Madeleine McCann: Selling Books And Fact As Fiction
MADDIE WATCH - Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann, Kate McCann and Gerry McCann
WHILE the tabloids splash news of Madeleine McCann – our Maddy/ Maddie – on their front pages, spinning the single thread story into a news sensation, the Guardian uses the missing child as a touchstone for arty matters.
Just recently Madeleine has been in Edinburgh for the performing arts festival, and not. Like last year.
Today John Morton muses: “Can fiction tell the truth?”
Can fiction be fact? Anyone care to help Mr Morton before he gives this too much thought?
Many novelists have sought to dramatise the blurring of real life with drama, but this could obscure as much as it explains.
But novels are just a list of facts, right? Our man in the know is considering Kate Summerscale’s recent Samuel Johnson prizewinning book The Suspicions of Mr Whicher.
Summerscale’s book is at least in part an attempt to demonstrate that media frenzy over child abductions is not a new phenomenon (as the book concerns the abduction of a child, the parallels with today are clear - witness the fevered reaction to the disappearance in 2002 of two young girls in Soham, and the near-constant speculation over the fate of Madeline McCann).]
Can journalists ever blur fiction with fact? Discuss…

August 15th, 2008 at 7:50 am
Fimst
August 15th, 2008 at 7:56 am
ZZzzzzzzzzzzzzz
August 15th, 2008 at 7:59 am
Never let the facts get in the way of a good story.
August 15th, 2008 at 7:59 am
Right I’m off for a Sausage Sandwich.
August 15th, 2008 at 7:59 am
Morning all.
The buzzword is FACTION. A combination of both.
August 15th, 2008 at 8:05 am
“Can journalists ever blur fiction with fact? Discuss…”
They would first have to be able to tell the difference. Sadly these days they concentrate on the saleability of the story, regardless of its veracity
August 15th, 2008 at 8:13 am
From over page
# Matt. Says:
August 15th, 2008 at 7:26 am
Garth Says:
August 14th, 2008 at 8:34 pm
“”For arguments sake lets just say that Madeleine fell
out of the parents bedroom window which has a drop
(not enough to kill a child by my reckoning but whatever)””
_______________________________________________________
A dodgy presumption that….
A 13 foot fall, headfirst, could most certainly cause
)
fatal injuries to a child, or even an adult.
Children, and adults, have died as a result of injuries
sustained from falling when standing on a chair.
(Be very careful when next you stand on a chair to
achieve a High 5.
*******************************************************
The other matters you raise could of course be dependent
upon many other factors…several of which HOTWATER quoted
in his/her reply to your post.
BTW….the referral I made regarding this possible scenario
is not what I believe may have happened.
I was replying to a fellow poster who indicated some
difficulty in connecting how a cadaver scent could be
alerted from both the flowerbed and behind the sofa.
I have no idea what happened regarding the possibility
of a fatal accident taking place…but the consideration
I posted could be a possible explanation for the connection
of the two alerts.
However the possibility that the flowerbed from which the
cadaver scent was alerted and the site of the window behind
the sofa…may not be one above the other. (As has been also
noted by another fellow poster.)
Worth a checkout though to clarify.
Now where is my “scene of incident” map and report ??
:)
# Garth Says:
August 15th, 2008 at 8:11 am
Mornin me little cherub.
I shouldn’t fret too much over the fall from the window as it wasn’t really taken that seriously. However, the main point being M came to her death in the apartment.
Between the time Kate checked and the notifying to the remainder of the group seems a little too short to hide a body without anyone noticing imo
So hopefully some should recognise that we can rule that one out!
What does that leave us?
Ah yes Gerrys visit. He visited at around 9.00 (witness at bar confirming this) and he was seen talking to Wilkins in the street which Wilkins confirms. So that should hopefully rule out to most any involvement of Gerry at that time.
Earlier?
Well the McCanns left the apartment at around 8.30pm. Could they have killed her between the time of 6.40 in the evening (the time when Payne claims he’d seen them) and 8.30? Gerry returned at around 7.00 pm so it gives them an hour and a half to hide her body so noone can find her, make up a story about abduction and then get ready for the evening and toddle off to the tapas bar whereby they had a conversation with a couple on another table whom they befriended whilst on holiday. And all as if nothing had happened.
Very clever people!
Of course they must be clever because they would have known full well that an investigation would automatically take the course of suspecting the parents, so clever infact, that knowing that, they were able to hide her body somewhere and then move it again in a hired car some 25 days later? Of course we have to believe they handled her body in the car because the Dna tells us so. Just like it tells us the DNA in the apartment points to a dead body having been there at some point.
So if you believe the DNA and the dog scents etc then you have to believe that the McCanns had hidden the body somewhere in that short space of time, somewhere where nobody would suspect and then move the body in a car some time the next month. Again without being seen by anyone, even the PJ, competant as they are, failed to keep a close surveillance on the McCanns whom they suspected.
Strange isn’t it?
August 15th, 2008 at 8:16 am
But ……..who is or was the most dangerous….Sadaam or the pish TV spews out.
August 15th, 2008 at 8:22 am
Come along now hands off cocks and on with socks anti mob, surely even you lot can spot the obvious….
G.A. – How many sightings have there been? Thousands. It’s been a year. I stopped giving them a lot of importance on the day that the dogs confirmed the cadaver odour and the blood.
Spot the MISTAKE ?
August 15th, 2008 at 8:24 am
Those dogs have got a lot to answer for. The scheming mutts!
