Tabloids Category
The news as told by the UK’s tabloid press – The Sun, Daily Express, Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, Daily Star and News of the World.
Manchester terror fake news: Daily Express and Daily Star spot a gunman in Oldham
Many are dead in the attack on a pop concert in Manchester. What say the reputable news sources?
The Daily Express has news:
The Express’s sister publication, the Daily Star, echoed the chilling news that a second armed man was at large in Manchester. He was outside Oldham hospital waiting to strike.
And then, having spread a fake news story, the Express realised it was utter balls. Having garnered clicks from tragedy, the paper updated its earlier fake news report.
Wily stuff to make it look as though those reports were based on anything factual. The “Town Council deny”, rather than the paper “admits”.
The Express’s scoop appears to have been based on a single Facebook comment.
The paper notes:
Laura Bailey-Wood wrote on Facebook: “DO NOT COME to Oldham Hospital I’m currently inside… Man outside with GUN.”
Oldham Council wrote on Twitter: “We have no information to this effect at all. Please only trust or share official sources of information.”
Over in the Star, the fake news is no less opportunistic. The paper’s story has now been changed to read:
But the paper’s earlier URL still suggests an armed man was at Oldham hospital. Humans get the update but those news bots keep the scoop high on the search engines. The URL contains no word on fakery.
http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/616507/manchester-men-arena-explosion-Oldham-hospital-closed-gun-armed-man-ariana-grande
The rewrite in an exercise is bad journalism. The headline is changed but the paper’s teaser still trills:
OLDHAM hospital was placed on lockdown after a terror attack in Manchester – sparking fears a gunman was on the loose.
Jamie Micklethwaite writes:
Oldham Hospital stopped admitting new patients after it was overwhelmed by casualities [sic] from the blast. The lockdown sent Twitter into panic – with many people reporting gunshots had been heard there.
Twitter into panic – and also Daily Star readers, no doubt. In the panic to get the story rehashed, the paper spots lots of “casualities”, whatever they are. Still, nice shot of Ariana Grande’s cleavage. Twenty-two people never made it home from a pop concert, but it’s all about clicks, right. So go for it. Phwaor!
Micklethwaite continues:
Rumours a gunman was on the loose quickly spread.
See Daily Express and Daily Star.
An Oldham Royal Hospital source confirmed they had been placed on lockdown – but due to the explosions at the MEN.
No gunman was at large.
The gunman was an imaginary figure – but he remains very real to anyone who gets their news from the Daily Express and Daily Star.
Posted: 23rd, May 2017 | In: Key Posts, News, Tabloids | Comment
Pippa Middleton’s wedding tips: be shaggable
When Pippa Middleton married James Matthews reporting was split: he was all money; she was all looks. Stood in the supermarket queue a woman saw me looking at the Hello! magazine cover featuring Pippa and her sister Kate (who she?) and asked: “Which one do you think’s more attractive?”
Pippa Middleton is due to tie the knot to a wealthy financier today in what is expected to be the society event of the year. The Duchess of Cambridge’s younger sister will marry Chelsea-based multi-millionaire James Matthews at a small, private affair with reportedly just 150 people invited.
The Sun:
Being known for your arse make you pretty unthreatening, no, and thus all the more likeable. In the much lampooned Pippa’s Party Tips, the second Middleton gel showed an apparent acceptance of her role as nice but dim, serving up statements of the bleedin’ obvious beneath a stock photo smile.
But what the Press really love about Pippa is that they give the papers a chance to feature their own photos of Prince George and Princess Charlotte.
Posted: 21st, May 2017 | In: Broadsheets, Royal Family, Tabloids | Comment
Transfer balls: James Rodriguez to Manchester United is a dead cert – place your bets!
Transfer Balls: Is James Rodriguez on his way to Manchester United? Is the player not good enough to start for Real Madrid for more than two matches in a row good enough for Manchester United?
On May 16, the Daily Mail said a deal has been agreed. “James Rodriguez ‘agrees’ Manchester United transfer,” said the paper.
Why the Mail saw a need to couch the agreement in inverted commas is odd because the story begins with a statement of fact: “James Rodriguez’s summer move to Manchester United will be confirmed following the Champions League final next month.”
In a second story, this time about Real Madrid replacing Rodriguez with Chelsea’s Eden Hazard, the Mail confirmed the news: “The 25-year-old Madrid signed for £60million in 2014, and who is represented by Jose Mourinho’s agent Jorge Mendes, had agreed terms with Manchester United.”
And then the facts got a little murky. Sky Sports reported on May 15:
“European Paper Talk: Has James Rodriguez played his last game for Real Madrid?”
Dunno. Because Marca then told its readers on May 18:
“After missing the match against Celta, James Rodriguez has recovered from his ankle injury and will be available for Real Madrid’s last LaLiga game against Malaga on Sunday.”
And then in two stories dated May 16 Sky mused:
“European Paper Talk: Real Madrid set James Rodriguez asking price”
“Real Madrid midfielder James Rodriguez offered to Man Utd”
Offered to United? But the deal has been agreed. Or as the Indy puts it:
“Under Zinedine Zidane this season, Rodriguez has not once played more than two consecutive games for Real and United are, quite frankly, not interested in the 25-year-old…”
Football 365 picked up the scent of the betting companies feeding off the rumours.
