Madeleine McCann: A Source Says, Shannon Matthews And Down Under
MADDYWATCH – Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann
THE SUN: “Maddie picture was ‘a mistake’”
MISSING Madeleine McCann’s parents yesterday blasted claims that releasing a photo of her had led to her death. Publishing the image may have “panicked” a kidnapper into killing her, said a legal source in Portugal. It was also claimed that Portuguese prosecutors now believed her body would NEVER be found.
A legal source?
The source said: “An abductor felt trapped and got rid of her. The parents may have contributed to this story having an unfortunate ending.”
A source says and the Sun reacts. Contact the usual sources.
Says the McCanns’ spokesman Clarence Mitchell: “They don’t believe Maddie is dead.”
THE HERALD: “Why Shannon’s welfare is the only priority”
Is it? And what has it to do with Madeleine McCann?
Nothing brings out the best in us faster than a missing child. One of ours is in danger. The tribe unites. Its champion, the media, sets up camp to keep us all informed. The child is an angel; the parents are heroic; the community displays the Blitz spirit and the police leave no stone unturned in their hunt for the demon abductor. The headlines write themselves – until real life intervenes – as in the case of Shannon Matthews.
The reporting of a missing child reduced to cliche…
Karen is 32 but, in her distress, could have passed for 42, maybe 52. She lives with four of the seven children she has borne to five fathers. Her live-in partner, Craig Meehan, with whom she has a two-year-old daughter, is 10 years younger than she. It’s another world, and society’s reaction is a mix of snobbery, disapproval and bewilderment. Why else were there 465 stories written about Madeleine McCann in the nine days following her abduction and only 242 about Shannon? The professional McCanns attracted £2.5m in reward money. The reward for Shannon reached £25,000.
Maybe it’s because the McCanns matter is a freak event, a single story spun out by a vociferous media engaged in a feeding frenzy over a single fact enlarged by innuendo, speculation and sensation.
Because for journalists, going to Portugal in early summer is more attractive than going to a estate in Yorkshire in later winter…
NEWS.COM (Aus): “This is the Sydney girl mistaken for Madeleine McCann”
But it’s not Madeleine McCann.
WITH her blonde hair, large eyes and pale cheeks, this little girl’s resemblance to missing British girl Madeleine McCann had police rushing to the Sydney CBD yesterday. The false Maddie sighting began when a woman notified police after she spotted a little girl getting off a train from Wollongong at Central station holding the hand of a “French-speaking man dressed in black” about 11am.
The swathy foreigner and the blonde child. We’ve see this before…
Madeleine McCann: The story that fills space
Posted: 18th, March 2008 | In: Madeleine McCann, Tabloids Comments (556) | TrackBack | Permalink