August 15th, 2008 at 8:27 am
I’ve got it! I’ve got it! He stopped looking after the dogs may have smelt cadaver. Do I get a gold star?
August 15th, 2008 at 8:30 am
The question was for the anti brain cells.
August 15th, 2008 at 8:36 am
Well it just goes to show the cerebral limitations of the inhabitants of barmy brigade land, perhaps the answer embarrasses them !
August 15th, 2008 at 8:37 am
Oh looky here, the three Gs in a line up!
August 15th, 2008 at 8:38 am
The McCanns are so firkin clever………by erm……….. only those whom believe the McCanns are trying to fool.
And Amaral of course.
But hold, at least the accusers are way above the McCanns in the IQ rankings.
Dare i say ‘clever bastards’?
August 15th, 2008 at 8:38 am
I’m with O2 myself.
August 15th, 2008 at 8:41 am
G and G - a small token of my esteem.
http://br.youtube.com/watch?v=UW659×8T-oo
August 15th, 2008 at 8:43 am
Garth, to have an intelligence quotient one must first possess intelligence……..so that is an automatic failing of the barmy brigade and resident windylickers known as antis.
August 15th, 2008 at 8:43 am
Garth Says:
August 15th, 2008 at 8:13 am
Morning, little one.
Fretting is not very apt. I am kewl.
As I understand, from the Files, that the timelines,
and Tapas Group statements, have been shown to be so
unreliable that they cannot be seriously used as a base
for any worthwhile theory. I shall pass them by.
As there was no suggestion in any of the previous posts
about the “fall into a flowerbed” scenario…I am very
surprised that you have introduced the “killed by the
parents” distraction.
So, I shall also pass by that attempt by you to imply
that it was a part of the previous discussion.
Your :
“”So if you believe the DNA and the dog scents etc
then you have to believe that the McCanns had hidden
the body somewhere in that short space of time,
somewhere where nobody would suspect and then move
the body in a car some time the next month. Again
without being seen by anyone, even the PJ, competant
as they are, failed to keep a close surveillance on
the McCanns whom they suspected.”"
The “short space of time to hide the body” may not be
an actuality.
After all, the statements/timelines they quoted, and
seem to have changed quite regularly…have been
considered to be extremely unreliable…remember ?
The “accident” could have occurred much earlier.
But a proven time is not available.
Although the passage of 48 hours seemed to be a reason
for a sense ofgreat relief in some….er….quarters.
So a reasonable amount of time could have been available
for further hiding and eventual disposal of a body.
And so the mystery continues…hopefully it will be
solved.
August 15th, 2008 at 8:48 am
Ah i see, so a reconstruction persued by the PJ was not merely to follow the line of the tapas 9 movements of the evening of the 3rd but infact a reconstruction of a 48 hour period prior?
Have you informed the PJ of this?
August 15th, 2008 at 8:48 am
And may i say……….. you are very brave!
August 15th, 2008 at 8:49 am
agw will be jolly cross, he might even come over to the side of the righteous and the charitable and kind hearted group, whose only agenda is justice for Madeleine, not chasing lost causes and trying to nail the fragrant and loving duo, put a little love in your hearts barmy brigade……..oh you can’t they’re made of stone………
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YC2Q3FdpX6I
August 15th, 2008 at 8:49 am
Garth,
You write “all as if nothing had happened” - and that seems to be a powerful argument that nothing had happened.
What concerns me is that so much of their behaviour in the days after Madeleine’s disappearance is “all as if nothing had happened”. Kate jogged, Gerry played tennis and they drank a glass or two of wine just as they did before she disappeared.
August 15th, 2008 at 8:50 am
Indeed they are made of stone and one that requires tossing!
August 15th, 2008 at 8:51 am
Has matt the twat sussed the mistake, how very very very…………….bollox!
August 15th, 2008 at 8:53 am
Garth Says:
August 15th, 2008 at 8:48 am
I would think that a reconstruction would have proved that the timelines
and statements would have ended up in a black comedy-like debunking
of their confused and ever changing storylines.
But 48 hours prior to the sense of relief would be a good starting point.
August 15th, 2008 at 8:54 am
just so Says:
August 15th, 2008 at 8:49 am
Garth,
You write “all as if nothing had happened” - and that seems to be a powerful argument that nothing had happened.
What concerns me is that so much of their behaviour in the days after Madeleine’s disappearance is “all as if nothing had happened”. Kate jogged, Gerry played tennis and they drank a glass or two of wine just as they did before she disappeared.
————————-
People read differently into the reactions of the McCanns so i think it wise to not bother to argue the toss about them anymore.
August 15th, 2008 at 8:54 am
Gandolf Says:
August 15th, 2008 at 8:51 am
Seb and little sis still know nuffin.
August 15th, 2008 at 8:55 am
Matt. Says:
August 15th, 2008 at 8:53 am
Garth Says:
August 15th, 2008 at 8:48 am
I would think that a reconstruction would have proved that the timelines
and statements would have ended up in a black comedy-like debunking
of their confused and ever changing storylines.
But 48 hours prior to the sense of relief would be a good starting point.
——————–
It may be a good starting point for the unknowing indeed, but i haste to say that you might be researching on your own.
The timelines are between 8.30 and 10.00. They cannot be that far out.
August 15th, 2008 at 8:57 am
They knew there would be no charges months ago, despite your fervent assurances that there would be, so you are correct twatter you know nuffin, as per usual…