There is no issue with those headlines, and Sky Sports were hardly alone in running them, but when partner Sky Bet then offers odds on James Rodriguez joining Manchester United, it’s not hard to see how those headlines might persuade the public to part with their money.
Is it news of is it PR for the betting industry?
Says 365:
Fast forward further and most reports on Wednesday morning now say that Rodriguez is not close to a move to Manchester United, that no offer is being made by United and that claims he has agreed personal terms are false. And lo and behold, Sky Bet have opened up their market again to take bets on where Rodriguez ends up next.
Indeed, in a story updated after 6pm on May 18, Sky reports that there are odds on Rodriguez joining Manchester United. Betting is no longer suspended on what has been presented as a dead cert. Quick – get your money on it while you can!
Such are the facts.
Posted: 19th, May 2017 | In: Back pages, Key Posts, manchester united, Sports, Tabloids | Comment (1)
Arsenal balls: Lazy Sanchez is no winner but he’s worth £300,000 a week
More now from the Daily Mirror’s John Cross, the man who told wrote beneath the headline”ARSENE SETS THE DATE” that the Arsenal manager was leaving the club on June 30 2017.
The same John Cross later updated that scoop by writing beneath another Daily Mirror headline “WENGER’S STAYING”.
This week, Cross has once more been talking about Arsenal. The Gunners won 2-0 against Sunderland. Incredibly, Wenger’s under-performing side have a slim chance of qualifying for the Champions League – although given their palsied performances in the competition, fans wold be forgiven for finding that an underwhelming prospect.
Here’s Cross on April 17. He’s talking about Alexis Sanchez, who scored both goals in the Sunderland match:
“They simply have to break the bank to keep him. Without Alexis Sanchez, Arsenal would be completely lost as once again the red-hot Chile forward bailed them out. You need big hearts on nights like these and it was Sanchez who saved Arsenal from disaster.”
Sanchez is possessed of a “street fighter’s desire that really make him special”, says Cross.
Or as he wrote on March 7:
Or as he wrote waaay back on March 31:
“It has been a source of great frustration to Arsene Wenger this season that, despite Sanchez’s histrionics making it look as if he works hard, he actually covers less ground than you think.”
Arsenal should “break the bank” for someone so obviously overrated (unless he’s being “red-hot”).
Posted: 18th, May 2017 | In: Arsenal, Back pages, Sports, Tabloids | Comment
Everything you read about drinking during pregnancy is wrong
Everything you ever read about drinking whilst pregnant is wrong. Prohibition for the pregnant is unfair and unfounded. The Telegraph has news:
Advising women not to drink when pregnant is “sexist” and causes “needless anxiety”, senior academics have said.
Pregnancy charities and researchers have called for a change to the “alarmist” official Government guidelines, which warn expectant mothers to avoid alcohol completely.
They say the policy has no basis in evidence and ends up “stigmatising” women and excluding them from society.
No basis. So the dire warnings are wrong? Like this one which appeared in the Daily Telegraph:
If you want to be truly alarmed you turn to the Daily Mail, which has issued all sorts of dire warnings over drinking and pregnancy.
Just one glass of wine a week while pregnant ‘can harm a baby’s IQ’ – 15 November 2012
Women believe they can drink while pregnant – but one glass of wine could damage your baby for life -19/04/2008
Drinking alcohol while pregnant helps ‘create unruly children’ – 06/11/2007
Women who drink a glass of wine a day during pregnancy affect their child’s growth for nine years – 16/08/2012
And you can always shame someone with a long lens camera shot:
Who else needs a drink?
Posted: 18th, May 2017 | In: Broadsheets, Key Posts, Reviews, Tabloids | Comment
The Sunday Sport: ‘teenage Jeremy Corbyn squashed girl’s pet rabbit with his pogo stick’
The Sunday Sport has news on Jeremy Corbyn. It might not be the current Labour Party leader. It might be a “sex dwarf” look-alike. But someone thinks Jeremy Corbyn “squashed my sister’s bay rabbit with his pogo stick”:
Spotter: @Poshboy97
Posted: 17th, May 2017 | In: Politicians, Strange But True, Tabloids | Comment
Watford balls: insulting Walter Mazzarri in English is easy
On Twitter, Daily Mirror football writer John Cross is having a pop at Watford FC’s Italian manager of the moment Walter Mazzarri, a man he calls “an insult to the Premier League”. How so? Cross explains: “He has been in England for a year and not bothered to learn English. Really poor.”
You’d suppose the internationalist, hyped and gilded Premier League, with its oligarch owners, absurd wages and massive dividends would possess a pretty thick skin and be largely unaffected by one man’s struggles with the English language.
And there was this from February 1 2017:
Walter Mazzarri returns to familiar surroundings as Watford look for Manchester United scalp – Watford boss Mazzarri spent four months immersing himself in English culture
The story appeared in the, er, Daily Mirror. Mazzarri said:
“I know Manchester very well – I used to walk around the city a lot. When I go back, I can’t really call it my home… but almost. For three or four months last year, before I came to Watford, I travelled back and forth between Italy and the UK.
