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
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March 2nd, 2008 at 10:58 am
62
Dr. Watson
Good morning to you too
March 2nd, 2008 at 10:46 am
Today’s thread, I see, is virtually one person’s thread. How boring.
Do not trust Gandolf, he is here to let you down.
I hope the guilty go to prison. Before that - the last thing you wish to do is wasting your Sunday on Gandolf.
******************
MODS AND ADMIN
Ah, good morning to the censorious Dr Watson, our resident arbiter of good taste and moderation.
March 2nd, 2008 at 10:43 am
morning
see Gandy still telling jokes
bye
March 2nd, 2008 at 10:35 am
Gandolf
As days pass, I get a different idea of who you are.
I discovered your sense of fun yesterday.
I also appreciate that you aren’t too much of an “ultra”, though you defend your views clearly.
I am sorry I said a few nasty things to you last week (nobody understood them. As I wrote G instead of Gandolf, it was mistaken for Gerry!). I was only teasing you. I rather enjoy some of your posts.
March 2nd, 2008 at 10:33 am
“…been trying on new designer shades for when I take the stand at Praia. Star witness, of course, but I’m supposed to be going there indognito. Gotta go now, I’m on shift with the pneumatic drill, we’re breaking up the cellar floor today. Awesome! Wake up and smell the bones!”
- from Eddie’s blog.
————
M and A
make sure he gets a mention , Supreme Champion at Crufts next weekend
March 2nd, 2008 at 10:26 am
I need to go lie down.
Bye for now. x
March 2nd, 2008 at 10:24 am
June
My last post had nothing to do with anything - but I felt the need to vent.
Down with Comment Marking!
March 2nd, 2008 at 10:24 am
53
JuneJohnson
Regarding teachers, I guess I should clarify, I really mean poor school administration and some poor teachers.
Its a reflection of the way society works in the UK too.
I once had a fantastic history teacher, used to act out historical events and allowed us to stick (or draw) pictures into our exercise books, free thinking (but, by the way, very strict too!). Anyway, he died. The new teacher came into the classroom on his first day and started writing on the blackboard. After a while he turned to the class and said ‘well, copy it down’!. That was pretty much the way classes went from then on. I dropped history at the first opportunity, though I’d loved it as a subject before.
He became head of the history department.
I could share more but I must do my assignment!
March 2nd, 2008 at 10:22 am
June
Get rid of Comment Marking!!! I hated it.
All the dumber kids assumed they were doing well when they were failing and all the smarter kids were paranoid that they were failing when they were doing well.
And that’s supposed to improve our self-esteem.
March 2nd, 2008 at 10:17 am
Mods and Admin
They will be notorious if they get convicted or a really good writer stuctures a myth for them.
Otherwise there would be too many questions society would have to ask itself - about the extent of Maddie Mania, our interest in small blonde girls, our attitudes to child care, our taste in Symbols of Suffering (Kate and Gerry???
)
March 2nd, 2008 at 10:08 am
Ian,
Teachers do have the responsibility of educating children, and do need some privilege over children in order to do this, otherwise its a burden, which when too onerous, the satisfaction is gone and the child becomes ‘neglected’ in the classroom.
As you rightly say too many parents expect the world owes them a living as they have children - the wrong way round, they chose( I hope) to have children, and the obligation for their welfare lies solely with the parents.
But perhaps not enough thought goes into children and their needs, but more following the celebrity fashion of dropping a sprog and getting the figure back superfast is the priority these days, and until ‘following a fashion’ is dropped and reality and responsibility come into being, even Western well fed and well provided for materially children will suffer too, perhaps not starvation of the body , but of the soul.
March 2nd, 2008 at 10:05 am
Ian, I have posted before what my old Dad said about “this aint no rehearsel”, life is to short for grudges and hopeless regret, it is no shame or belittling of a point of view to agree to disagree.It is all about the class with which it is done, there are more false tears shed over a grave, than a broken heart. I don’t know why, but I often think of Madeleine, when I hear this song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GYjF-oCpY0
March 2nd, 2008 at 9:58 am
Now I must go, these words need to be rearranged and presented to a tutor!
March 2nd, 2008 at 9:58 am
48
Gandolf
Not badly at all, I always ‘get’ your meanings!
Again, I agree!!
But I really dont think its over yet.
March 2nd, 2008 at 9:56 am
On that positive note (built on terrible negativity!) I must go do my assignment as the days march (’March’ on, get it?) on and the words arent getting on the paper (so to speak).
Ian
March 2nd, 2008 at 9:56 am
Ian, yea I read it all, what I am saying and rather badly I think, is that I doubt if any of us will ever encounter such a surreal story, ever again in our lifetimes.
March 2nd, 2008 at 9:54 am
45
Gandolf
I never thought we’d be sharing a dialogue containing these words but ‘Gondolf, I agree with you!’
March 2nd, 2008 at 9:51 am
43 Gandolf
Which is your prerogative.
My own view is that the fundamental truth is worth hammering on about….I know many find it boring and repetative.
Its not the worlds responsibility to mind the children, its the parents. When my kids were growing up I thought they were the cutest most darling little things ever to walk the earth. But I couldnt bear many other peoples kids! I didnt bore people with telling them how much we adored them, how ‘beloved’ they were etc etc.
