Clarence Mitchell And A Debate On The McCanns And The Media
OVER the news wires: “Madeleine’s parents ‘not suspects'”
Says Clarence Mitchell: “I have never once seen or heard anything from either of them to give me any cause for suspicion in any shape or form.
“I have also had briefings privately from the police and the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) centre that also gave me complete reassurance that the authorities, in this country certainly, are treating this as a case of rare stranger abduction, as they call it.”
Mr Mitchell says he feels “shamed” as a former reporter by the “sloppiness” and “laziness” of certain journalists in covering the story of the missing child.
Anorak has been commenting on just this for months…
Mr Mitchell was speaking at a debate on The McCanns and the Media at the London School of Economics.
He adds: “What we have taken issue with, and our lawyers continue to review, is the aspect of coverage that is not only distorted but wilfully misrepresentative at times of the facts as we know them or the lack of facts. In that vacuum I’m afraid some very sloppy standards have crept in.”
He singled out “the sloppiness and laziness of some of the journalists, and the lack of independence of thought and checking of facts”.
Mr Mitchell said he understood putting a story about Madeleine’s disappearance on the front page could add 70,000 sales to some newspapers, meaning there was “definitely a commercial imperative” to reporting on the case. He assured the audience they could be certain that “every single one” of the negative stories they read or heard about the McCanns was untrue.
But wasn’t it the Independent on Sunday that reported: “Maddy’s off the front page”:
“Followers of the Madeleine McCann story have been able to depend on the ‘Evening Standard’ to clear the front page for any development. So how come a potential breakthrough, with police looking into the disappearance of another little girl near Praia da Luz, was buried on page 17? The answer is: sales fell by 10,000 the last two times Maddy made the cover, so the news desk have been told to curb their Maddy enthusiasm. If only they’d tell the ‘Express’ to do likewise.”
As for the McCanns being innocent, all we know is that they deny harming their daughter but remain on the Portuguese police’s list of suspects, along with Robert Murat….
Posted: 30th, January 2008 | In: Madeleine McCann Comments (168) | TrackBack | Permalink