“I stayed in Manchester and I enjoyed it very much – it gave me an understanding of life in Britain because, from a personal perspective, I wanted to understand the culture.
“I chose Manchester because it is not as cosmopolitan as London, which helped me to settle in the environment of life in England faster…
“It would have been completely different if I had lived in London because it is full of Italians and I would have been stopped in the street more often than in Manchester.”
What an insult, eh.
PS – Given the number of foreigners in the Premier League and the power of the Champions’ League, British journalists could learn another language?
The courtroom artist captured only the police
The women accused of being Britain’s “first all-female terror gang” are in the dock at Westminster magistrate’s court. They are all charged with conspiracy to murder. The judge asked both women who appeared in veils that covered their faces to lift their veils. One, says the Mail, lifted hers “for a few seconds”, but the other did not.
What is telling is that the Mail, Express, Star (front page), the Sun and Mirror all feature the court artist’s sketch.
If court is to be a place where getting to the truth is all, should not the accused be encouraged to be at ease, and that includes dressing as they would in accordance with their culture?
Next stop for the ladies is the Old Bailey, where men and women in horsehair wigs and long cover-all black gowns will judge them.
Posted: 12th, May 2017 | In: Reviews, Tabloids | Comment (1)
Madeleine McCann: Yorkshire Ripper IS a bastard and ‘Maddie’ not found in Africa
Today in Tautological Tabloid news we read that Peter Sutcliffe has engaged in a “SICK RIPPER RANT”. Sutcliffe is perhaps better known as the Yorkshire Ripper, a man who in 1981 was convicted of murdering thirteen women and attempting to murder seven others. But what’s “sick” about the mass murderer is what he said about Madeleine McCann.
The story begins:
The Yorkshire Ripper sparked outrage with a sickening slur claiming Madeleine McCann’s parents were involved in her disappearance.
Hanging’s too good for him!
For any reader who gives a shit what the murdering bastard thinks about EastEnders, the price of fossil fuels, Theresa May’s haircut or the disappearance of an innocent child ten years ago, the Sun relays Sutcliffe’s opinions, as shared with a “source” at Frankland Prison:
Sutcliffe – serving life for murdering 13 women – said: “It makes you sick really, keeping it in the limelight. They’ve got a cheek anyway because they made it all up. They were involved. There’s no other explanation. They’ll do anything to try and make money out of a situation.”
What Sutcliffe thinks abut the Sun keeping him in the limelight will doubtless form the substance of another scoop. As for what happened to Madeleine McCann, Sutcliffe’s reported opinions appear based on prejudices, hunches, a murderous hated of women and very possibly psychotic delusions rather than any evidence-based appraisal. The parents are innocent.
To recap: Everyone is innocent. There are no suspects. Indeed, the police have yet to prove what crime if any befell the child. All we know is that a child vanished.
The Sun then adds:
A source said: “He was spouting off to anyone who would listen after Gerry and Kate did the television interview to mark the 10 year anniversary. It was callous and heartless to hear him go on about how the parents were to blame.”
Peter Sutcliffe Sensation! Yorkshire Ripper is ‘callous and heartless’. Says one mum in tonight’s special edition: “He seemed so nice.” Read all about it!
The unnamed source continues:
“It’s awful to hear criticism of them given what they have been through, especially from someone like him.”
Of course, had the killers’ views not been aired in the national Press, the McCanns might well not have heard them.
In other news…
Daily Mail: “Tycoon who flew by £1.5million private jet to Africa to find Madeleine McCann was left ‘shattered’ when tip-off about a lookalike blonde girl proved wrong”
It’s a great shame he didn’t find her. (Is £1.5m expensive for a jet?)
It was revealed last month by the missing youngster’s family spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, that a plane was put on standby after the English-speaking blonde girl was located in Morocco. But, millionaire Brian Kennedy 50, and his son, Patrick, 32, went one step further by actually taking off and flying across the Mediterranean in a bid to identify her.
Patrick tells the Sun: “They were shattered. You can’t even imagine how they must have felt… We realised very quickly it was not Madeleine.”
Clarence Mitchell adds in the Telegraph:
“All the information coming back to us suggested heavily that it could be Madeleine, so much so that an aircraft was put on stand-by, with its engines running, waiting to fly to pick her up. Kate and Gerry sat tight. They had learned by that stage to be sceptical, not to give in to natural hope only for it to be dashed. They preferred to wait until the Moroccan authorities had checked it out. And when they did, it became clear she was not Madeleine.”
Such are the facts.
Posted: 11th, May 2017 | In: Broadsheets, Key Posts, Madeleine McCann, Tabloids | Comment
What the biased Daily Mail said when Theresa May and Ed Miliband tried to fix energy prices
Compare and contras the Daily Mail’s treatment of news that:
a) A Conservative Government will cap energy prices. (May 9, 2017)
b) A Labour Government will cap energy prices (september 25, 2013)
Aside from the identity of the blonde in the Mail’s crosshairs and the top ticker moan about the poor state of modern life, the headlines show how the messenger can be more important than the message.
