Madeleine McCann And Natasha Richardson For Sale
MADDIE WATCH – Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann, Kate McCann and Gerry McCann, starringNatasha Richardson..
Sunday People: “FLOWERS FOR KATE”
Brave Kate McCann faces new heartache this morning as she wakes up to her second Mother’s Day without daughter Madeleine.
Sad news. But why are we watching the parents when the child is missing? Is there pleasure in another’s pain?
Editors Weblog: “The Sun’s purchase of Google keywords ‘Natasha Richardson’: is this ethical?”
Effic..?
CounterValue reported that UK newspaper The Sun had purchased the keywords “Natasha Richardson” on Google meaning that anybody searching for name of the actress (whose recent tragic death has been widely reported) would see the link to the Sun’s story appear alongside their search results. A Google search carried out today, however, did not show any sponsored links, meaning that perhaps the Sun has thought the better of its arguably morally-questionable purchase. Or perhaps after the first day it was not financially viable to keep the promotion going.
Via Countervalue.
The Guardian came under considerable criticism last August when, apparently accidentally, it purchased the Google keywords “Madeleine McCann,” giving any searchers the link to its coverage of the child’s disappearance. The Guardian promptly relinquished the rights, and said it would review its list of keywords. Purchasing Google keywords in order to promote a product is common practice, but is it ethical for newspapers?
What difference to putting Natasha Richardson on a front page; of writing her name on the Evening Standard’s Read-all-about-it-boards; of advertising your news..?
Daily Mail: “As a report condemns government databases… Big Brother is wasting your billions”
While worried homeowners pored over Google’s new Street View map yesterday to see whether it contained intrusive images of their homes, a far more worrying story emerged about the burgeoning use of surveillance powers.
The Daily Mail is giving each reader a free pair of X-Ray specs?
A report by Ross Anderson, professor of security engineering at Cambridge University and one of the country’s foremost experts on the use of information technology, paints a picture of a Government obsessed with personal datacollection which is costing taxpayers billions, infringing our privacy and putting us all at risk of crime and identity theft.
No fewer than 11 of the databases developed by the Government, concludes Professor Anderson, are ‘almost certainly’ illegal.
Almost certainly, eh?
In future, it will take only an NHS worker to leave a laptop on a train and the medical history, including drug-use and sexual orientation, of millions of Britons will be available to everyone.
And now you’re scared, it’s time for Tabloid Bingo!, with your caller Ross Clark:
It won’t, of course. Victoria Climbie and Baby P died not through lack of a computer system but because doctors and social workers who came across them failed to spot obvious signs of harm.
And:
In practice, DNA collected from a crime scene is rarely perfect: remember how Madeleine McCann’s parents were arrested by Portuguese police and invited to confess to manslaughter after DNA samples taken from the boot of their hire car were ‘matched’ with Madeleine’s? It later became quite clear that it was a partial match of no significance whatsoever.
Bingo!
The Scottish edition of the Sunday Express has apologised for the “terrible offence” it caused by running a front page story alleging survivors of the Dunblane massacre had shamed the memory of dead friends by boasting about drunken nights out on social networking websites. Yesterday’s strongly-worded apology, headlined “Dunblane: We’re Sorry”, ran on page five of the Sunday Express’s Scottish edition, with the paper admitting its original story of a fortnight ago was “undeniably inappropriate”. The Express Newspapers’ title said it had also spoken to the families involved to apologise.
The Express:
This is the latest in several high-profile apologies by the paper’s publisher. Last year, Express Newspapers apologised and paid £550,000 in damages after the parents of the missing schoolgirl Madeleine McCann took legal action against its four national titles for a series of untrue stories published about them.
Anyone keeping score of how many time the Guardian has now mentioned the Express being fined over the McCann story? Is the Guardian gloating, or just ticking the key words…
Madeleine McCann is missing.
Posted: 24th, March 2009 | In: Reviews Comments (15) | TrackBack | Permalink
