Madeleine McCann: The A-Team, Ruining Lives And Spinning The Single Thread
MADDIE WATCH - Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann, Kate McCann and Gerry McCann
DAILY STAR: “SECRET A-TEAM IN HUNT FOR MADDIE”
In 1972, a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn’t commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Los Angeles underground.
Desperate Kate and Gerry McCann have forked out £500,000 on an “A-Team” of former top spooks to find missing daughter Madeleine.
Can the plan come together?
The couple now have “a global operation” of dozens of retired FBI, CIA and even MI5 agents dedicated to solving the mystery of her disappearance. The top secret team has been given six months to solve the riddle.
Pah! The A Team can do it in 40 minutes WITH ad breaks…
Says the McCanns’ spokesman – and still the McCanns’ spokesman – Clarence Mitchell:
“They have been on board for a few months and are on a six-month contract. For security reasons we can’t go into detail of the experts involved but it would not be wrong to say some are former military and police personnel with a degree of expertise.”
If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire… The A-Team.
THE GUARDIAN: “Diary: Esther Addley”
Our sympathies today are split, however, for we must also spare a small pang of pity for the security guard in Brussels who on Tuesday told the Sun about his sighting of a young girl who absolutely, definitely, without question was Madeleine McCann. “I saw her face and recognised that it was her,” said the man. “I would bet everything I own that it was her.”
It was our Maddie?
And sure enough, Belgian police later confirmed - dear reader, you are ahead of me - that it wasn’t. We can find nothing, as yet, on eBay, but Kate and Gerry McCann will be heartened that the man is without doubt now living under a cardboard box with only his own gnawed fists and his shame for sustenance.
The McCann case ruins lives..?
SPIKED: “‘Our Maddie’ makes a media comeback - The silly-season resurrection of the McCann tragedy shows that this was always a cynical, elite-scripted drama.”
Not that the absence of anything beyond hypothesis has inhibited the frontpage speculation. Indeed, the absence of hard evidence at the heart of the Maddie phenomenon has been its lifeblood. With nothing known beyond the barest of facts, anything, no matter how macabre, can be guessed at. And what better than a mail-order paedophile ring based, of course, in Belgium? In lieu of evidence, good old-fashioned prejudice will do. Indeed, over the past year, two pictures showing obviously Muslim women carrying or walking with a blonde-haired girl have been splashed under the headline: ‘IS THIS MADDIE?’ Well, Arab women with a European-looking child – it’s got to be dodgy.
Madeleine McCann: spinning news from a single thread
Posted: 14th, August 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Madeleine McCann, Tabloids Comments (527) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
Comments
- June on The Pirelli 2010 Calendar In Artful Nudity (NSFW)
- June on Susan Boyle: World Divided Over SuBo And Lady Susan
- Tony on Daily Mail And Tax Payers’ Alliance Attacks BBC Over Its Free Trees For A Better Planet
- Cheryl on Susan Boyle: World Divided Over SuBo And Lady Susan
- cheekyappleblossom on I’m A Celebrity: Quitter Katie Price Wanted To Die With Jedward
August 14th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
hi secret - true its so frustrating though isnt it
August 14th, 2008 at 3:54 pm
Marie N
Try:
‘Spin Doctors and Moral Crusaders: The Moral Panic behind Child Safety Legislation’ by Kristen Zgoba in 17(4) Criminal Justice Studies (2004) 385-404.
There are full copies on the net, though I’m not sure the link will survive the spammer:
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/767933/Spin-Doctors-and-Moral-Crusaders-The-Moral-Panic-behind-Child-Safety-Legislation
August 14th, 2008 at 3:53 pm
Meejician Says:
August 14th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
Welcome back, Meej.
Do you have any further insights on EMcV since her departure from the
Board ?
August 14th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
Hi just_me
I think the dog evidence along with any dna is good when coupled with everything else.
But is it enough to prosecute?
Obviously not
August 14th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
♥«´ •.* *•´¨`»♥♥«´ •.* *•´¨`»♥♥«´ •.* *•´¨`»♥♥«´ •.* *•´¨`»♥♥«´ •.* *•´¨`»♥♥«´ •.*
(¸.•*´(¸.•*´♥`*•.¸)`*•.¸Its the way he says ‘bend over’ isnt it`*•.¸(`*•.¸♥¸.•*´)¸.•*´ )
¸
♥«´ •.* *•´¨`»♥♥«´ •.* *•´¨`»♥♥«´ •.* *•´¨`»♥♥«´ •.* *•´¨`»♥♥«´ •.* *•´¨`»♥♥«´ •.*
August 14th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
Chenier 3.14
I don’t think Clarrie is winning anything. He is only winning those who want to believe his lies. Good for them. They are fed their everyday dose of lies and it makes them happy. (The only problem with the gullible people is that they vote). He has it very easy with them.
