Madeleine McCann: Murat, Opik, Amy Winehouse, Lily Allen And Jade Goody
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, Lembit Opik, Amy Winehouse, Lily Allen, Jade Goody and a heated debate
AFTER a winter-long hibernation, Madeleine McCann returns to the newspapers and front-line debate.
The University of Cambridge’s organ tells its readers: “Robert Murat holds Cambridge Union spellbound in tabloids debate”
The debate, which brought together some famous names from the media, was notable for emotional highs and lows, as well as some colourful tabloid-style language and plenty of laughter.
Speaking for the motion were Michael White, Associate Editor of the Guardian, Robert Murat and his lawyer Louis Charalambous, and the Liberal Democrat MP Lembit Opik, whose personal life has regularly been splashed across the front pages of the tabloids.
That would be the same Lembit Opik, the Libido Dem MP, who once dated a Cheeky Girl (touch My bum), having been engaged to a TV weathergirl, former Year Of The Year Sian Lloyd, who wrote about she and Opik’s life in A Funny Kind Of Love (see papers for details).
Once their love was a glossy affair.
Opik and Cheeky were Britain’s answer to Sarkozy and Bruni.
Is that him speaking for the motion?
Opik contributes a regular column to the Daily Sport – a role he sought to play down, explaining that his relationship with the tabloids stemmed from “their relationship with my relationships”.
And his appearing in glossy magazines, by way of choice?
* SIAN AND LEMBIT SPEAK EXCLUSIVELY TO HELLO! MAGAZINE
* Lembit Opik shares Cheeky Girl proposal exclusively with HELLO!
Against the motion were Murray Morse, Editor of the Daily Sport and former editor of the Cambridge Evening News, Cambridge undergraduate and joint-editor of The Cambridge Student, Shane Murray (who had been co-opted to speak at two hours’ notice), and Peter Bazalgette, co-creator of Big Brother and a former Cambridge Union president.
For any information on them call 09800 SLEEZE.
The motion was carried by 230 votes to 30.
BBC: “How crime has lost out to showbiz”
Chris Summers writes:
Believe it or not, once upon a time, newspapers and television news bulletins were full of actual news involving actual people, much of it generated by reporters on the crime beat.
The demise of the crime reporter, and the decline of investigative journalism in general, has coincided almost perfectly during the past 20 years with the rise of celebrity news….
The rise of the PR. Later:
Yes, says Mark Frith, former editor of Heat magazine and author of The Celeb Diaries.
“There was an untapped market and the whole [Princess] Diana phenomenon showed that people wanted to read about people in the public eye. Posh and Becks was the start of the celebrity age and since then it has moved on to people like Jade Goody, who was the most read story on the BBC website two days running,” he adds…
However:
Professor Franklin says there is no doubt the courts are not covered like they used to be, but he says there is still a big demand from the public for crime stories, especially “cause celebres” like the cases of Madeline McCann and Shannon Matthews.
Which create cartoon baddies (Murat), angels (Our Maddie), sauce (sexy Kate) and blend fact and fiction…
It’s all Tabloid Bingo!
Duncan Campbell, the Guardian’s long-time crime correspondent, who is retiring this year after four decades in journalism, says: “Nowadays you get much more homogenous news with all the media chasing the same stories.”Although no Luddite – he regularly podcasts from the Guardian’s new multimedia headquarters near King’s Cross station – he blames the internet for some of the failings of modern journalism.
“Most newspapers, and the BBC and others, have websites and they can see from the number of hits a story gets what is popular.
“You will find a story about [Cristiano] Ronaldo or Kate Moss will be massively hit, which you will not necessarily get from an interesting story with nobody famous in it.”
It’s how the Tabloid Telegraph works, and today’s headline.
InTheNews: “Max Mosley and Madeleine’s dad face MPs”
Spanking and missing children.
Formula one boss Max Mosley and the father of Madeleine McCann are to give evidence to MPs in Westminster today.
The unlikely pairing will be questioned for the culture, media and sport committee’s ongoing inquiry into press standards, privacy and libel inquiry.
Mr Mosley hit the headlines last year when pictures of him allegedly participating in a sadomasochistic orgy with prostitutes were published by media outlets. He subsequently received £60,000 in damages, an unprecedented amount for privacy ruling damages.
It’s all news. It’s all news to entertain…
Posted: 10th, March 2009 | In: Key Posts, Madeleine McCann, Reviews Comments (12) | TrackBack | Permalink
