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Madeleine McCann: Oprah Winfrey Community Blames McCanns

by | 6th, May 2009

maddie-picture-2MADELEINE McCann Watch: Introducing Daniel Morcombe and Oprah’s online community point the finger at the McCanns…

Brisbane Times: “’Keep searching’ Morcombes tell McCanns”

The disappearances of Sunshine Coast teenager Daniel Morcombe and British toddler Madeleine McCann, who vanished in completely different circumstances and different time zones, have drawn together families both desperate for closure…

One fact links the two: someone’s child is missing.

Mr Morcombe said he and Denise had considered releasing a computer-generated image of Daniel, as he may look aged 19, but decided it was not relevant to his case.

“As grave as it sounds, we think that it’s incredibly unlikely that Daniel is still alive. We don’t think that an (age-progressed) computer-generated image would help the investigation,” he said.

Idaho Statesman: “McCanns to Winfrey: Madeleine is still alive”

In a tearful interview with Oprah Winfrey that aired Monday, the parents of a British girl who disappeared two years ago from a Portuguese resort asked their daughter’s alleged abductor to “tell us where she is.”

Does the Idaho Statesman not believe the McCanns? You can’t libel a namesless abductor, but you can lible the McCanns:

Kate and Gerry McCann said on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” that they believe a man took their daughter, Madeleine, and she is still alive. The girl was almost 4 years old when she disappeared in May 2007.

“It’s not too late to do the right thing,” Gerry McCann said when Winfrey asked the parents what they wanted to say to the person who took Madeleine.

“You know, they can give her up, they can tell us where she is,” he said. “They can hand her over to a priest or someone in authority.”

And Kate McCann?

“This man is known to somebody,” she said. “He’s someone’s son, someone’s brother, someone’s cousin, someone’s neighbor, someone’s colleague, someone’s partner, so he’s known to someone. And even if these people don’t know that he definitely did it, they might have a suspicion, and it’s just, I guess, somehow reaching out to them and saying please come forward.”

Facts. And now a few more facts from the good people at Oprah Winfrey’s community website:

Note: Many of the comments on Oprah’s libel the McCanns and we will nto repeat them here.

No she did not say that at all and the prime minister was not Gordon Brown at the time when Kate kept her diary, the prime minister was Tony Blair. Please adhere to the facts.

Tony Blair actually rung Kate and Gerry and before you go making a big deal out of this, I know for certain that Tony Blair used to make a habit of ringing people he thought may need him and sometimes he would ring people completely out of the blue who had written to him, regardless of who they voted for – Diarubyem

I am a mother of 3 grown boys. This story gave me nightmares even though I have kept up with it since it happened two years ago. I am appalled at the number of people who think these parents are guilty and have such anger and hatred toward them – loridushki

And so after appearing on the Oprah Woinfery show, a news nation is watching the parents…

And from Oprah’s staff, no mention of libel, just:

The little girl who vanished from her family vacation. In their first interview in America, Madeleine McCann’s parents talk to Oprah. See what life is like now.

So says “HARPOBear” – who delivers the Oprah Winfrey call to arms:

Welcome to Oprah.com! Get inspired. Reach for your dreams. Feel empowered and energized every day to make choices that will lead to a happier, more fulfilling life. Be delighted. Grow. Connect. Give back. Live your life as if it really matters, because it does.

The show is not to  help in the hunt  for the child. The show is about watching the parents and getting off on their pain. And playing armchair detective, engaging in debate over their innocence or guilt.

It’s the kind of thing what many readers of Anorak send it – but we don’t post nearly all the commetns. We modertate.

In any high-profile story, the publication walk a tightrope between trying to satisfy public hunger for information and staying within contempt laws.

It is not “fair comment” to say the McCanns killed their daughter – its is speculation. It is libel. Libel. Libel. Tabloid TV, like the tabloid press, can do more harm than good.

Ask Robert Murat.

Madeleine McCann is missing – after two years, the Our Maddie show has become a circus…

Did you see them with the Pope – “a British public spectacle; an emtional national experience”?

Pull up a chair. Tissue or a red hot poker, sir, madam? Enjoy…



Posted: 6th, May 2009 | In: Key Posts, Madeleine McCann, Reviews Comments (40) | TrackBack | Permalink