Madeleine McCann: Prayers, Bones And Media
MADDYWATCH - Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann
Remember, everyone, to play Anorak Bingo you must mention Madeleine McCann, Shannon Matthews and – here’s the tie-breaker – Scarlett Keeling. Eyes down…
DAILY MAIL: Amanda Platell
There cannot be a person in the country who didn’t feel a surge of delight on learning that little Shannon Matthews has been found alive and well.
We can think of one.
All the more so in these days when good news has become such a rare commodity. Yet even as we celebrate, we should spare a thought for Gerry and Kate McCann, for whom Shannon’s discovery, wonderful as it is, will be a fresh reminder of their own terrible loss. The return of one lost girl is a marvel. The return of two . . . now that’s a miracle worth praying for.
Was it the power of prayer that got Shannon Matthews found? If so, who gets the reward?
Tick. Tick.
THE INDEPENDENT: “Deborah Orr: Wonderful news that carries a message for the media”
It isn’t often that the papers have some really wonderful news to report. But it really is wonderful that Shannon Matthews has been found alive.
Amanda Platell agrees.
This amazing news also carries a lesson for the media, about the way it turns horrible crimes into great stories, and what an unpleasant, self-regarding business this can be.
There were suggestions that Shannon’s disappearance was not getting the coverage afforded to another lost child, Madeleine McCann, because the latter was a middle-class child and the former a child from a more modest and chaotic background. There is some truth in this argument, of course.
You can read about it all over the media.
But the underlying assumption is that all the publicity around the McCann case is something desirable and useful, while the more meagre reporting about the Matthew case is undesirable and useless. If children really could be reunited with their parents because of the magical power of speculative column inches, though, then Madeleine, not Shannon, would have been returned to her family by now. The very idea that the hypocritical furore around Madeleine is something to be aspired to, a benchmark of any positive kind, is quite wrong and ought to be challenged.
The McCanns should not be the media’s benchmark for missing children. We’ve heard that before…
True, the “debate” helped to keep Shannon’s abduction in the public domain, just as the “debate” around Made-leine continues to keep her case in the public domain.
A debate. On what? What was being debated?
It might be argued that there would have been no great endeavour to find Shannon had the press not made the supposedly modest fuss it did.
MEdia.
I believe this isn’t the case. The local media has a vast part to play, but the national and international press, apart from reporting facts about the investigation, can offer little but intrusive “colour”. The reality is that the vast majority of the “stories” written about the McCann case have been prurient and sensational pieces of cynical propaganda, serving no practical purpose at all except for the selling of newspapers.
Indeed. Read all about selling papers in the Independent.
Tick. Tick.
IRISH INDEPENDENT: “Divers recover bag of small bones in search for Maddy”
DIVERS searching an Algarve reservoir for Madeleine McCann yesterday found a plastic bag containing small bones. Police experts were last night examining the gruesome find made by a frogman working for a Portuguese lawyer.
Gerry and Kate McCann were informed immediately by a private detective who was observing the search. Madeira-based lawyer Marcos Aragao Correia says he was tipped off by underworld contacts that Madeleine was murdered and her body thrown into the reservoir last May.The search turned up the bones in the murky waters of the Barragem do Arabe reservoir yesterday at 3.30pm.
Mr Correia said last night: “We found two bags one of which contains some small bones. We don’t know if they are human bones or not at this stage. If they are human bones, they look like they come from a child’s fingers.”
Tick. And a half tick for speculation.
THIS IS LONDON: “Bag of small bones found in reservoir where lawyer claims Madeleine McCann’s body was dumped”
Says Clarence Mitchell: “We have not been informed of anything by the police to indicate that this find is significant. There is nothing to indicate at this stage that they are human bones and they could easily be from an animal. There is nothing at the moment to indicate that this find has anything to do with Madeleine. We continue to believe she is alive.”
THE SUN: “Shannon: 24 days of tears”
IN the end, the prayers were answered – as yesterday the tears of anguish over missing Shannon Matthews turned to sobs of relief.
Prayers. What of the tip off? The police work?
TIMELINE:
Sunday, February 24: CHURCHGOERS pray for Shannon’s safe return. Madeleine McCann’s parents send a message of support.
Tick. Tick.
