Madeleine McCann: Robert Murat, MPs And Gerry McCann’s Heated Debate
MADDIE WATCH - Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann, Kate McCann and Gerry McCann, featuring special guest star Robert Murat
Madeleine McCann is missing, still missing. She is now missing from the papers. The story is not of a missing child. The story is of the media, how the single thread story became a maelstrom of speculation and clai, and now introspection.
Last night Robert Murat – a media victim - addressed an audience of students at Cambridge University’s Union Society in favour of a motion that “the tabloid press does more harm than good“.
In The News: Madeleine: Murat speaks out against tabloid fairytales
Read: Madeleine Mcann: Express Newspapers Win, Robert Murat’s Tabloid Trial And Money
Robert Murat has delivered a scathing attack on the journalists who defamed him over the abduction of Madeleine McCann, saying he felt “like a fox being pursued by a pack of hounds”.
Not the best analogy. Anorak would have Murat as Quasimodo, alikeness more in keeping with the press portrayal of him - “creepy” “oddball” Robert Murat - the bouncy castle fetishist.
Would Max Clifford have done betterfor OJ Murat?
Murat won £600,000 in libel damages for almost 100 “seriously defamatory” stories in British newspapers.
The disappearance of Madeleine McCann was his “horror story”. He blames a specific unnamed journalist, who was “so anxious, it appeared, to break a story that she literally created her own”.
“To my personal cost, I now know what the maxim ‘never let the truth get in the way of a good story’ really means.
Madeleine McCann, Robert Murat And PC Porn
“Over a period of many months, day after day, a torrent of outlandish, untrue, and deeply hurtful allegations about me were systematically splashed across the pages of British newspapers.
Madeleine McCann: Charlotte Pennington Poses, Metodo 3 Says And Blood
“I was one day said to be a sexual predator, another day a kidnapper; the tabloids reported apparently that I had been outside the McCann flat on the night Madeleine went missing, with her DNA apparently found in my home.
The story of one girl’s disappearance had become the story of one man’s survival.
“They even came up with a story that I had a secret chamber under the floor of the house. Fairytales. Every single one of them, as the police themselves concluded.”
Madeleine McCann Suspect Robert Murat’s DNA Tests
No investigation in the press. There has never been one. The money spent on sending hacks to Portugal was not to search for Our Maddy but to point the finger at Murat, to cast aspersions, to watch the parents and abuse the local police.
Mr Murat argued against the motion that ‘tabloids do more harm than good’, describing them as a “travesty” and a “force for harm”.
No, tabloids do not do the harm. The hacks do the harm. The editor does the harm. The publisher does the harm. The newspaper is just an organ.
Says Murat:
“My own life will be scarred for ever by the lies they printed.”
Who can doubt that? But Mr Murat proves that there is smoke without fire. But the press aren’t listening, not really. There’s Baby P, Ivan Cameron and all manner of mourn porn to tap into.
Media litigation lawyer Louis Charalambous, Mr Murat’s lawyer of Simon, Muirhead and Burton, adds:
“Although Mr Murat’s good name has now been rightfully restored and he and his family have begun rebuilding their life, the intolerable distress and stress they experienced as a result of such malicious reporting to benefit ad revenues and market share, is a shameful episode in the history of the British press.”
Who can disagree?
Also speaking in support of the motion were Montgomeryshire MP Lembit Opik and Guardian assistant editor Michael White.
The motion was opposed by media consultant Peter Bazalgette and Sport Newspapers editor-in-chief Murray Morse.
Press Gazette: “Robert Murat ’scarred forever by tabloid newspaper lies’”
Murat said the intense press interest in him for eight months turned his home village into a “ghoulish carnival” and “nearly destroyed” his family’s lives.
As a father…
Says he:
“There was never a shred of evidence that I was in any way involved, despite eight months of lurid headlines. At times, I felt like a fox being pursued by a pack of hounds. I was literally forced to jump over fences to avoid the scramble of photographers waiting outside.”
Maybe the fox is right? And the press pack?
“Mobiles glued to their ears, ringing through to their newsdesks to bid and outbid one another for the next outlandish tale, British tabloid journalists did not so much cover the story as move it on from one breathless mix of speculation and invention to the next.”
Adds Louis Charalambous:
“It’s not the fact that they are tabloids, or the fact that they are not broadsheets, but that they cynically exploit their readers, with an agenda which suits their editors and owners, often at the expense of their targets - be they good or bad, deserving or undeserving.”
PA: “Madeleine media coverage questioned”
Questioned by… Clarence Mitchell. The PR for hire. Really:
The spokesman for Kate and Gerry McCann is set to address the Oxford Union about whether media coverage helped or hindered the search for their daughter Madeleine.
Anyone spotted her since the tabloid press removed her from their front pages?
Next week, Mr Mitchell will join Mr McCann to give evidence to MPs about how the media reported on the disappearance.