TODAY: We change our mind on controlling energy prices because it’s now the correct political party proposing it. pic.twitter.com/M6okgzBeop
— The DM Reporter (@DMReporter) May 9, 2017
The Mail is delighted by Theresa May’s move.
April 11, 2017
Liz Gerard has more:
Now read what May’s Cabinet thought of her idea.
Posted: 11th, May 2017 | In: Key Posts, Politicians, Tabloids | Comment
Bias media: Daily Express rejects Crusader Jeremy Corbyn over NHS parking charges
On July 1 2014, the Daily Express launched a “Crusade” against parking charges at NHS hospitals. Readers were urged to sign a petition, which began: “I petition the Prime Minister to step in to end the scandalous cost forced on patients and families when parking at hospital…”
Sarah O’Grady had news:
THE Daily Express has launched a crusade to help the sick, the elderly and hard-pressed families across the country by calling for an end to the disgraceful and unfair practice of sky-high parking charges in hospital car parks.
The campaign thundered on. It was backed by a pretty impressive 97% of Daily Express readers.
Things improved for patients in August 2014 when Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt ordered a relaxation of rules on hospital car parking to ensure seriously ill patients are not penalised.
“Daily Express Crusade victory as ministers get tough on rip-off hospital parking,” cheered the paper, aligning its crusade with political policy. When politicians promise to end the charges they do so because they are on the same side as the Express. The paper reported:
Under new guidelines announced by ministers today, “priority groups” should be allowed to park without charge or at a greatly reduced cost.
They include visitors with relatives who are gravely ill or who have to stay in hospital for an extended period.
People with disabilities, those who make frequent outpatient visits and staff working shifts will also be able to take advantage of the concessions, the Department of Health said.
The announcement is a major victory for the Daily Express crusade to prevent thousands of people up and down the country being ripped off by extortionate charges of up to £4 an hour.
More than 10,000 people have pledged their support via postal coupons or on our website calling for the sky-high parking charges to be abolished or reduced. The Daily Express will continue to press for the guidelines to be adopted by hospital trusts.
But the charges kept on coming.
On December 22 2015, the paper picked up its simple sword of truth and the trusty shield of fair play to slam the “Greedy” hospitals earning up to £3.7m a year each through parking charges. “Their current behaviour is completely at odds with the ethos of the NHS,” it added.
As the BBC notes:
Hospital car parking fees were abolished in Scotland and Wales in 2008, although a small number of hospitals still charge as they remain tied in to contracts with private companies that manage their parking facilities. Fees may be charged in Northern Ireland.
In England, whether to charge fees is a decision for individual trusts, with some making parking free for particular patients, such as cancer patients or those using dialysis, or for parents staying overnight with their children.
Who will end this greed? One man will. It’s Jeremy Corbyn, who will end this “tax on serious illness”. He says:
“Labour will end hospital parking charges, which place an unfair and unnecessary burden on families, patients and NHS staff. Hospital parking charges are a tax on serious illnesses.”
So how does the Express report on this breakthrough, the arrival of a champion to lead their Crusaders into Jerusalem’s free parking zones? It doesn’t. There’s not single a word on it in the paper. You can, however, read about it on the Express‘ website – but you’ll find no word on how Corbyn is part of the paper’s Crusade. In fact, there’s no mention of the Crusade at all. The 97% will be disappointed.
Spotter: Liz Gerard – follow her here and here. And read her on Sub-Scribe.
Posted: 9th, May 2017 | In: Politicians, Tabloids | Comment
Daily Express: Macron win overshadowed by breaking Broccoli news
Having supported UKIP and Marine Le Pen’s Presidential bid (she was backed by former UKIP and Express columnist leader Nigel Farage) – “Good news for the UK’ EU trembles as Marine Le Pen victory would make pound STRONGER” (April 17); “‘It will be GAME OVER’ Le Pen victory will DESTROY European Union’, warns former Italian PM” (March 1); “Marine Le Pen will BREAK DOWN the European Union even if she LOSES, experts claim” (April 23) – how does the Daily Express cover the news that Le Pen lost and Emmanuel Macron won in France?
Answer: with Broccoli.
Posted: 8th, May 2017 | In: Politicians, Tabloids | Comment
Green Left Weekly: ‘British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn has done remarkably well’
Australian publication Green Left Weekly aims to deliver “news and ideas the mainstream media won’t”. For instance, it’s the only paper we can find that says “British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn has done remarkably well since Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May’s April 19 announcement of general elections on June 8.”
Green Left Weekly reported that on May 4. Two days on and the poisonous mainstream media has a different view on Corbyn’s performance.
Spotter: Tim Worstall
Posted: 6th, May 2017 | In: Broadsheets, Politicians, Reviews, Tabloids | Comment
In 2009 the Sun and Sky told Gordon Brown to grab the TV debate or else
Compare and contrast the the Sun’s view on televised leadership debates. Tory leaders Theresa May will not be taking part in one.
