161…Denzylle
Am amazed at Missing Children Charity and Pact even meeting with them
presently to discuss and plan the “Wider Agenda”.
I would have thought it to be more prudent to wait at least until the
Police Investigation has been completed and whatever Legal Proceedings
which may follow, instigated and dealt with.
They risk having a a large dollop of egg cascading over their respective
Corperate Faces.
March 2nd, 2008 at 3:12 pm
Matt
159
I live in a London borough neighbouring Islington and have done so for 20 years, so I’m well aware of the Islington care homes scandal. The Evening Standard has done a fine job, over the years, of exposing Margaret Hodge’s role.
Oh, the irony, that Tony B. Liar appointed her Minister for Children!
Rather similar to the irony of KM’s self-appointment as an expert in the care and safeguarding of young children.
March 2nd, 2008 at 3:10 pm
156 Denzylle
What the Hell is happening to our kids? We all know about the trips to Thailand,
Sri Lanka etc by paedophiles, but to be so endemic in the U.K. is unbelievable and disgraceful.
How come genetically so many men have these abnormal feelings? We know
they can”t be cured, so give them a lobotomy I say while they are in Prison.
March 2nd, 2008 at 3:08 pm
Margaret Hodge….First ever “Minister for Children”…didn’t
exactly excel in her “New” Role.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2008/03/02/do0213.xml
March 2nd, 2008 at 3:03 pm
Val
155
The Islington care homes scandal has been widely documented in the local and national press, much of it by Eileen Fairweather, but the Jersey connection less so. EF, clearly, has been well aware of the connections between the two areas for some time and now, with Haut de la Garenne, they have come to the fore, and people are beginning to pay more attention to those key facts.
March 2nd, 2008 at 3:01 pm
154 Denzylle
Thanks. As I thought, the jokes would disappear into the ether. Never mind, I
will try your instructions when I have a couple of days to spare…..only
joking!!!!!!
March 2nd, 2008 at 2:58 pm
There’s an Inspector Rebus novel, ‘Dead Souls’ where Ian Rankin writes about two aspects of paedophiles in Edinburgh. One man has just been released from prison and is rehoused on a rundown housing estate similar to that where Shannon lives. The other side of the story is about Rebus giving evidence in court about abuse in a children’s home, Shiellion. The outcome is that the abuse at the home was longstanding and well covered up, and involved the highest echelons of Edinburgh society, including a police doctor, minsters of the church and freemasons.
It seems that many children’s homes during the 20th century were filled with the unwanted, unloved and easily forgotten and have been regarded as easy resources for those who need a child to abuse. I am sure such things have taken place thru’out the UK (and thru’out the world where there are such ‘care’ systems) but the involvement of people at the highest levels in an insular society with archaic oligarchic systems such as Jersey would be easier to hide, and the goings on would be easier to disguise and bury (literally, it would seem).