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
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July 15th, 2008 at 10:38 am
wtf, must be a good name then!
July 15th, 2008 at 10:37 am
melanie
My aunties dog is called basil
July 15th, 2008 at 10:36 am
488…jo
Yo, Jo.
Let me see…..Hmmm….well….they will try to spin how full of new information
they have gained from the 81 pieces of information….and that their new, yet
unnamed, team of detectives are so impressed with it, and are presently searching
high and wide for “ways to get them off the hook”.
Sorry….that wa a subconscious error….should read “searching high and wide for
Margaret”.
July 15th, 2008 at 10:36 am
wtf, basil
July 15th, 2008 at 10:35 am
melanie
they are lovely dogs arent they, very intelligent
What do you call yours?
July 15th, 2008 at 10:34 am
490 chatelaine
Thats a good idea, thankyou for that
July 15th, 2008 at 10:34 am
489
wtf
Well…considering M3 got 81 useless files to look at,it would surprise me at all
I believe there will be news soon
If you look closely at the “vancouver pics”,I mean “airport” , they look rather worried and not at ll like people having had a good time.Poor idiots! why dont they say the bleeding truth?I will never understand them
July 15th, 2008 at 10:32 am
He is well advised to leave and to get a long way clear of the ship before the suction takes him down.
He needs to be in some other job, away from cameras and journalists who will want to ask him personal questions, rather than questions about the McCs.
“When you said that the McCs were wholly innocent of any involvement, did you say that from personal knowledge, or merely because they had told you to ? And if it was from personal involvement, can you explain how you knew ?
When you said that XXX did you have any facts or any evidence on which to base what you said, or were you simply speaking out of the top of your head, or from some other part of your anatomy ?
Mr Mitchell are you simply an idiot, or a cool and calculating person who spotted a well paid opportunity to get paid a lot of money for doing almost nothing ?”
July 15th, 2008 at 10:32 am
wtf, I have a collie too!
July 15th, 2008 at 10:29 am
451
wtf Says:
July 15th, 2008 at 9:20 am
morning all
totally off topic, but we are getting puppy at the weekend, can anyone think of a good name for male collie dog? We cant agree at all
*****
I suggest you wait and see him first. After a couple of days his “real” name will “come out”… That’s the way I’ve always done it myself with cats and dogs alike. That way e.g. a dog called “Easter Parade of the *****” became “Pfuedli” and “Atlas of the *****” was an “Amos”. His sister Athena turned out to be an “Estelle”. I would always recommend 2-sylable names. Eddie and Keela e.g. are perfect “calling” names with “ie” or “ee” in it to the sound of which dogs tend to give more attention
July 15th, 2008 at 10:27 am
jo
Got to be another sighting soon
July 15th, 2008 at 10:27 am
484 — Hi Matt
I wonder what is going to be the next spin tho” after all this silence….?
Seems like everybody is holding its breath..and shutting up for once
July 15th, 2008 at 10:24 am
48
matt
July 15th, 2008 at 10:24 am
483
Melanie
You are right.
That he is stays on or not wont change anything to the sad mess….too true
July 15th, 2008 at 10:23 am
483 melanie
I dont think he will escape the mess, but he wont have to spin on behalf of the mccs, he will only have his own butt to cover
July 15th, 2008 at 10:23 am
482…wtf
I think the expression “Chit about to hit the fan” may be apt and not entirely
devoid of coincidence.
July 15th, 2008 at 10:21 am
Jo, he’ll still get sued though even if he leaves. Also, I can’t believe that if anything comes from the files being made public he wont escpape the press interest either. I don’t think him departing will avoid any sad mess.
July 15th, 2008 at 10:19 am
matt
thankyou for that, why do you think he is leaving?
July 15th, 2008 at 10:18 am
476…wtf
Employed by Brian Kennedy from Sept 2007 and respresenting the McCann’s.
He was, however, advising them in mid May 2007 whilst an employee of HMG.
He returned to his Gov work when Justine McGuinness was taken on board in mid June
2007.
And then following her departure in Sept 2007, he became an ex-Gov Spook and joined the happy couple as their PR messerupper.
July 15th, 2008 at 10:18 am
477
Melanie
I dont think he is bored,he simply wants/needs to get out of the sad mess he helped the mccanns to create because he knows the truth and does not want any further problems with the PJ.Remember the AFSIC is suing him? remember he also tipped off the mccanns over having their phones tapped and all?
Smells bad by the day now
July 15th, 2008 at 10:17 am
wtf, true but even he knows that he wouldn’t escape that quickly
July 15th, 2008 at 10:14 am
morning melanie
I think its just a tad coincidental that he wants to leave just before the files become public
July 15th, 2008 at 10:11 am
Maybe Clarrie is just bored. Afterall none of us would like a career on a one-trick pony would we? Like anyone, if other offers come in he has to think about the possibility of moving on.
July 15th, 2008 at 10:07 am
475 jo
He didnt start working for the mccs until september last year, so by my reckoning he should have a few months to go, so yes, he is pooing his pants and wants out
July 15th, 2008 at 10:05 am
474
wtf
YES YES YES
The rat leaves the boat
I told you: somefin cooking and doesnt smell too good either
Patience,a little bit more of patience and justice will be made to Madeleine
July 15th, 2008 at 10:02 am
471 jo
I tend to beleive he is leaving the mccs (not abandoning!
) as one of the comments suggests, because he will not want the vile task of spinning what comes out of the investigation when it is leaked, he is jumping ship, but spinning as he does so imo of course
July 15th, 2008 at 9:59 am
472
Ann
Thanks Ann
July 15th, 2008 at 9:54 am
467
S Davis Says:
July 15th, 2008 at 9:47 am
I think this is a private chat-room, and not a forum for comments on Anorak articles
…………………………………………
No it isn’t, the fact that this case has dragged on for so long, and at times nothing seems to be happening, has meant that the long-term and battle-weary contributors have made and broken friendships, met and married, had babies, moved house but still keep hanging in here, even though it just sounds a bit “chatty” at times because we are all waiting for something to happen regarding the key person in this case, i.e. Madeleine. Unlike her self-centred parents, WE haven’t forgotten her !!
July 15th, 2008 at 9:54 am
470
wtf
He is looking for an other job because Madeleine”s money is drying up…
Look up at
http://hypocriteandliar.wordpress.com/2008/07/14/clarence-mitchell-is-looking-for-another-job/#comments
July 15th, 2008 at 9:48 am
s davis
I often wondered why they said clarrie was on a years contract. Very odd, considering they fully expcted to find maddie. I think your right, he was hired to deflect from the fact that the mccs are suspects