Madeleine McCann: unnamed sources and news without end
For a few weeks this year Madeleine McCann was high on the news agenda. Amid stories of thousands killed by Covid-19, desperate calls for help from Hong Kong and global protests against the killing for a black man by American police, we read that progress had been made in the hunt of the world’s most recognisable missing person. German prosecutors went on the record. They remain convinced they have their man, the convicted paedophile they believe kidnapped and murdered Madeleine McCann. Weeks on since the story broke, Christian Brueckner, the suspect, remains innocent of all claims. No smoking gun has been found. No evidence. No body. This morning the Sunday Mirror leads with a story about the Madeleine McCann investigation. What’s new? Nothing.
The media story is about the child’s parents, as it has been since 2007. The “exclusive” front-page news is that Gerry and Kate McCann face “fresh agony” as police searched three wells in Portugal, close to where the suspect in the case lived. We know of their pain through “a family source” who tells of the McCanns’ “prolonged agony” and how they retain “a glimmer of hope” their daughter is alive 13 years after she disappeared. They “cling to hope she’s alive”.
Plus ca change. This is no-news journalism, a scoop that makes Sunday newspaper readers hanker for the days of kiss ‘n’ tell and stories with an end.
The “family source” tells us: “It is a period of prolonged agony. They have still absolutely no idea what evidence police have to suggest Madeleine is dead. They are not being told what police believe happened to her. We feel desperately sorry for them as they’ve endured so much pain and angst for 13 years.”
You can unpack that if you must. The Mirror thinks ‘Our Maddie’ continues to sell papers. The story’s framing tells us nothing. We can wonder why the source is unnamed?; why feelings are the lead news story?; and if making the parents the central plank of the “exclusive” serves no useful purpose other than to give people who continue to eye the innocent McCanns with suspicion something to gossip about and wonder if PR is ever news?
We read:
Clarence Mitchell, a former publicist for Madeleine’s parents, both 52, said: “Kate and Gerry want answers more than anyone. But while the Metropolitan Police are still treating Madeleine’s disappearance as a missing person, rather than a murder inquiry, it gives them a glimmer of hope that she could still be alive. They continue to hope until there is incontrovertible evidence which proves she is dead. They are being kept informed every step of the way.”
And there it is. The hunt for evidence continues. There is no evidence Madeleine McCann is dead. There is no evidence any crime befell her. The Germans say they have “concrete evidence” she was murdered. But the only fact they can prove is that in May 2007 an innocent child vanished. The legalities are that everyone is innocent of any possible crime under proven otherwise.
Posted: 12th, July 2020 | In: Madeleine McCann, News Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