April 21 2017:
THERESA May would make mincemeat of Jeremy Corbyn and Tim Farron on TV. She is the only credible option as PM, as would be blindingly obvious to anyone watching. But The Sun doesn’t really care how much or how little TV she does if she thinks her election campaign is better spent touring marginal constituencies. We DO object to self-important broadcasters acting like their debates are a cornerstone of our democracy…
Broadcasters who try to shame the PM by “empty-chairing” her in her absence will be playing with fire. How would that remotely be impartial?
2009 (via Private Eye):
…if Iran and Afghanistan can have TV debates between party leaders, so can we. David Cameron and Nick Clegg are backing a debate before we vote next year. There can be no hiding place for Gordon Brown.
In September 2009, Sky TV launched a petition for a televised leaders’ debate.
We, the undersigned, support the campaign for a leaders’ debate.
Sky News has launched a national campaign calling for a live television debate as part of the General Election, the first of its kind in Britain.
John Ryley, the head of Sky News, has written to the Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Conservative leader David Cameron and Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg to invite them to take part.
He told them faith in politics and politicians has been shaken, and a debate during the forthcoming election campaign would offer a unique opportunity to re-engage disillusioned voters.
“There is a chance here, not just to do something that has never been done, but to energise an electorate, to reconnect with the millions of people who have been alienated by politics and the way it is so often covered, to achieve something that is truly democratic,” Mr Ryley wrote.
Sky News is calling on readers and viewers who support the campaign to sign the online petition here.
This was supported by Sky News’ Adam Boulton telling Sun readers that “the people want it, politics needs it and Gordon Brown should grab the opportunity with both hands.”
Such are the facts.
Madeleine McCann: most of the British Press ignores the 10th anniversary
Ten year ago today Madeleine McCann was reported missing. Today the media marks the unhappy truth that a decade of reporting, fund-raising, investigating and watching has added not a single new fact to the original report: child vanishes. This is a round-up of the anniversary’s reporting. It’s a the usual mixture of speculation, name-calling and gawping.
Daily Mirror (front page): “As the McCanns mark 10 agonising years without their Maddie, how can Portuguese police keep being so vile”
Are feelings of paramount importance when investigating what happened to an innocent child? The Mirror’s front page promises more on pages 13 and 17.
Page 13: We see Madeleine McCann holding tennis balls. She is “THE LOST GIRL”. The headline tells us: “Portuguese cops: Brits’ search for Maddie is a waste of £11m.”
Is that an opinion exclusive to former Portuguese police officer Carlos Anjos, who says the the theory that the child was taken dying a burglary is “absurd”? He states: “Not even a wallet disappeared, no TV disappeared, nothing else disappeared. A child disappeared.”
Is that “vile”? Isn’t it just a statement of fact? Reading on we are told that Kate and Gerry McCann will attend a prayer service in Rothley, Leicestershire. We get to read a “leaked” 2010 Home Office report, which says: “The McCanns acknowledge a distinct lack of trust between all parties.”
We read of “more bile” from another former Portuguese policeman, this time it’s Goncalo Amaral, who appeared on the telly to tell viewers that the child could have been cremated. He says: “Three figures went into the church. They had a box. It is possible the child’s remains were in the box and cremated a well.” Can he prove his theory? Clearly not. But we get to hear Amaral’s opinion, and we are told how to read it. It is “vile”. It is full of “bile”. It is a “snub”. It’s speculation. There’s been a lot of that.
Page 17: “Fresh hell adds to Maddie pain.”
Alison Phillips uses her column to record “another agonising anniversary for the McCann family”. She spots the “slug-like” Amaral. She says the chances that the parents will be reunited with Madeleine are “less likely than ever”. Having told of the parents’ hurt and suffering, Phillips says: “Yet as the family mark 10 agonising years without Maddie today, how can some Portuguese cops be so cruel?” Amaral has been “airing his ludicrous claims about her disappearance.” He’s been on “local” TV in Portugal.
On May 10 2007, the Mirror produced “6 THEORIES” of its own. They were: “PAEDOPHILE GANG”, the “LONE PAEDOPHILE”, the “JEALOUS MOTHER”, Madeleine wandering off and “DROWNED”, the “OPPORTUNIST PAEDOPHILE”, the “CHILDLESS COUPLE”.
They never did get to the burglar theory.
Phillips returns to Amaral’s appearance on the TV, where he was “again pointing the finger at Maddie’s parents”, making “ludicrous claims about her disappearance”. Phillips wonders: “Why the Portuguese broadcasters give him airtime is a total mystery”. For those of you missed the show, the Mirror helpfully transcribes parts of it. Why a British newspaper gives him front-page coverage is a total mystery. Phillips says Anjos and Amaral could do “everyone a favour…by keeping their opinions strictly to themselves.” Even if it does give a columnist one less thing to write about.
She then notes – get his – “…these men know every smear or suggestion will be lapped up and repeated by sickos and saddos on social media.” There are some nasty sods on twitter and Facebook. Perish the thought that the mainstream media would stoop do low as to point the finger and whisper.
Daily Star (front page): “MADDIE: Parents Kept Info From Cops.”
The story begins:
“Madeleine McCann’s parents withheld information from police that had been gathered by private investigators hunting for her, says a Home Office report. The couple believed their treatment by Portuguese police was ‘inhumane’.”
