How The Media Turned Shannon Matthews Into A Madeleine McCann
MADDIE WATCH - Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann and Shannon Matthews.
Karen Matthews has been found guilty of kidnapping her child Shannon Matthews and perverting the course of justice. Karen Matthews is “PURE EVIL”. As Evil as Baby P’s killers?
Lest readers not understand that Karen Matthews is “PURE EVIL”, the papers remind them of the fact on their front pages:
THE SUN: “PURE EVIL – Family even tied to scam Maddie fund”
DAILY STAR: “PURE EVIL” – Shannon’s mum had sex and food orgies as kids starved”
DAILY MIRROR: “MOTHER OF PURE EVIL” – In the rush to damn, the Mirror seems to be calling Shannon Matthews “PURE EVIL”. And that’s harsh.
Family friend Petra Jamieson adds: “She’s the ideal daughter who behaves well. We want everyone to remember Shannon, like they do Madeleine McCann.”
Our Shannie
When Shannon Matthews became the newspaper’s pet cause, the Sun embraced the drama more than any other paper, posting a reward for her safe return and printing a poster with a picture of the missing child, a cash sum and its logo.
When a child suffers or goes missing the Sun’s marketing team set about building the brand. Shannon is “Our Shannon”. As for Shannon being the new Maddie, the Sun was only too happy to help that game along announcing: “McCanns: We pray for Shan.”
The Sun was not alone in this shrill game of Tabloid Bingo, screaming out the names of the missing. The tabloid Telegraph joined in.
Craig Meehan spoke of the McCanns’ celebrity:
Mr Meehan, 22, went on: “To me, they [the McCanns] are like celebrities in other people’s eyes. They’ve got money, they know celebrities and all that, so they can afford to do everything they do, everything they can.
“We’re trying to do what we can with the money we’ve got, with the resources we’ve got.“
The Times went all in.
Sarah Payne, smiling in her school uniform; Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, in their Manchester United shirts; Madeleine McCann, staring inquisitively with her distinctive bleeding iris . . .The names and faces of these girls who have disappeared are etched into the public’s collective memory.
Bingo!
The Mirror’s Sue Carroll told us:
Shannon is as precious to her family as Madeleine McCann, missing for 300 days, is to hers. But where are the front-page pictures, campaigns, the furore? Would this be different if she was the daughter of two middle-class, mediasavvy parents? Not a working-class child from up North.
He cohort Paul Routledge waded in:
It pays to be middle-class when your daughter vanishes.
Yeah, lucky them. But still the Mirror wore its yellow ribbon for Maddie, whatever her parents’ wealth a child was missing and it would not miss out of the contest to care the most.
Deborah Orr provided context:
There may have been no great rush to sanctify Karen Matthews, whose anguish over the loss of her daughter is not questioned. But there has been little attempt to accuse her either. People feel sorrow, but not as much surprise. The less comfortable an existence you have, the more likely it is that you will undergo awful life experiences. That isn’t class prejudice, but a sad fact of life in a remarkably unequal society.
Roy Greenslade was taken in:
But what distinguishes the Craig article is the way in which she paints a poignant portrait of Mrs Matthews’s obvious anguish. Three weeks on from the day her daughter failed to arrive home, it is one of the most sympathetic description of Shannon’s mother to appear in print.
Eyes down for Tabloid Bingo!
The columnists fodder. Tick.
T-shirts. Tick.
The candlelit vigil. Tick.
The balloons.Tick.
The child’s friend.
Megan Aldridge wants her friend Shannon back. “I sat on the bench at school today on my own at break time because I had no one to play with. I just want my friend back. She was the bestest friend in the world.” Mawkish sentiment. A child appealing for another missing child to be allowed to go by whoever has taken her. The Mirror jumping on bandwagon and showing how much it cares. Look at the child. Look at her pain.
All elements in the panoply of the tabloid cause. Our Maddie the benchmark for missing children.
The Media Duped
Shannon was found alive and in decent shape.
All eyes trained on “oddball” Michael Donovan, aka Paul Drake.
He of the kinky sex. He of the vile uniform sex. He of the allegations of perving at Shannon.
And still Our Maddie was involved.