People who understand that their kids are worth more than anything to them but are of no REAL interest to anyone else (except grandparents of course, and except those who are ‘warped’ and seek to do them harm) are more likely to protect their children than people who think others are responsible and owe a duty of care to children which are not their own.
Its not the police and border control we should be focussed on, but parental responsibilities and parental power. A good example is teachers, who seem to have more power over our kids than is right yet none of the responsibilities.
Anyway, bfore I digress again, my main point is, parents must understand that their children are THEIR responsibility and they must be encouraged to accept and deliver to that responsibility. Shannon was arguably of an age where she ought to have bene safe, there we should worry about why she was not. In the McCann case, madeleine should have been safe, but this was a case of should have been safe because she should ahve been protected by her parents. In that case I say, focus on the parents - thats where the failure lies.
I thank you if you could be bothered to read all that!
March 2nd, 2008 at 9:44 am
Ian, the chance that the kids have in the third world is a direct reflection on our society, it does not give one monkey’s fuck about them.
March 2nd, 2008 at 9:40 am
Ian
I think the MCanns are getting to that sad stage where their celebrity has waned. I don’t think the media will turn on them (too embarrassing), I think they’ll be quietly dropped by everyone but us.
Unless Gerry can get Kate out of the house and make her a Style Icon for the Gracia readers or they get arrested and convicted/acquitted, it’s over.
_____________
M and A
Karen, perhaps they will be ‘celebrated’ as notorious?
March 2nd, 2008 at 9:39 am
Ian, I have decided that what will be will be, I have done my brains in trying to get to any semblance of an organised and lucid opinion of what happend, how it happend and what other shennanigans went on.
I gotta say it is like being freed from some sort of spell, I am going to leave it in the hope that Madeleine will have justice, but in the world in which we live, that I am sorry to say is all it is hope.
March 2nd, 2008 at 9:39 am
40 REPORTER
Which totally distracts from ’serious’ (often not so serious!) posters who occasionally pop in to discuss the neglect and fate of madeleine McCann?
Music is the new abduction cry? Never mind the kid, listen to this?
March 2nd, 2008 at 9:36 am
Ian 39…correction.
The word ‘fond’ should have been ‘find’. It does, however, focus in on what the intention of the ‘general’ organisations to find lost children is. Surely they should be sending the message ‘dont let it happen’ and focus on the causes rather than jsut the result?
Why would they discuss such things with parents who clearly made a conscious decision to take a risk?
March 2nd, 2008 at 9:33 am
Mods you should be giving Gando a thread, never seen or heard such great music in the one place, till he posted it. The thread was rockin yesterday, and he seemed to have the ladies on his side.
Madeleine, this week we will see, but don’t hold your breath for to long.
March 2nd, 2008 at 9:31 am
22 Gondolf
At last you say something I can agree with.
But why is this only presented as Shannons case is compared and contrasted with Madeleines?
Is the implicit suggestion that we shouldnt make a fuss about children being neglected?
The point I would try to make is that this highlights the importance of parents to their children. Only parents can really be expected to love and cherish their own children - isn’t that natures intention? The fecundity of the human race is bound to result in large natural losses. This is no reason to accept that parents should be allowed to abandon their children and ‘take the risk’ - its absolutely the opposite.
It highlights the stupidity of the McCanns approach to ‘childcare’ and their focus on cross border security and large organisations whose aim is to fond lost children. The most efficient and effective method of seeking to prevent children ‘going missing’ or indeed dying of malnutrition is to focus on parental care. Never mind finding lost kids, make an example of the parents who allowed it to happen (if it is shown that this is the root cause). Never mind funding world wide organisations - get the parents providing for their children and not worrying which warlord runs the viallage!
Look at the priorities of our own governments, plastic bags, dead princesses and plastic princes, ‘global warming’ and financial markets. Do they really give a shit about poverty in their own country let alone in the third world?
I digress. My point is, that if a so-called developed and civilised society doesnt punish its child neglectors, what chance does a child ahve in the third world?
March 2nd, 2008 at 9:26 am
34 Rossi…
Oh yeah. Still positioning for new careers in child welfare, I see.
Kate McCann’s Big Book of Childcare is on it’s way!
March 2nd, 2008 at 9:23 am
34 Rossi…
Would that be Gerrykin’s blog? checking…
March 2nd, 2008 at 9:22 am
35 Gandolf…
On the stuff this early in the day?
March 2nd, 2008 at 9:20 am
No. I was watering my Sunflower, he/she/it is called Billy as well, and I started on the slippery slope with Natasha moons ago, when love was free I was still called Billy.
Karen I have been known to turn women into mothers, can’t help it I’m just a babe magnet, still don’t explain how Carmen knew I was called Billy, wonder if she kept her crash helmet on.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vemi01A7eH8
March 2nd, 2008 at 9:18 am
QUOTE Day 302: 29/02/2008-Friday
It has been a relatively quiet week for us. 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. UNQUOTE
Not “we are thankful that the police have taken the time to investigate this sighting and not dismissed it lightly.