Madeleine McCann: Clarence Mitchell For Hire, Richard Desmond And The Guardian Repeats
MADDIE WATCH - Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann
DAILY TELEGRAPH: “McCann’s spokesman Clarence Mitchell ponders PR move
As Kate and Gerry McCann return from their first family holiday since their daughter Madeleine disappeared 14 months ago, their spokesman Clarence Mitchell is in talks to join a PR agency where he plans to help other parents who have lost children to deal with the media.
Such is the news of the McCann case that the internet traffic-hungry Telegraph is looking at Clarence Mitchell’s career options. An interviwer might ask him what good has come of all the PR and media handling, and point out that not every missing child is the the blonde, photgenic progency of middle-class doctors and thus not deemed to be as newsworthy.
Says Mitchell, the McCanns’ spokesman:
“I’m happy to help anyone in the eye of a media storm, but I need to put myself on a firm financial footing. I should stress, however, that there’s absolutely no question of me abandoning Kate and Gerry McCann.”
Working for the McCanns is a job, and it pays. But when will it end?
THE GUARDIAN: “Fakery fallout hits TV sector”
Deception rows caused several top television figures to slide down the top 100. It’s the MediaGuardian 100, an arbitrary league table of TV shows and staff.
The newspaper sector accounts for three of the top 10 fallers - two editors and a proprietor. Richard Desmond is the second biggest faller, down 20 places to 55, after his newspapers had to make unprecedented front-page apologies and pay £550,000 in damages to the family of Madeleine McCann.
And the Guardian loves to write about Desmond:
55. Richard Desmond
In March, Richard Desmond’s Express Newspapers titles ran unprecedented apologies and paid £550,000 in damages over stories they had run about the family of Madeleine McCann….
It was another blow to the credibility of the papers, credibility that has suffered ever since Desmond bought them in 2000…
Under-resourced and undermined by the McCann apology, Desmond’s newspaper group also saw the first 24-hour national newspaper strike for 18 years in a dispute about pay and outsourcing.
Desmond is Fleet Street’s least-loved proprietor, but as the Observer’s Peter Preston memorably put it: “No one likes him, though (in common with Millwall FC) he doesn’t seem to care.”
No.78 is Peter Wright, editor of the Mail on Sunday.
If Wright is occasionally a controversial figure, then he gained extra credibility this year when he joined the Press Complaints Commission after the Daily Express editor, Peter Hill, stepped down in the wake of Express Newspapers’ £550,000 damages payout to the family of Madeleine McCann.
James Murdoch takes the top spot from his father as other City players suffer a tough year
Richard Desmond, the owner of Express Newspapers, has also had a mixed year, paying out £550,000 in damages to Gerry and Kate McCann for a string of inaccurate articles about their daughter Madeleine’s disappearance, and taking the unprecedented step of publishing front-page apologies in all four Express and Star national titles.
Is the Guardian obsessed with Richard Desmond?
Posted: 14th, July 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Madeleine McCann Comments (620) | 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
July 14th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
bognor always makes me smile.
July 14th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
And then you could hit her over the head with it.
Surefire way to cheer yourself up…
July 14th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
I’ve got to sort the mail into invitations, exhortations, condemnations and nutters - it’ll take a couple of hours.
Bye everyone. x
July 14th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
melanie
I hope that brought a wry smile to your face and pleasant dreams
July 14th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
Brandon, no, but I wish! Strangely though the cab driver who brought me home on Friday night had just come back from his holidays in Bognor!
July 14th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
‘I’m starting to get delirious.’
Sure sign of the devil at work.
You could ask the nice lady if you could borrow the sign?
July 14th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
Julie
I’m starting to get delirious.
July 14th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
Did you go on an adult weekender to bognor butlins :-D?
July 14th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
very good thanks Brandon.
July 14th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
melanie
Yes thanks and you?
July 14th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
Karen - are you hitting a blank there?
July 14th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
July 14th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
:grim:
July 14th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
That was the wrong emoticon - I meant to do this one
July 14th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
Hi Brandon, good weekend?
July 14th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
Ooh, I just realised I could go on the office computer and pretend to be someone else.
I bet you’d still know it was me though.
July 14th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
Hi Mel
July 14th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
Hello.
Is Clarrie moving on?
July 14th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
179
Karen Says:
July 14th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
Chenier
No. He doesn’t pay well. I’m not a relative.
————————
Nepotism as well!
What’s the point of being Satan if you end up with all the bog standard sins that the average politician wouldn’t even notice?
July 14th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
177
Carmen Says:
July 14th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
174
chenier Says:
July 14th, 2008 at 1:16 pm e
***********************
Unsubtle?
Try CIA.
==========
Wot, the ones renowned for exploding socks and poisoned cigars?
Wouldn’t they have just dropped a bomb on the place?
And, speaking of cigars, I note that the eligible bachelor is into them.
Which, regrettably, would require my approach to be the consumptive heroine expiring in a garret after one last song.
Shame, really…
July 14th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
Chenier
No. He doesn’t pay well. I’m not a relative.
July 14th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
bye stevie x
July 14th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
174
chenier Says:
July 14th, 2008 at 1:16 pm e
***********************
Unsubtle?
Try CIA.
July 14th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
Noseycow,
My money would be on ‘interesting independent’.
July 14th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
Chenier
That would require talking to her and I’m not going anywhere near.
July 14th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
Oh no!
More news on the George front:
‘BAILIFFS forced their way into Britain’s Got Talent winner George Sampson’s home in a row over an unpaid tax bill.’
You’d think MI5 could manage something a bit more subtle, really…
July 14th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
wow carmen
now just a case of deciding which move to make…
sexy vamp?
helpless girlie??
Interesting independent?
Funny?
or mother earth…
July 14th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
Nosey
Chenier
Chateleine
Julie
I’ve only got a starter Chateau - best you go straight round to him, seems to be plenty of room.
http://www.chateaumonestierlatour.com/gb/domaine.htm
July 14th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
168
Karen Says:
July 14th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
Chenier
I think she’s protesting about the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill and I think she’s implying we’re working for Satan - rather than we should stop it in his name.
————————————————–
Then she needs to tackle English grammar before working her way up to biology.
Does he pay well?
July 14th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
Julie
Carmen will be out of the race after a drop or two of vino,
You’ll be dashing to the loo to avoid embaressing yourself
Chenier will still be bumping into everything till she finds those glasses…
that leaves the field clearly open for MOI to make my move !!!