Amanda Platell slid her pen between her hands and prayed:
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.
But let’s not let the miracle cloud our judgement. The Mirror’s Lucy Thornton was at the scene:
I sat with Karen Matthews’ as she struggled to put her anguish into words. Her tears told the true story.
Or, er, not. What is it about Mirror hacks and missing children that makes them look like fools? Anyone heard from Lori Campbell, she who first pointed at innocent Robert Murat and screamed “oddball!”?
Ex copper and electric door salesman John Stalker was less certain.
“Police must seriously examine whether family connivance may be a feature. Large cash rewards are often available for the return of a missing child, such as in the Madeleine McCann inquiry. In Shannon’s case, the money on offer will undoubtedly have tempted some to make fraudulent claims. A shrewd investigator will know that.”
Losing a child is “every parent’s worst nightmare”. Read the book:
Clinical psychologist Paul Gilligan has penned Keeping Your Child Safe, a book that will spread anxiety and must be read ANYONE who genuinely cares about their kids. If you don’t read it, then you only have yourself to blame should something dreadful befall your children.
Case Closed
Then Craig Meehan was arrested. The Guardian delivered a masterclass in reporting. We learnt that Shameless Karen Matthews knew where Shannon was all along.
The Express told of her facing a life sentence in jail.
Still, she could escape her Dewsbury home, which was as the Sun told us: “”Estate is like a nastier Beirut.” But would Karen Matthews survive? A price was now on her head. Fags for murderous lags:
This was underbelly porn. We waited excitedly for the next instalment. It’s all just entertainment.
Payback
Now the papers get payback.
The pick of the bunch is Lucy Thornton, who tells Mirror readers:
“I was with Karen Matthews just an hour before police found her daughter. During Shannon’s 24-day kidnap I had spoken to Karen – always through a fog of cigarette smoke – several times.”
That’s hacks for you. Smokers to a man. And what did Lucy learn from her one-to-ones?
“Dora the explorer was her favourite show.”
Hola Lucy. Mappa! Pista?
And… nothing. Although the Sun’s Alastair Taylor damns her with news that she “NEVER bothered to clean her house or cook proper meals”. And chillingly:
“PROPPED UP baby milk bottles with cushions so kids fed themselves while she watched TV.”
(Take note, tired mums.)
Luckily, there is the judiciary to support investigative reporters like Lucy. Karen Matthews was not tried by media but by in a court of law.
Still now the tabloids can put the boot in on the woman who conned them. The woman who gave them and continues to give them so much to write about.
Maybe they should thank her?
Posted: 5th, December 2008 | In: Key Posts, Madeleine McCann, Media Comments (183) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
Comments
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December 6th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
Chenier, that Telegraph post seems to have been whoosh clunked?
December 6th, 2008 at 6:06 pm
Whilst I think Karen Mathews behaviour and that of her accomplice is throoughly despicable, I also believe she is a victim of her low intelligence and appalling background, where there is a total lack of comprehension of ordinary morality. Most middle class people have no concept at all of the ‘nasty brutish and short’ life of people in Britain’s underclass. What surprises me a bit however is the universal condemnation of a woman who bore 7 children to 5 or 6 different fathers, but not a question raised about the profligaate behaviour of the said men in the case.
Also, whilst one might have some understanding of the triggers for Mathews’ despicable behaviour, what excuse is there for well-to-do, well educated and supposedly intelligent middle calss professionals to neglect 3 very young children (to say nothing of the other children in the group) at night in a foreign country that is apparently crawling with paedophiles. No deceti or bad parenting there I suppose?
December 6th, 2008 at 6:02 pm
Rasputin
Given you have lied, repeatedly, and at length, over many months in your posts on this site, I am utterly delighted that you disapprove of me.
There are not many occasions when I’m in agreement with the Telegraph, but this is one of them…
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/george_pitcher/blog/2008/12/05/why_im_standing_up_for_karen_matthew
December 6th, 2008 at 5:27 pm
I have no intention of feeeding your delusional superiority complex, you strike me as a thoroughly nasty piece of work, any one who would stoop to using the murder of a 15 year old in particularily heinous crime to attempt to gainsay another posters viewpoint is beneath contempt. I have no intention of getting involved in Vicky Hamiltons murder discussions on this thread or any other. ***edit***
Again I doubt whither Yorkshire Police could care less about your viperish ramblings, but I am sure your sense of self delusion will convince you otherwise.
