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Anorak News | Madeleine McCann: A Celebrity Banquet, Kate McCann Stars And Amaral Rebuttal

Madeleine McCann: A Celebrity Banquet, Kate McCann Stars And Amaral Rebuttal

by | 17th, January 2010

8115385MADDIE WATCH – Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann, Kate McCann and Gerry McCann: sniffer dogs, defaince, gagging and a celebrity dinner and lament:

Madeleine McCann: The Story In Pictures

BACK when Our Maddie was the cause celebre and the great and good were queuing up to donate to the reward fund and wear the T-shirt, a dinner would have been the event not to be missed event. Which jobbing celeb would dare to turn an invite down?

Madeleine McCann: When Will It End?

But now, who would go? The Express delivers:

MCCANNS’ STAR-FILLED PARTY TO BOOST FUND

And we learn:

DEFIANT Kate and Gerry McCann will mark the 1,000th day since their daughter disappeared with a celebrity packed £150-a-head fundraising dinner and auction at a top London venue.

Can anyone stand to eat? Does the food stick on the way down?

Tycoon Sir Richard Branson and their businessman backer Brian Kennedy will join stars at Kensington Roof Gardens in west London on January 27.

Any bands or cabaret?

Radio Five’s Nicky Campbell and children’s author JK Rowling have also been invited.

And they’re coming, right? Hey, it’s for Our Maddie. Do they dare refuse?

Says Kate, 41: “We will raise money for Madeleine’s Fund and the ongoing search for her. If our circumstances remain unchanged, this day will sadly mark 1,000 days since Madeleine was taken from us.”

Given the media’s rebranding of Madeleine McCann as Our Maddie, the “us” is you as well.

Money will be raised through ticket sales and a charity auction. Half the profits, expected to exceed £100,000, will go to Madeleine’s Fund, which currently stands at about £400,000, with the other half split between two other charities.

So, it’s not all for Our Maddie. Some of the cash goes to charities the McCanns support. Is this a sign that they realise that raisinf money for the search for their daughter is not enough to attract the big wallets – more is needed; a bigger cause? As we said years ago, Our Maddie is the benchmark for missing children, and the McCanns have become the spokespeople for them all.

Madeleine McCann: The Benchmark For Missing Children

Kate explained: “Madeleine’s Fund is not depleted but we are aware, given the uncertainty of our situation, that we need to plan ahead to continue the search to find her.”

But is they win their libel case against Goncalo Amaral, the fund will be swelled. Will a dinner be needed? Or if they lose, will celebrities be put off supporting the cause?

Kate said: “Fifty per cent of the profits from the event will be split between two charities, Missing ­People and Missing Children Europe. These two charities are among many others who work incredibly hard despite limited funding to help missing and exploited children.”

Good that good causes will benefit. Children go missing and if the “celebrity” parents can raise awareness for them, all to be supported.

Meanwhile, until Madeleine McCann is found, the media can gawp at Kate McCann. Says the Sunday Mirror:

Kate McCann defiant on Maddie allegations

Well, yes. Her defiance is part of the reason why Goncalo Amaral is in court facing a libel charge.

Madeleine McCann: The Dangers Of PR And Libel

The People delivers an “OUR MADDY” headline:

“OUR MADDY WAS TAKEN”

Kate McCann yesterday insisted missing daughter Madeleine was kidnapped and didn’t just wander off. She said: “Abduction is the only possible theory because we weren’t involved in her disappearance and we know she didn’t go off by herself.”

Theory.

Madeleine McCann Tests The Imagination Of Harry Potter Fans

In the Irish Indy, Eilis O’Hanlon, echoes our thoughts on how libel trial can bits back:

Which version one chooses to believe is a matter of personal taste. When it comes to outlandish conspiracy theories, there really is one for everyone in the internet’s global audience of nutters, giving ever greater credence to the old line about a lie getting round the world before the truth gets out of bed. But if you’re on the receiving end of it, like the McCanns and their friends, you certainly don’t expect the police to add fuel to the fire.

The Other View On The McCann Court Case: When Libel Trials Go Wrong

He then indulges in a little bit of the troll-like mutterings he criticises:

Unfortunately, this is what they have done from the start. These are people who issue solicitors’ letters the way other couples send out wedding invitations. There’s even a website now devoted to people who claim to have been “Gagged By (The) McCanns”, with the tagline: “Has Team McCann tried to silence you?” Free speech isn’t so free when you’re working on a shoestring and your opponents have multi-million pound funds at their disposal.

The McCanns insist they act this way only because they don’t want a sense of defeatism about Madeleine’s fate to dilute the continuing effort to find their daughter. That’s understandable, though Kate McCann’s claim last week that the proceedings have “shown again there is no evidence that Madeleine came to any harm” are bewildering, to say the least. Sniffer dogs who had been trained to detect the presence of cadavers and blood both reacted strongly in the couple’s holiday apartment. Something bad happened there, even if there is not a scrap of credible physical evidence that it had anything to do with them. It seems like another example of a couple who have never exactly come across as warm or likeable in the public imagination doing themselves no favours, especially when so many questions remain to be answered about that awful night and the following weeks.

More signs of subjectivity when facts are required. But on this, he scores a hit:

They can’t have it both ways, demanding that interest in the disappearance of Madeleine remains high while also continually asserting their right to control the tenor and nature of that interest.

Goncalo Amaral’s claims need to be rebutted, not censored. That’s the real tragedy.

We’d argue that they can be ignored. Meanwhile, Madeleine McCann is missing – still missing. There are no suspects. There is no proof of a crime.

Pictures Of All The Madeleine McCann Suspects



Posted: 17th, January 2010 | In: Key Posts, Madeleine McCann Comments (83) | TrackBack | Permalink