THE GUARDIAN: “What women want”
Following last year’s Booker win, Anne Enright is finally enjoying wider recognition - despite her work’s reputation for being gloomy and obsessed with sex and death
She became the target of ire in the tabloids when they picked up an article she wrote in the London Review of Books dissecting her reaction to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. The piece was full of ambivalence, describing her suspicions of Gerry and Kate McCann but in the end condemning her own voyeurism. She refuses to say whether the fracas upset her, but seems sensibly resigned, agreeing that events proved how she was naive to think her nuances would be understood in the grotesque guessing game that the story had become: “I was misread and I hoped that would become apparent, but there’s no point in me stomping around and fighting with shadows.”
Posted: 15th, March 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Madeleine McCann, Tabloids Comments (621) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
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March 16th, 2008 at 12:02 am
473
Châtelaine Says:
March 15th, 2008 at 11:57 pm
—
FYI, I have been reading for about 6 months and have seen many scenarios put forward here, but in general, those posters get shot down pretty quickly by posters that believe the parents are guilty of more than “neglect” … certainly the abduction scenario is most of the time dismissed. The fact is that we, the public, do not know the truth at this stage.
March 16th, 2008 at 12:01 am
469
SpongeBob Says:
March 15th, 2008 at 11:50 pm
466
Châtelaine
“[...] - and yours results are…?”
****
And maybe you should read some former threads too. Don’t want to repeat myself too much and there’s nothing much new to be discussed right now.
Good night.
March 16th, 2008 at 12:01 am
461Firestar
Yes, but their remit was to find Madeleine , no that was a stupid idea, silly me.!!!!!!!
lilith posted earlier a 3arguidos thread, guess who started FindMadeleine (is it a fund?),
non other than Jon Corner. It”s all getting quite incestuous, I was on the Yahoo site
earlier and they are claiming 3a are chaging posters and making a forune. One of the
Founders is a great friend of Ms McVey and Knows Kate.
March 15th, 2008 at 11:57 pm
470
Daisy Says:
March 15th, 2008 at 11:52 pm
“[...] Lynn, this has been my point all along and I totally agree with you. That is why I rarely post anymore. Difficult to get other posters to see that their opinion/views are not the only ones and other scenarios are also possible.”
****
It seems to me that you don’t only post rarely, but also rarely read. There’s been a manifold of scenarios passing by since I’m reading [and sometime posting] here…
March 15th, 2008 at 11:57 pm
460
val Says:
March 15th, 2008 at 11:37 pm
—
I recall reading in the press and also some explanation from a poster with good knowledge of Portuguese Law, that the case could be extended again (by a Judge) and it could go to 12 months maximum, but the arguido status could stay attached to their names indefinitely.
March 15th, 2008 at 11:54 pm
468
Denzylle Says:
March 15th, 2008 at 11:49 pm
Chatelaine
464
‘Prattle’ is probably a close relative of ‘blather’ or ‘blither’ (Irish, English, Scottish).
****
Thank you.
I cannot remember the person who used it this afternoon to offend Marie N, but he/she didn’t even know how to spell it [wrote praddle] so we needed some time to find out the meaning …
March 15th, 2008 at 11:52 pm
#
458
Lynn Says:
—-
Lynn, this has been my point all along and I totally agree with you. That is why I rarely post anymore. Difficult to get other posters to see that their opinion/views are not the only ones and other scenarios are also possible.
March 15th, 2008 at 11:50 pm
466
Châtelaine
‘People like Maria & Lynn are a pain in the something, Difficult reading and no results…’
- and yours results are…?
March 15th, 2008 at 11:49 pm
Chatelaine
464
‘Prattle’ is probably a close relative of ‘blather’ or ‘blither’ (Irish, English, Scottish).
March 15th, 2008 at 11:47 pm
Good night, Jo. Take care.
March 15th, 2008 at 11:46 pm
People like Maria & Lynn are a pain in the something. Difficult reading and no results…
March 15th, 2008 at 11:45 pm
464
Châtelaine
Good one! in fact it sounds much better
Gone…..>>>>>>>>now
March 15th, 2008 at 11:43 pm
462
jo Says:
March 15th, 2008 at 11:40 pm
458
Lynn
Cant you stop blattering?
You woke me up
****
Us non-native English speakers just learnt this afternoon the word “prattle” for that
March 15th, 2008 at 11:42 pm
clueless, the dogs bollox, how apt.
March 15th, 2008 at 11:40 pm
458
Lynn
Cant you stop blattering?
You woke me up
March 15th, 2008 at 11:38 pm
why incompetent?
they’ve managed to get the media chasing madeleine all over morocco.
i’d call that pretty good work.
