Clueless In Portugal: Madeleine McCann
MADELEINE McCann is missing.
Someone knows where Madeleine McCann is. But they are not telling. They will not end the agony. They will not end the nightmares for Madeleine and her parents.
Perhaps the Express can help? Perhaps not. “PARENTS’ AGONY: POLICE CALL OFF HUNT FOR MADDY,” says the headline.
But the story is not quite so. The hunt is not over. And over in the Mail, beside a picture of smiling Madeleine, another headline: “Madeleine: Are the Portuguese police about to give up the hunt?”
The Express says they already have. It’s on the papers front page.
“The searches are coming to an end,” detectives say in a statement. “The places being checked – the results are zero.”
The British papers wanted facts. These are the facts delivered in blank verse.
But it is not over. The hunt continues elsewhere. And the people are looking out for smiling Madeleine, who will be four tomorrow.
Nuno Lourenco is in Sagres, 16 miles from Praia da Luz. He sees a man taking pictures of blonde children.
Lourenco takes a picture of the photographer. But reports are that he that he obscured the image with his thumb.
Claus Montex sees the same man. “When the man was challenged he ran off, but he came back a bit later went back to the beach and carried on taking photographs.”
And there is a woman. “MADDIE SEEN WITH BLONDE,” says the Sun’s front-page headline. A blonde girl has been spotted with three adults.
The adults are believed to be British. One is a blonde woman. The other two are men. Caught on CCTV the three are seen at a Galp petrol station on the motorway heading out of Praia da Luz.
Is this Madeleine McCann? Are these the devils? What does the Mirror think? “DID A BRIT WOMAN TAKE HER?” asks the front-page headline.
The paper boasts of having two journalists in Praia da Luz. Same as the Mail. Same as the Sun. Same as the Express.
That’s eight tabloid journalists, all well-versed in door-stepping techniques and getting people to talk. But none has an insight. All they have are the same quotes from the same people. And questions.
No new leads. No reward offered. No new angle. No new clue. Just stories of Madeleine’s parents’ suffering. Comments on Madeleine’s parents. Pictures of smiling Madeleine. Pictures of Madeleine’s parents. Slights at the Portuguese.
All addding up to what Mick Hume in the Times call “a British public spectacle, an emtional national experience”.
And nothing…
Posted: 11th, May 2007 | In: Tabloids Comments (70) | TrackBack | Permalink