Page 9: “Maddie’s parents did not trust them”
Jerry Lawton writes that the parents “did not truth detectives handling the case after they were declared suspects… Though the couple’s ‘arguido’ status was lifted in 2008 and the case archived as unsolved, the McCanns withheld details unearthed by their private eyes from both them and their local Leicestershire force , the report states.”
Daily Express: nothing. Not a single word is published on the child who has featured on the paper’s cover many times.
Telegraph (page 23): Allison Pearson says it is “miracle” of faith and fortitude that the McCanns are still together. She then embarks on a ‘Maddie & Me’ story:
My own children were small when she was taken and, for a while, my son was obsessed with her. I had to answer endless questions. “No, they didn’t find her yet, sweetheart. Yes, it’s very sad. No, a bad man will not take you. Because Mummy and Daddy will keep you safe, that’s why.”
In the past decade, how many parents have mentally run the “Madeleine safety test” before daring to leave their children even for a moment? It’s no consolation to the McCanns, but that may be her lasting legacy.
The Sun (page 6): “MADDIE BRUSH’S RERURN”
“A hairbrush belonging to Madeleine McCann has been returned to her parents on the tenth anniversary of her disappearance.”
Are the two moments linked, the brush’s return and the anniversary? Surely this isn’t some kind of macabre tribute?
The brush was in the possession of Danie Krugel, a private investigator. It was “handed” to the ex-cop after he offered to help the search for the the child. The McCanns spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, says: “Gerry did give a hairbrush to Mr Krugel at the time to assist in his work. He eventually returned to South Africa and the hairbrush slipped their minds. But they were delighted to get one of Madeleine’s possessions back.”
The paper goes on to refer to Amaral and his “vile suggestion Madeleine’s body had been frozen before being cremated”. Mitchell says the claim is “deeply offensive”.
Daily Mail (Page 31): “McCanns fell out with Portuguese and UK police”
Madeleine McCann’s parents fell out with both the Portuguese and British police investigating her disappearance, a leaked report revealed today. Gerry and Kate McCann’s relationship with detectives became so poor that they refused to share information dug up by their own private investigators.
A Home Office report ordered by then Labour minister Alan Johnson before the 2010 election shows that the couple’s ‘turbulent relationship’ with police led to a breakdown in trust.
It says that the McCann’s felt badly treated by the Portuguese authorities who closed the investigation into Madeleine’s 2007 disappearance.
But when the Met Police came in they then fell out with police in Praia de Luz – and later the McCanns too, the report says.
The Mail says its report is rooted in a Sky News scoop. Over on Sky, alongside a story on – yep – 6 theories on what happened to Madeleine McCann, we read:
The revelations are contained in a report ordered by the then Home Secretary Alan Johnson who wanted to know if it was worth getting Scotland Yard involved after Portuguese officers closed their first investigation. The report said: “It is clear that from the beginning the McCanns felt there was a lack of clarity and communication on the part of the Portuguese police. Despite the involvement of British consular staff, they were, by their own accounts, left for long periods without any updates or communication with the investigators. They state they were taken to the police station on more than one occasion and then left for hours waiting to speak to someone who never materialised.
“They describe this situation as inhumane, with no real consideration for their emotional and physical wellbeing.”
The report, written by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, also said too many UK law enforcement agencies had rushed to help and caused chaos, and that frequent criticism of the Portuguese investigation led to accusations the UK was acting like “a colonial power”.
The report said: “Clearly, the McCanns have had a turbulent relationship with both Portuguese and UK law enforcement. They now openly acknowledge that there is a distinct lack of trust between all parties.”…
The report said: “It is clear that the McCanns and the private investigators working on their behalf have gathered a large amount of information during the course of their enquiries. This information does not appear to have been shared fully with the Leicestershire constabulary or the Portuguese authorities.
“It is imperative that they are encouraged and persuaded to share this information.”
What happened to Madeleine McCann? She vanished. And that’s the sum of the facts.
Posted: 3rd, May 2017 | In: Broadsheets, Madeleine McCann, Tabloids, TV & Radio | Comment
Madeleine McCann: the woman in purple and plum
Only one front page features Madeleine McCann today: the Daily Star leads with “Hunt for woman in purple”.
News is that a”mystery woman in purple was spotted where she vanished 10 years ago”. On Page 6, there’s more. Indeed, Police are “SET TO ‘SWOOP'” on the “prime suspect in Madeleine McCann’s disappearance”.
What do we know of this mysterious woman? Only that she was seen “lurking outside” the McCanns’ holiday apartment 90 minutes before we know the child vanished. Two “witnesses saw her staring at the holiday flat”. Scotland year “believe” they know the woman’s identity. She “could have been involved in the youngster’s disappearance”.
Daily Mirror (Page 5: “A ‘woman in purple’ now Maddie cops’ No1 suspect.”
Big news, then. But the paper says the woman is someone British police are “thought to be searching for”. We hear from Jenni Murat, “whose son Robert Murat was the first arguido… but was formerly cleared of suspicion in 2008”. She’s quoted: “I saw the woman standing on the corner of the street… She caught my eye as she was dressed in purple-plum clothes. It struck me as strange. It’s so unusual for anyone, particularly a woman, to be standing alone on the street in our resort, just watching a building.”
