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
July 15th, 2008 at 10:58 am
he said - I ‘cant’ see you now
July 15th, 2008 at 10:57 am
yeah - this morning. Bloody train companies. I get to the ticket office this morning and make teh request - ‘ I’d liek a replacement season ticket please as I lost mine yesterday as it must have fallen from my wallet when I got my bank card out’. The ticket officer looks at me with disgust and grunts ‘ I can see you now - look at all the people behind you they will miss their trains why don’t you come at a better time’. I stood there shocked and said ‘ because I’ll miss my train and i’ll jolly well ask for a replacement having queued already and it’s not up to you to tell me when I can and can’t come to the ticket office’. So he starts moaning and groaning telling me it’s not as simple as a replacement. He tells me that I have to buy another weekly ticket until they send off the forms and get it cleared for me to get a replacement even though i’ve paid 4k for the season ticket already and there’s a chance that if someone has found it and used uit I will have to pay for that journey
I told him I ccouldn’t afford to buy another ticket and I want a replacement straight away. he said I couldn’t and that I couldn’t travel unless I purchased another one!!! Imagine if I called work and they said well you’re sacked then. I could then go onto loase my house and become homeless all because of a lost rail ticket. It’s bloody disgraceful. 4k a year, no seat and treated like a piece of shit. It makes me weep I tell ya
Anyway - how are you all???
July 15th, 2008 at 10:56 am
Any idea why Murat has been made arguido?
July 15th, 2008 at 10:56 am
Why did Clive have to nick Lone’s cycle if they are giving them away free on the NHS ?
July 15th, 2008 at 10:54 am
Jo, because the further away you live, the more likely you are to need a cycle to get there!
July 15th, 2008 at 10:52 am
504
Abraham
“30 years later there are grumblings that the number of free IVF cycles a couple has on the NHS can depend on where they live etc.”
****
Where they live? why?
July 15th, 2008 at 10:51 am
Promises, promises.
July 15th, 2008 at 10:50 am
yes his bon bons
July 15th, 2008 at 10:49 am
Sadly this is my best behaviour.
Besides, Clive is on a promise. Anorak is the last thing on his mind today.
July 15th, 2008 at 10:49 am
lone
If you are lurking, did you get your third thing unlucky ?
July 15th, 2008 at 10:48 am
Oh nooo, today is “Put on your best behaviour” Day as far as Clive is concerned …. remember it’s his birthday ….. and we’re actually very nice people here …. wouldn’t want him running and snitching on us elsewhere now would we
July 15th, 2008 at 10:47 am
mel
July 15th, 2008 at 10:46 am
504
Abraham Zapruder Says:
July 15th, 2008 at 10:41 am
…… not that I’m suggesting such a thing.
_______________________
Would you ever …… nooooo …. but seriously would you … nooo … just a way of speaking
Can’t believe that Louise Brown is 30 years old already
July 15th, 2008 at 10:46 am
513…Melanie
Stop it.
You will have Clive emerging from behind his bush, complaining.
July 15th, 2008 at 10:45 am
I’ve known a dog called Sammy Davis … [who was NOT boring]
July 15th, 2008 at 10:44 am
julie
like a bitch on heat!
July 15th, 2008 at 10:44 am
Hi Brandon. Wouldn’t it be nice though. Imagine you are wtf. ON teh beach showing of your puppies…
July 15th, 2008 at 10:43 am
melanie
~~~~~~~ You are obsessed!!!
July 15th, 2008 at 10:43 am
502
wtf Says:
July 15th, 2008 at 10:40 am
julie
i like willberforce, might be a mouthful shouting that on the beach thoough
____________________
You might get a whole bunch of posh dudes running after you though
July 15th, 2008 at 10:43 am
melanie
Just two minute walk away, lovely, although would be lovelier if we had nicer weather!
Just_me
Good one
July 15th, 2008 at 10:43 am
492
PeterMac
I agree with you: he needs to be out of the spotlight to avoid very highly embarrassing questions.I have the nagging feeling the guy is up to anything to make money even out of a tragedy,as it is the case here
How much did he really help the mccanns? I wonder……
July 15th, 2008 at 10:42 am
wtf - why not get 2 puppies and call them ‘fetch’ and ’stay’ then have fun watching them when you throw a ball lol
July 15th, 2008 at 10:41 am
wtf, are you near a beach? Lucky you.
July 15th, 2008 at 10:41 am
melanie
im sure other names will come to mind when he does all that
July 15th, 2008 at 10:41 am
Yo Matt
July 15th, 2008 at 10:41 am
Interesting feature on BBC breakfast this morning, 30th birthday of Louise Brown, the world’s first test tube baby.
30 years later there are grumblings that the number of free IVF cycles a couple has on the NHS can depend on where they live etc. Would be quite a scandal if it turned out that NHS employees were getting more than their fair share of IVF cycles, not that I’m suggesting such a thing.
July 15th, 2008 at 10:40 am
Cleudo? Is that so that when he is house training you can say he did it in the library. HE did it in the conservatory, etc…
July 15th, 2008 at 10:40 am
julie
i like willberforce, might be a mouthful shouting that on the beach thoough
July 15th, 2008 at 10:39 am
Yo, Julie.
July 15th, 2008 at 10:38 am
Morning everyone (except S Davis - boring
)
wtf :
Wilberforce
Baxter
Bonzo
Cluedo