He is making some others happy, who know he lies, but want him to lie. He has it easy with them too.
Then there is all the rest of us, and with us, he is certainly not winning.
August 14th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
Marie Nicholas Says:
August 14th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
Humane….the very best word to describe your post….and basic nature.
August 14th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
# Marie Nicholas Says:
August 14th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
Meejician
Hello! Wonderful to read your posts again.
****************************************
The feeling is completely mutual!
Seriously, I had to come back to have another try at seducing Garth. I’ll have to join the queue, I know…………..
August 14th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
justme
I think the dogs werent allowed to sniff near a cemetry as it will react anyway.
It probably has that in a certain book
August 14th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
Clarrie has to say something now and again, whatever it is, after all thats what he is getting paid for.
August 14th, 2008 at 3:44 pm
MN
The media strategy throughout has been to focus on the suffering of the parents; I personally found it, and still find it, stomach-turning, but then I’m not big on voyeurism in general.
Some of Anorak’s (Paul Sorene’s) comments on this have really cut through the treacle to reveal the extremely unpleasant implications of this. This is Celebrity Porn, masquerading as human sympathy.
I found some articles on Moral Panic legislation; I’ll try and dig them out for you. …
August 14th, 2008 at 3:43 pm
Eddie Eddie Eddie woof woof woof !!! Keela Keela Keela bow wow wow !!!
:)
August 14th, 2008 at 3:43 pm
chenier Says:
August 14th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
Lone
The media will certainly turn on people they have previously reported on in laudatory and saccharine tones; look at the parents of Charlotte Wyatt, for example.
I would imagine that Clarrie is only too well aware of that fact…
Do you think he cares or do you think he just pretends he cares?
August 14th, 2008 at 3:43 pm
C & C - I still have faith in the dogs. Surely they dont use the scent in the air to track people, I’ve only ever seen them sniff along the ground or in a specific place ie the car, surely if they did find scent in the car, then M could be anywhere the MC’s drove the car to. Does anyone know if the dogs were taken to the pet cemetary to check that out? Does anyone know if the MC’s ever expained in detail where the drove the hire car to, and was the route ever checked?
August 14th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
Meejician
Hello! Wonderful to read your posts again.
August 14th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
Lone
The media will certainly turn on people they have previously reported on in laudatory and saccharine tones; look at the parents of Charlotte Wyatt, for example.
I would imagine that Clarrie is only too well aware of that fact…
August 14th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
Matt
I agree with you about putting the missing child at the center of all.
Since the beginning, I have been revolted by the fact people seem more concerned by the parents’ suffering than by the child’s. It is awful. Even if they didn’t do more than what we know, ie leave her alone at night, her parents inflicted some anguish on her, directly by not being very caring about her need for safety, and indirectly because of what happened to her while they were out.
If it was a grown up or an animal who had come to harm because of some lack of care, people wouldn’t say “oh they have been punished enough”. Mind you, I don’t want them punished, I don’t care. It isn’t the issue at all.
What I want is to say that a child has the same rights as an animal or a grown up. When a child suffers, he is the one punished. Those who cause his suffering aren’t the victims. If the ones who caused the suffering are the parents, even if they are sorry when it is too late to do something about it, it is the child who suffered the worst consequences. The people in charge can’t be put as victims on the same level as the child. Even if they didn’t mean to harm her, they took risks, not for themselves, but for their children.
Once again, I don’t want them punished for neglect. But they can’t escape the fact that the real victim is Madeleine, and that she is also the victim of their decision, a decision which wasn’t taken on her behalf. It must be terrible for them, I agree, to have to live with that, and maybe they need to be helped rather than condemned, like all the people who put their children at risk.
But please, can the grown ups try to identify to the child -the real victim- and not to the parents?
August 14th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
chenier Says:
August 14th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
Lone
I don’t think anybody has ever been that powerful outside dictatorships, but they certainly give it a try.
I think that much of what Clarrie has achieved is the bog standard old boys network, coupled with the increasing dumbing down of the media.