Moderator - edited out irrelevant text
December 6th, 2008 at 5:03 pm
Rasputin
You repeated with approval the ludicrous claim by the Yorkshire police, trying to find an excuse for being deceived by someone who’s thick as two short planks, that Matthews is pure evil, in the same week that the Judge sentencing Peter Tobin for the kidnap, rape and murder of Vicky Hamilton said this:
“Abducting and killing a child on her way home from a happy weekend with her sister and then desecrating her body must rank among the most evil and horrific acts that any human being could commit. By the verdict of the jury, you stand convicted of the truly evil abduction and murder of a vulnerable young girl in 1991 and thereafter you attempted to defeat the ends of justice in various ways over an extended period.”
If you cannot make any distinction between those 2 cases then it demonstrates that you are so obsessed with your own righteous crusade that you are blind, deaf and dumb to the suffering of Vicky Hamilton’s family and friends.
Incidentally, there is a new thread on this point at
http://www.anorak.co.uk/backlash/197232.html
December 6th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
Your point is Chenier pointless as usual, I made no reference to Vicky Hamilton, but I do believe an ex-moderator made a reference to the extremely sadistic and evil Tobin, if only to deflect from the subject being discussed.
[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[
"Det. Supt. Andy Brennan from West Yorkshire Police:
"Karen Matthews is pure evil. She started deceiving those closest to her from the very moment that Shannon was kidnapped."
]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]
I doubt the Det. Supt. will lose any sleep over your delusional theory, buy you always appear to think your opinion is superior, you have no idea how wrong you are.
December 6th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
Rasputin
I said yesterday, as I say today, that anyone capable of describing Karen Matthews as ‘pure evil’ is delusional.
You are, of course, perfectly entitled to your delusions, but for your own safety I suggest you steer well clear of Vicky Hamilton’s family and friends. They may not be as tolerant of your delusions as I am…
December 6th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
Incidentally those were my views right from the beginning of this sad saga, if you go into the archives from mid May 07,( before I became a moderator ) I was saying much the same ie people have babysitters for good reason, children can become ill quickly , they can wake frightened in a strange bed, accidents can befall them, the building can set alight. Choking on a vomit is life threatening, so is a fall when its a tiny child, they have no sense of fear.
December 6th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
Could you tell me what it is I have accused them of? apart from negligence towards their children?
I am not blind to justice, and neither am I lynchmob mentality.
But those children were left alone and if you find that statement outrages you then I am no longer prepared to debate with you.
December 6th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
Adore and admire, whatever gave you that idea, your blindness to justice or just your hatred of the parents of Madeleine, the guilty will hopefully suffer their fate whoever they are at the hands of justice, not lynch law.
December 6th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
I am not a moderator, I have just said so.
I am allowed a view on the McCann parenting as they have made it such an issue,.and incidentally its Madeleine’s whereabouts that concerns me. Her parents are big enough and old enough to care for themselves
Adore and admire them if you want, but its not compulsory for all.
December 6th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
So you are or are not a moderator, if not there is justice after all, the only prejudice on view here is your naked prejudice against the McCanns, and of that there is certainly no befuddlement.
December 6th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
We’ll clarify this point here and now
Anorak has now got professional moderators in, most of us who did moderate have been offered areas of our own in Anorak as the site develops.
Arguido status has nothing to do with a lack of babysitting arrangements, I suggest you review your stance on my contributions and read the posts, and not befuddle and muddle others with your prejudice towards me as a poster
December 6th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
We are not comparing Matthews and Tobin, we are comparing the substance of this thread “How The Media Turned Shannon Matthews Into A Madeleine McCann”
Your anti bias is clear for all the world to see, not a very good stance to dispense moderation from, some what short of neutrality.