You can read more about how innocent Mr Murat was brought to the police’s attention here. Indeed, the Express mentions it online:
At the time he was living with his elderly mother, Jenny, at their villa, Casa Liliana, only a couple of hundred yards from apartment 5a. In one of the greatest blunders of the case, police arrested him after hearing vague suspicions from a British journalist who was nowhere near Luz at the time Madeleine vanished.
That British journalist worked for the Daily Mirror.
The Mirror quotes a “police insider” who says the woman is not currently resident in Portugal. Police are “ready to move in and arrest the mystery woman”. It is a “hugely significant line of inquiry”.
No other newspaper features the news in it print editions.
Is that because it’s not new news?
In 2015, the Daily Express reported:
Jenny Murat, 78, the mother of wrongly accused Robert Murat, has potentially breakthrough evidence but no one has spoken to her. At 8pm on May 3, 2007, she went to a supermarket and then drove past Apartment 5a and saw a woman hanging around. Her notes from the time say: “There was a woman standing on the corner under a lamp post.
“I don’t remember much of her other than she was of slight build and was wearing a plum coloured jacket. She moved around the lamp post as if trying not to be noticed.”
As she turned into the driveway of her home, Casa Liliana, she was nearly hit by a car going the wrong way. “When I stopped to open the gates I could not see the car but the woman was in the road looking in my direction.”
And in 2009, the Express reported the words of a woman who wished to remain anonymous:
The slim, Portuguese-looking woman in a plum-coloured top and white skirt with long, dark, swept-back hair acted furtively when she was spotted at 8pm on May 3 in 2007 near the Mark Warner Ocean Club complex.
She was standing under a streetlight at a crossroads only 40 feet from where Madeleine was sleeping with her brother Sean and his twin sister Amelie.
Not quite the “New Clue” the Star presents it as, then.
Posted: 2nd, May 2017 | In: Madeleine McCann, Tabloids | Comment
Bear Payne: Cheryl and Liam’s son wears wooden nappies
In a “showbiz exclusive” the Sun leads with news that Cheryl Cole has named her baby…Sophie. No, only joking. It’s Bear Payne, the surname born of the baby’s dad Liam Payne, formerly of One Direction, and the first name inspired by an animal famed for shitting in the woods and time spent “getting to know their baby”.
Happily, Cher and Liam have loads of money to equip each of their bathrooms with a copse, so making Bear feel very much at home and preventing the bairn suffering any undue embarrassment.
Posted: 2nd, May 2017 | In: Celebrities, Tabloids | Comment
Manchester United balls: Zlatan’s farewell party
Nursing an injury that that pretty much ended his career at Manchester United, Zlatan Ibrahimovic is, according to The Sun, planning to take “50 club staff and players out for a ‘thank you’ dinner.”
“The Swedish striker, 35, is paying for the first team, coaches and support staff, including masseurs and groundsmen to join him for the meal.”
As of Q1, 2016, Manchester United PLC employed 837 full-time employees. Making a list of who’s in and who’s out might be more problematic than its worth. Zlatan might be better off going with option b: a gold statue of himself stood in the centre circle.
PS: the restaurant picks itself.
18 Jul 2016 – “Louis van Gaal and wife Truus take one more trip to Wing’s Chinese restaurant in Manchester.”
9 August 2016: “WING WIZARD Paul Pogba toasts record £109m move with Chinese takeaway from famous Wing’s”
17 Feb 2017: “‘LA POGBANCE’ Paul Pogba, brother Florentin and family have a rave in Old Trafford tunnel before heading out to Wings restaurant for dinner in Manchester”
All in the Sun.
Posted: 1st, May 2017 | In: Back pages, manchester united, Sports, Tabloids | Comment
Madeleine McCann: the 10th anniversary brings a routine ‘revelation’
So many words have been written on Madeleine McCann in the 10 years since she vanished from a holiday flat in Portugal – and not one word of it has led to readers knowing what happened to her. All we have is a reporting milestone. And the tabloids are going big on the child who became ‘Our Maddie’.
The Sun gives readers the “definitive case files”. They turn out to be just four pages long, half as long as the preview to Anthony Joshua’s heavyweight boxing match. And they could have been written months ago because in reading them we learn nothing new.
The Express, which has featured the blonde child on its front page many times in a a slot once reserved for blonde Princess Diana, says there is a ‘Prime Suspect’. And the big news is that this person of interest is a woman. Not a man. A woman. It’s an “exclusive” because this might be the first time the paper has couched the story in binary terms.
The Mail opts to play safe and look at the parents. Kate McCann is “brave”. She wears a “brave smile”. She and her husband have been talking to the TV media. Readers gawp. And readers learn nothing new.
The Mirror says Kate McCann “reveals” that she still buys birthday gifts for her missing daughter. It’s sad stuff. But even this fact is not much of a revelation.
The Sun, April 26: “DECADE OF HEARTACHE Madeleine McCann’s parents Kate and Gerry have a pile of unopened presents for their missing daughter in the hope she will return.”