March 15th, 2008 at 11:37 pm
453 Gandolf
I just told Denzylle that this PM who posts on sky said that after 8 months the PJ has to
divulge the evidence or lift the Arguido status, so what”s the surprise after 11th april?
The case is shelved? I personally think the Portugese Judiciary have spent too much
time and money, but are treading on eggshells because of shall we say “political
interference”. Be honest, don”t you ever wonder why the McCanns are keeping on
the Metodo3 at enormous expense, incidentally donated money, when they have proved so iincompetent.?
March 15th, 2008 at 11:35 pm
lynn
disrespectful?
satirical even.
weird thing to find on a satire site, don’t you think?
maybe you’re on the wrong site.
March 15th, 2008 at 11:33 pm
Obviously if what most say is true then arrests will surely come following the impending interviews by the Portuguese and British police..
I’m interested to know what you will all say if those arrests do not come, I think I know, it will be “well the police know who did it but can’t prove it ” Of course it couldn’t possibly be the police got it wrong, because that would not fit in with your wild theories and opinions.
The fact is if the police can’t prove it, then they can’t possibly know for sure, they may think the McCann’s were involved, but quite frankly, what the police think is not important, they have to produce evidence that proves their “thoughts” are correct.
I’m also puzzled why people are so quick to say abduction is not a possible scenario ? Why not, it is every much as possible and more so than many of the bizarre theories posted on Anorak threads. continually saying “there is no evidence of abduction” etc etc, I find this odd. Firstly posters on here do not know what evidence is available and neither do I, secondly they don’t know what is ruled out or ruled in, and finally a well planned, targeted and exercised professional abduction would leave little or no evidence at all.
I would be very careful before ruling anything out, the actions of the PJ following the impending interviews will say a lot about their case against the McCann’s or lack of it. And by the way taking the piss out of their surname is wrong, just remember that there are many people around the world with that name, and its very disrespectful.
March 15th, 2008 at 11:32 pm
Good night all
Can no more
Sleep tight
March 15th, 2008 at 11:31 pm
Gandy talks bollox
March 15th, 2008 at 11:27 pm
do you know you can find just about any music album or film for downloading for free just by using google?
much faster than the p2p programs.
i’ve been getting straight downloads at 50ok and above.
March 15th, 2008 at 11:27 pm
430
Maria
Honestly the mistake you make, is try to defend the McCs against all the charges based on ’sources ‘ raised on this board.
You don’t know any more than anyone else does..Granted it is a compelling subject to debate.. But debating rumours and conjecture will not find a solution.
If there is enough evidence, they will be charged, assuming the police are competent. If not, then..fortunately/unfortunately, that is the legal process.
But there are still plenty of issues to debate on this subject…
March 15th, 2008 at 11:26 pm
Val I don’t argue,I inform, and as every one has missed it the Portuguese have until 11th April to action anything, after that be prepared to be very surprised.
Few months yet before I am back on a bike.
March 15th, 2008 at 11:26 pm
450
Denzylle
I wouldnt go as far as religious significance for anyone really.
I dont think the PJ will wait tho” otherwise what happens with their arguido status which runs at the end of the month?
March 15th, 2008 at 11:23 pm
448
jo Says:
March 15th, 2008 at 11:16 pm
445
Châtelaine
Dunno what to call them anymore
*****
Possibly all of the McSomethings have been used meanwhile.
But McFunnyBunny=Funny …
March 15th, 2008 at 11:18 pm
444
I’m not aware that Holy Week or Easter has any particular religious significance for the other interviewees (altho’ perhaps for the Portuguese themselves?) so, on this basis, this should not affect the scheduling.
However, UK police are also involved and they are always understaffed at holiday times and, therefore, schedule only crucial stuff. As this investigation is ten months old, (and especially if it’s agreed that the subject is probably no longer alive), I’d guess that scheduling will not be a priority over the holidays.
March 15th, 2008 at 11:17 pm
424
Gandolf
Are you still around, don”t want to argue with you, just wanted to know how long
before you are completely recovered.
There are so many people leaving and so many new posters it”s hard to keep track.
March 15th, 2008 at 11:16 pm
445
Châtelaine
Dunno what to call them anymore
March 15th, 2008 at 11:16 pm
http://messageboards.sky.com/ThreadView.aspx?ThreadId=9320&page=493
———-
there was a ‘t’ in front of the link.