Matthews, I agree with the police, is pure evil, there is no evidence to suggest the same of the McCanns, unless you know better, the AG didn’t seem to want to prosecute them or their suffering, why do you. Maybe you think he released them from arguido status because there were mountains of evidence to prosecute them.
December 6th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
I think they were stupid, and given their academic ability, wilfully obtuse. They do know better
I shouldn’t think Karen Mathews has the wit to wipe her own bum, and she has to be judged on her lack of intelligence.
How do you compare Karen M with Peter Tobin in the evil stakes
December 6th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
And your point is JJ, where they simply stupid or pure evil, pure evil an expression used by experienced police officers to describe Matthews.
December 6th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
They didn’t give their children the benefit of babysitters…..
December 6th, 2008 at 11:54 am
That’s OK JJ if you don’t have the charity to give Madeleine’s parents the benefit of the doubt, at least the AG did, what a kind and considerate fellow, but there again he had access to the evidence.
December 6th, 2008 at 11:39 am
Yo bitch why you blockin a dudes poetry………..
December 6th, 2008 at 11:37 am
Why you dickin about.
December 6th, 2008 at 11:35 am
What are you waffling about JJ, the mad monk in his heavenly wisdom raised a perfectly valid point, are you unable or unwilling to address it, maybe you really do believe it is not evil to drug your offspring and collude in kidnapping her keeping her tethered and drugged, all I can say is thank fuk the cops have got a handle on the reality of that evil cows actions.
You are correct of course one case hase been lawfully decided, the other has not and probably never will come to court, yet amatuer sleuths and professional fukwits have condemned and convicted the McCanns, without a shred of evidence, whilst maintaining the Batlet bint was stupid. silly, the cops got it in one evil, the cow should be sterelised, all these lilly livered windylickers making her out to be a victim want to fuk off and live in the real world.
December 6th, 2008 at 11:19 am
Lone Pigeon Says:
December 6th, 2008 at 11:12 am
I don’t have to explain nuffink. He knows why that’s all that matters.
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Well if you can’t explain for all then maybe you ought to keep your irritating little jibes to yourself eh? Rasputins points and views are quite clear. Hardly a fence sitter because he doesn’t agree with you.
December 6th, 2008 at 11:12 am
I don’t have to explain nuffink. He knows why that’s all that matters.
December 6th, 2008 at 11:10 am
Rasputin
If I recall MM has yet to be found, the Shannon Mathews case is all over apart from the sentencing, all the forensics gathered in, the perpetrators dealt with.
But there is still no body yet, alive or dead so comparing the two cases now is pointless.
December 6th, 2008 at 11:07 am
Okay, you seem to have missed your own initial point.
Explain why Rasputin is a fence sitter………… then you can go off and do your knitting..
December 6th, 2008 at 11:06 am
No mate. Nonsense and rubbish.
Wasted energy and more tripe…..
December 6th, 2008 at 11:04 am
Knitting is great skill, one which I actually do know.
December 6th, 2008 at 11:02 am
Tripe
Beef tripe is usually made from only the first three chambers of a cow’s stomach: the rumen (blanket/flat/smooth tripe), the reticulum (honeycomb and pocket tripe), and the omasum (book/bible/leaf tripe). Abomasum (reed) tripe is seen much less frequently, owing to its glandular tissue content. Tripe is also produced from sheep, goats, pigs, and deer. Unwashed (or “green”) tripe includes some of the stomach’s last content, giving it an unpleasant odor and causing it to be considered unfit for human consumption. However, this content is desirable to dogs and many other carnivores and is often used in pet food. Though it is called “green,” its colour is often brown or grey because of its high chlorophyll content from undigested grass.
I take it you eat the green stuff…
December 6th, 2008 at 11:02 am
Lone Pigeon Says:
December 6th, 2008 at 11:00 am
Respect eh
Shame they didn’t ‘respect’ Madeleine by looking after her properly eh 
nevermind… they’ve got the twins and plenty of cash they’ll be ok… good luck to em…eh..
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Go and finish off your knitting…
December 6th, 2008 at 11:00 am
Respect eh
Shame they didn’t ‘respect’ Madeleine by looking after her properly eh 
nevermind… they’ve got the twins and plenty of cash they’ll be ok… good luck to em…eh..