Let’s face it, if Gordon Brown could control the press he wouldn’t be in his current record breaking all time low approval ratings…
I guess it depends on money and sales but what I find strange is that the old boys network can turn on itself because, say for instance, someone cracked and fessed up to everything, then the old boy network would go out of the window and the papers would be all over the mccanns and clarrie. Are their relationships that fragile? I suppose at the end of the day Clarrie doesn’t give too hoots - he’s just getting payed to do a job and could use the mccanns as much as he liked. You sure do have to be thick skinned to be able to take all that and in some weird way I kind of admire Clarence for that.
August 14th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
I’m most interested in the media handling of this case, which at times appears to be bordering more on the exploitation of the reading public, rather than mere cynicism.
It would appear, from my reading elsewhere, in French, that although a HUGE song and dance was made about the Anna Stamm sighting, including flying her to the UK to meet the spokesperson for the parents, that the sighting was allegedly contained in the dossier/DVD already handed out to journalists worldwide, had been thoroughly investigated at the time and the family traced.
So what we witnessed, with the joke shop lady being interviewed among the carnival masks on television, and on the front page of a certain newspaper whose editor is renowned for having a track record on tracking down paedophiles, and in all other newspapers, was apparently ’staged’ to suggest that it was a ‘finding’ from the dossier - which was very far from the truth, because the incident’s investigation was thorough and complete and dismissed AND MEDIA HAD FULL ACCESS TO THIS FACT.
I know that everyone here realises it. But for me this is one of the most exploitative media games that I can ever recall. The majority of the nation is being deliberately sold lie after lie.
What the hell are media playing at?
Thank goodness for EK and thank goodness for their decision, last night. I really hope they go through with it.
August 14th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
Lone Pigeon Says:
August 14th, 2008 at 3:18 pm
Clarence controls no-one.
The Press/Media Barons control the Press/Media.
But Clarence may have the ear of several suchlike.
For now.
August 14th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
Lone
I don’t think anybody has ever been that powerful outside dictatorships, but they certainly give it a try.
I think that much of what Clarrie has achieved is the bog standard old boys network, coupled with the increasing dumbing down of the media.
Let’s face it, if Gordon Brown could control the press he wouldn’t be in his current record breaking all time low approval ratings…
August 14th, 2008 at 3:18 pm
Chernier
When or how does one become so powerful that you can totally control the press?
August 14th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
MN
Yes; I want the files in general but the 50 pages relating to the DNA in particular.
At the moment Clarrie is winning the war of the spin, not in filling up the gutter press with ’sightings’ because they’ve been doing that for months, but by diverting people to think in his terms.
The quickness of the hand deceives the eye; he doesn’t want attention on what is in the files, which is why he is pushing this fantasy Boy’s Own story of derring do by secret agents speeding through the night, and day, to rescue Madeleine…
It is fantasy…
August 14th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
coolandcalm
still doesn’t convince “me” 100%. Look at the dna stories in this case.
Maybe next year someone will say oh sorry, mistake, it was *#*# that actually done it!
As I said before it’s all we have…
August 14th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
Thanks C&C!
August 14th, 2008 at 3:09 pm
Marie Nicholas Says:
August 14th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
I agree.
The DNA controversy and it’s entire and unabridged publication is something
of paramount importance to this case….in more ways than one.
August 14th, 2008 at 3:08 pm
LP…. I think it is possible that Madeleine might have been killed by accident in the apartment by an abductor who didn’t realise he had killed her? maybe suffocated as she struggled?
Its all very weird. I had 100% faith in the dogs until I saw the documentary [edit]. Don’t know. I belieive in dogs following scents and tracking bodies but why could they not find where she was? the Spanish tracker dogs were out the next morning at dawn and for several days after, as was half of PDL. Where was the body? why could they not find it?
Just some of the thoughts that bother me but I have to say I don’t lie awake at night wondering. Its usually only when I click on Anorak to avoid working!
M&A
Artemis
Edited for libel.
August 14th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
Matt,
Let us wait for more about the DNA.
Chenier also is waiting for the files. It should account for the direction the investigation took in September, and also why it changed again after a while.
Isn’t it incredible how there are two parallel worlds as regards information : the newspapers, and the web? Both with their adavantages and drawbacks, but free speech is on the side of the web, and especially Anorak, who is poor, but free!
August 14th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
Secret….. DNA was found in Rachel Nickels underwear that has been evaluated using up to date techniques (not available then) and the person concerned has been charged.
August 14th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
coolandcalm Says:
August 14th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
Thanks for your honest reply C&C.
Can you answer me this tho. Regardless of a ‘who did or who didn’t do it’ scenario do you believe, based on the facts that we know i.e. blood and scent, that, make no mistake, was 100 % there in that flat, that there was a dead body in the flat and that it was Madeleine regardless of accident, homicide etc etc ?