Baroness Buscombe Explains How The McCanns Failed The Press
MADDIE WATCH – Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann – The Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee’s report on Press standards, privacy and libel has bad news for the PCC and the McCanns:
FOR three summers Anorak has brought you the media’s take on the Madeleine McCann disappearance.
Baroness Buscombe would like you to know that while the McCanns, the Tapas 7 and Robert Murat were being abused in print, the Press Complaints Commission was conducting “numerous discussions internally” about the matter.
Baroness Buscombe is the PCC’s chairman. MPs have reported on the PCC and made their views known:
“In any other industry suffering such a collective breakdown … any regulator worth its salt would have instigated an inquiry. It is an indictment on the PCC’s record, that it signally failed to do so.”
You may recall that the story was at it apogee when the MPs were sporting yellow ribbons for Our Maddie in the debating chamber. Revolting it was. Mawish and revolting. Even more mawkish and revolting than the Mirror sticking a yellow ribbon on its masthead.
Says Buscombe on Radio 4:
“It’s very important to put it in context. What actually happened was that as soon as the story broke, the PCC was very much in touch with the McCann family and repeatedly offered to help.
“The McCanns and the PCC over the months that followed were in touch and indeed Gerry McCann in this inquiry actually praised the PCC for helping very much in terms of privacy matters relating to their other children.”
So the PCC did a top job. Did it warn any papers and broadcast media about their lurid and libellous stories?
“The difficulty that it had was that it’s very difficult for a self-regulatory body such as ours to actually pre-empt and decide in some ways whether a headline or statements that are being made are something that we should be tackling without proper engagement of the complainants.”
Difficult? The press were rabid. The McCanns aside, the treatment of Robert Murat was horrendous from the off.
“And we did say that there were lessons to be learnt from that, absolutely. We just think it’s regrettable in some ways that the McCann family didn’t actually come to us for us to be able to act on their behalf.“
So it was the McCanns’ own fault they weren’t media savvy enough to face the voracious media feeding frenzy? Now the McCanns are a slick operation, the PCC will not repeat any mistakes.
“The PCC made it clear back in 2007 that there were definitely lessons to be learnt. Since I’ve come on board I have been very clear that I believe there are ways that we could improve our accountability and our transparency.”
In other news, an innocent child went missing and the press had a field day…
Posted: 25th, February 2010 | In: Madeleine McCann Comments (15) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
February 26th, 2010 at 10:15 am
Cool
I definitely think its to do with Judicial matters and not personalities, this case has so choreaed out of control, with whoever wants to claim anything, just doing so without proof to substantiate it.
The Mccanns being able to sue the UK media won’t affect any sensitive matters in Portugal,because all the witnesses had given statements before the ‘event’ hit the media, and it won’t be an English jury anyway. If a jury is used????
But as to the book and dvd ban other Portuguese channels can show it/discuss it.
There is another book , also by a Portuguese national about the case, published before Amaral’s, and that hasn’t been banned, it also, by all accounts isn’t a good seller.
February 26th, 2010 at 10:00 am
Cool,
Have a look at the following:
“TVI channel cannot comment on GAmaral thesis, but other tv channels can… ”
http://twitter.com/KeirSimmonsITV
I understood that the defendants are prevented from discussing/commenting but others are not.
February 26th, 2010 at 9:50 am
I thought the ban was worldwide June? and all editions and formats?
I think sometimes we under-estimate the workings of the Portugese legal system.
This case was nothing to do with the McCanns themselves or Amaral himself… it was a legal case with judgements based on legal findings not on personalities. To infer otherwise is to undermine the Portugese Judiciary.
February 26th, 2010 at 9:33 am
It was interesting to see (Crimewatch UK) that with regard to the Claudia Lawrence case, “Police believe that it is likely she has come to harm and are now treating her case as a suspected murder investigation”.
The police have formed this opinion about a 35 year old adult who has been missing for one year.
Madeleine was not quite 3 years old when she disappeared and has been missing for over three years now.
February 26th, 2010 at 9:16 am
June,
I think you are correct on all counts.
Add to that my own thoughts: The injunction may have been maintained because if the McCanns had lost that case they may have withdrawn their other application, Portugal might not want that because they want more evidence to be aired in court.
Amaral produced one surprise at the last hearing. Is it possible he has held back other ‘cards’ to play at the main event?
February 26th, 2010 at 9:02 am
Rockhopper
I think so, in fact I wasn’t too surprised the ban remained, and it is still a temporary ban; and not worldwide either, is that true?
February 26th, 2010 at 8:58 am
June,
I read a comment posted elsewhere which suggested that the maintaining of the injunction re Amaral’s book may have been the judge’s way of trying to prevent any future hearings being prejudiced.
Sounds feasable?
February 26th, 2010 at 8:34 am
The real Stig
At the time the McCanns were still in Portugal they were still being courted by and courting the media, it only stopped when they were made arguidos.
So how do you mean ‘doing the PCC’s job’ for them?
Meanwhile the treatment of Robert Murat was beyond the pale. The Portuguese Ambassador came under flack as did the PJ and anything Portuguese. If you read the whole report (in the forums as well as above) you’ll find the media may have damaged any future trial that may occur, and that could be very damaging for Madeleine
February 26th, 2010 at 4:48 am
So the PCC is as one-sided and pro-McCann as the majority… Despite a battery of complaints over the sardine-munching article insulting the Portuguese Ambassador! I know, I wrote one, and I know several others who did.
I despair.
February 26th, 2010 at 12:56 am
Sorry that should have read appropriate channels!
February 26th, 2010 at 12:56 am
Come on! why use the appropriate canells to get where you want! Like not involving the PCC just go for the mother lode… Why stop the publication of a book … wait a year until it’s made some profit… Is there a pattern here?
February 26th, 2010 at 12:02 am
“We just think it’s regrettable in some ways that the McCann family didn’t actually come to us for us to be able to act on their behalf.“
Their daughter had gone missing, they believed she had been abducted, they were in a foreign country and did not speak the language and they had the local plod trying to get them to confess.
This is a long shot, I know, but maybe, just maybe, they had more important things on their minds and plate than doing the PCCs job for them.
February 25th, 2010 at 4:51 pm
“The McCanns aside, the treatment of Robert Murat was horrendous from the off.”
They didn’t show much restraint when it came to the ‘boozed up sardine munchers’ either!
February 25th, 2010 at 4:48 pm
If you are going to sue the press or others you may as well wait a year or two, give ‘em more rope, let the libels stack up!
February 25th, 2010 at 4:12 pm
…and what exactly could the toothless tiger which passes itself off as the PCC have done in any case….??