Madeleine McCann: The Full Picture
“MADELEINE: The last picture.”
So says the Mail’s front page. And readers may take this as a literal. But this is not the final shot the paper will publish of Madeleine McCann. This is the last picture taken before Madeleine McCann disappeared.
Her parents have released this picture of their daughter smiling as she dips her toes in the holiday swimming pool.
And the papers are appreciative of the new development.
With no new suspects and no new leads, the Sun posts the picture on its front page.
This is “little Madeleine McCann”. She “smiles for the camera”. A new picture but no news, so the Sun explain what the picture shows.
It tells us that next to father Gerry dressed “in an orange top” is Madeleine’s sister Amelie. Next to Amelie is Madeleine. “She has a smile to melt any heart.” She is wearing a “pink” top. She is wearing a “sunhat”.
More news of this “last picture” in the Mirror, which promises to have the “FULL STORY”.
But there is no full story. There is just another picture. And though it tells a tale of a happy child, the holiday snap reveals little else other than the colour of Madeleine’s clothes, and the Sun has that line of enquiry covered.
So have you seen Madeleine? And have you seen those other children who are “MISSING LIKE MADDIE”?
Maddie is, of course, what the Sun has renamed Madeleine McCann. And today the paper has shots of other missing children.
Twenty-eight faces look out from the page. All are minors. All are missing. The Sun tells us that in the 22 days since the four-year-old went missing an estimated 1,100 other children under 16 have “vanished from homes in Britain”.
This is “International Missing Children’s Day”. And the Sun wants us to look at the faces of the missing teenagers and see if we know them?
So we look. And we read the potted stories beneath each picture. We study their measurements. And we realise that most are aged 16 and if they don’t want to be found then they won’t be.
And, in any case, in real life people change. It’s only their “last pictures” that remain the same…
Posted: 25th, May 2007 | In: Madeleine McCann Comments (414) | TrackBack | Permalink