They have been invited to answer questions from the Culture, Media and Sport Committee on Tuesday. They will be joined by Mr McCann’s lawyer Adam Tudor, a partner in libel firm Carter-Ruck.
The lawyers. The PR. Talking to the MPs about the media. Paying the bills. And the child is missing.
The MPs are expected to ask Mr McCann, 40, why he and his wife Kate, 41, chose to sue a number of British newspapers for defamation instead of going through the regulatory body the Press Complaints Commission.
Because it would have been a waste of their time.
In March last year Express Newspapers agreed to pay the couple £550,000 in libel damages over false allegations that they were responsible for Madeleine’s death.
Question asked; question answered.
Press Gazette: “Max Mosley and Gerry McCann to appear at press inquiry”
Gerry McCann, the father of missing girl Madeleine, and motorsport boss Max Mosley are to appear before MPs next week to give their views on libel law and privacy.
The father of a missing child and a spanking enthusiast. The story just changes to fill the space.
Mosley won £60,000 in compensation from the News of the World last July after the Sunday tabloid published photos and a video of what it claimed was a “sick Nazi orgy” with five prostitutes.
High court judge Mr Justice Eady said Mosley had a “reasonable expectation of privacy in relation to sexual activities” and said there was no evidence of Nazi re-enactment.
Get this:
Mosley is now asking the European Court of Human Rights to strengthen privacy laws - and make it a requirement for newspapers to approach the subject of a story before publication.
If that’s passed, newspapers are finished.
Dear Madonna, tomorrow we are running a story about how your veins are unsightly and cause Mail readers to puke… RSVP.
Madeleine McCann is missing - and the media is talking about the media…
How did it get to this?
Posted: 6th, March 2009 | In: Key Posts, Madeleine McCann, Media Comments (35) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
Comments
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March 9th, 2009 at 11:36 pm
Well done Doris, someone has to have the guts to do it. I can just imagine the scene… tee hee! so glad it wasn’t well attended…. tee hee!
Agree with you June, completely. It just isn’t right to call the whole bizarre case a hoot, as it would be if it was a stage play for example.
March 9th, 2009 at 3:21 pm
I think the whole thing has lost its focus, and has become a complete parody on the main players. As a work of fiction its brilliant, shame about the tragedy its based on….
March 9th, 2009 at 3:02 pm
Dairy, I agree, its all about ‘getting’ the parents and also Clarence Mitchell.
The homophobia displayed on the other site is quite sickening… anything to do with Clarence Mitchell is now highlighted in pink! Tee Hee. What a scream. Not.
As it happens CM is a happy family man but even if he was gay I don’t understand what it has to with Madeleine McCann, her disappearance and his representing them. .
March 9th, 2009 at 2:06 pm
seems to me that many people are more interested in vilifying the parents than finding the child…. it’s sad..
March 9th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
you see c and c you were not there I was and I heard it straight from the horses mouth , tomorrow when GM CM and lawyers go to answer their questions before the press complaints com , this will be the initial starting point
March 9th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
In fact you should make the most of the opportunity , that goes for all as in Clarence’s own words re the net ” state intervention will come down the line quicker than they can imagine and will face more controls and intervention “
March 9th, 2009 at 12:04 pm
Sorry… its a private group for writers and journos. I would lurve to cut and paste but would be banished forever……
Moderator - Anorak is a journo;send him the link. I’ve unapproved this to keep you out of trouble
March 9th, 2009 at 11:23 am
No c and c you are totally wrong and you will see in the national press tomorrow , spin all you like
March 9th, 2009 at 11:15 am
Hi everyone. Back from my hols to see that St Jade of Tweed is headlined everywhere….. my sympathy is directed all the other cancer victims who suffer and die quietly every day leaving behind distraught families.
Too much……….
………………………..
I understood the whole Oxford Union thing was misinterpreted by Chesty Cough and Co..
The lady teacher was correct though, Clarence was not a speaker and wasn’t meant to be and he wasn’t paid either.
The self-proclaimed Madeleine Foundation made itself a laughing stock according to an acquaintance who is with the local press in Oxford and who related the whole kerfuffle to a yahoo group with great humour…….. Clarence wasn’t fazed at all! Hey Ho. It’s all in the reporting.
March 9th, 2009 at 10:18 am
This was ther worst I have seen the man , I would describe him as more grey/white than pink apart from his outburst , well he had a few , afterwards a lady teacher at the union said to me that he was not a speaker and she would not pay him if she were his employer
March 9th, 2009 at 10:16 am
Was his dark cape billowing behind him as he ‘fled rapidly into the night’ and did you ‘vow’ not to go away with your right fist clutched over your heart.
It’s important to get the wording and gestures right in these situations
March 9th, 2009 at 10:06 am
I attended the Oxford Union Clarence Mitchell talk , he was horrified to see me and I asked him to clarrify who is paying his salary , he jabbed and pointed his finger at me asking me how much my salary is , I said to him I asked who is paying his salary not how much , the man was clearly perplexed and flustered by my presence but I said I am not going to go away until the truth is told and there is justice for Madeleine , after the talk which was extemely poorly attended he declined to go to the bar area which would have been normal as the previous night in Cambridge with Murat , and fled rapidly into the night
March 6th, 2009 at 11:42 pm
I do too, I was convinced of his involvement, along with most other people I guess. All those comparisons with Huntley when he was “helping”…..Only Mr Murat seems to have really been trying to help.
March 6th, 2009 at 10:58 pm
I felt really sorry for Murat, a convenient whipping boy
March 6th, 2009 at 10:09 pm
They did have a little help from the Tapas crew though, didn’t they? A few ‘mistaken’ sightings of him that evening reported to PJ. That’s bound to get to the Press.
March 6th, 2009 at 9:58 pm
True, June, re Murat and the papers did a ‘job’ on him and many people believed it, didn’t they, and took after him like the hounds chasing the fox.
March 6th, 2009 at 9:19 pm
Not exactly to no avail though June. It’s been quite lucrative for them. Sorry, I mean for ‘The Fund’
March 6th, 2009 at 9:09 pm
Murat didn’t use the Media, it was the certain reporter who kicked it all off.
The McCann should have taken some advice before courting the media, they should have known they would bite them on the bum. Using the Media for alerts about a child are one thing, then they should have stopped and allowed Police (either UK or Portuguese) or their legal representative speak for them. It all went ‘celeb’ to no avail.
March 6th, 2009 at 8:42 pm
This article is mainly about Robert Murat though. Who advised him to use the Press? None of it had anything to do with him until a certain reporter decided he looked a bit shifty. Unless anyone knows different of course.
March 6th, 2009 at 8:30 pm
The McCanns were advised to use the Press in the first place when their daughter went missing. We do it over here all the time when a child is missing in putting an Alert out. Yes, they committed an utterly stupid and irresponsible action leaving their children alone and paid the ultimate price for that stupidity - they lost a child. However, that did not give the newspapers the right to print nasty unfounded rumours; less than truthful leaks spouted for all to listen to by an investigator over lunches; erronous DNA results. The newspapers fed the public what they wanted to hear and sold newspapers irregardless of whose lives they may be destroying..
March 6th, 2009 at 6:55 pm
Dr Eggman
People who go blonde? and not babysitting MM that night like she wasn’t even asked too…..
March 6th, 2009 at 6:41 pm
Yeah Madonna, you evil bitch! Why didn’t you use your fame and stuff to help find Madeleine, there was, like, hardly anything in the papers about it or on the telly. AND it’s all your fault, all those starvin’ people in Africa.
What else is she responsible for, does anyone know?
March 6th, 2009 at 6:25 pm
Eh?
I thought I was in the wrong place for a minute
March 6th, 2009 at 5:29 pm
pmsl
March 6th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
why add Ma Donna’s name in a story about Madeleine Mccann Ma Donna hasn’t added hers to my knowledge and besides that in America U.S.A. Cherokee Nation she aint nothing but a horrible Catholic that pays money for children who don’t have enough money to go to a concert and really don’t need to go to her X-Rated concert and sit on the front row and watch the woman touch her crotch with her clothes on singing like a virgin and laying on a bed bouncing her body around touching her crotch with her clothes on Mother Mary of Jesus Christ is probably humiliated by her Catholic version of what a virgin would do or feel like or act like it’s been so many years since she was a virgin her Ma Donna self that she don’t remember what it’s like and couldn’t think like one if she had to. I don’t like her now that I’ve realized the evil she really is. She could of helped the whole country of poor people instead of adopting a child and taking it away from it’s dad it could of learned alot from it’s dad. And being in England knowing about Madeleine Mccann she could of let her fans (people who like her and listen ) know about Madeleine missing and one of them might have found her. The person who took her or the people who have her might like MaDonna and may have listened and returned the child to her parents.
March 6th, 2009 at 5:01 pm
GF and BF, that’s hurtful and unhelpful
March 6th, 2009 at 4:58 pm
8 brandon flours Says:
March 6th, 2009 at 4:10 pm
hear hear GF
*******************
Lovely to hear from you too
“Within the bounds of responsible parenting” says WHO ?
March 6th, 2009 at 4:10 pm
hear hear GF
March 6th, 2009 at 4:01 pm
LINK to the story.
“The baby died after a fire broke out at her home in Oxford Street, Hillfields, last July.
Her 37-year-old mother left her alone so she could attend a hearing at Coventry’s Family Court about another of her children.”
http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/2009/03/06/mum-jailed-for-leaving-baby-at-home-to-die-92746-23078902/
March 6th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
Talking of the press, who like to link any and every story to the Mccanns…….
WHY aren’t they linking it to this story in which a 22 month old daughter was left without adult supervision in a bedroom by her mother!
Mrs Mccann’s youngest daughter was about this age wasn’t she ? a very young child who was also left without adult supervision in a bedroom by her mother.
March 6th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
Are you going Doris?