Daily Mail, December 2016: “Kate McCann lays presents in Madeleine’s bedroom as she faces her 10th Christmas without her daughter.”
Daily Express, May 2014: “Kate and Gerry will remember their missing daughter with gifts and a cake as British police press on with plans to dig around the holiday resort where she vanished seven years ago.”
Daily Star, May 2013: “Kate and husband Gerry, 46, yesterday laid presents in their abducted daughter’s bedroom to mark her birthday at their home in Rothley, Leics. ”
The news has become routine. The story remains unfinished.
Posted: 30th, April 2017 | In: Madeleine McCann, Tabloids | Comment
Ex-copper Number 3429 shares this thought on Madeleine McCann and Facebook’s chances of finding her
The Sun has some Madeleine McCann tenth anniversary news. Across two pages, the paper asks “Could Facebook find Madeleine?” It hasn’t found her so far, and the site’s been up and running for a few years now. But it could. Could is the new buzzword in media and police reporting on the investigation. Based on the premise that anything could happen, we’d say ‘yes’, Facebook could find Madeleine McCann. We hope it does.
And while we’re on it, you can get odds on all sort of things that could happen. You could win the lottery – the odds are around 1 in 13,983,816. You just need to buy a ticket and take the plunge. So “retired detective” Mick Neville is the latest to buy his ticket for the ‘Our Maddie’ charabanc for retired coppers – destination: media – and delved into Facebook. He now “believes the site’s cutting edge face recognition software could be the key to finding here”. The detective reckons that if Madeleine McCann is using Facebook to chat to mates and spread fake news about Hillary Clinton, she stands a better chance to being found than if she not on the web. Moreover, if her kidnappers or new parents are posting photos of her.
“If she is still alive – and there is no proof she is not,” says Neville, “then by using a combined tactic of technology and people with advanced facial recognition skills you could potentially find where Madeleine is today.” Yeah. Ten years of thinking went into that. And you can’t knock it for insight, precision and usefulness.
As the Met Police read the Sun and utter a collective ‘DANG!’ – and the press all race to copy the Sun’s story (see above) – we read if a DNA test that “could offer hope to investigators”. Called DNA17, the test “can produce a profile of a suspect from samples once deemed too small to analyse properly”. A “source close to” Kate McCann says the technology “seems to offer them real hope… If the test could be used to help solve the case it seems only sensible that UK and Portuguese police consider having he crime scene samples retested.”
Sounds right. But how new is the test? It’s new – but not breaking-news new. The CPS tells us:
DNA-17 is the term that has been adopted to describe the next generation of DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid) profiling methodologies to be utilised by the National DNA Database (NDNAD).
Currently, samples are profiled using the SGMPlus methodology, but from 24 July 2014, samples will be profiled using a DNA-17 profiling methodology.
News from July 2014 is news in April 2017.
Such are the facts.
Posted: 27th, April 2017 | In: Madeleine McCann, Reviews, Tabloids | Comment
Chelsea captain and the non-celebrity sex tape story
The Daily Star leads with the news “JOHN TERRY IN VILE SEX TAPE”. Bit of tautology there. It’s hard to think of sex with John Terry being anything other than vile. But each to their own – and in the case of married John Terry, who allegedly shagged a team-mate’s girlfriend, a little bit of everything to John. But before you wonder who else features in the Chelsea captain’s sex tape, or if it’s a solo act, the Star says the tapes doesn’t feature John Terry. It;s got nothing to do with him whatsoever. Apparently, what is does show is a “lookalike of his mother”.
Knowing what John Terry’s mum looks like clothed or otherwise, let alone watching a sex film because someone in it reminds you of her, adheres to Rule 34 – “The 34th rule of the Internet, which states that any object, character, or media franchise imaginable has porn associated with it.”
On Pages 6 and 7, Star readers get to see a photo of Sue Terry, identified as “not the woman the X-rated sex video”, and hear from her son, who is quoted: “It’s not her. We will go legally unbelievable hard on anyone suggesting it is her.” As a conniving porn producer cuts the quote and slaps “Unbelievably hard – John Terry” on the video’s cover, we wonder if the Star can create more news from non-celebrity sex tapes, and if Camilla Parker Bowles has quashed rumours about her looking a bit like the star of Debbie Does Dallas.
Posted: 27th, April 2017 | In: Chelsea, Sports, Tabloids | Comment
The Sun invites readers to sit on Kim Kardashian’s arse
The Sun invites its readers to experience the full width of Kim Kardashian’s backside. “How do you measure up to reality beauty’s booty?” asks the paper. You might need to undress and sit on the Sun to gage things fully.
The Sun is not printed on soft, absorbent, three-ply paper and the good people of Liverpool should shower before use (surely a good hose down after – ed).
Posted: 26th, April 2017 | In: Celebrities, Tabloids | Comment
The British Invasion: killer jellyfish are back
Here is is, the first invasion story of the summer – and it’s only April! The Daily Star tells readers of a “DEADLY” jellyfish “set to invade the country”.
This jellyfish – the Portuguese man o’ war – has tentacles “as long as five London buses” (but not quite as long as the queue for one – ed). It’s been “spotted off the coast of Cornwall”. But it hasn’t been. Because in the very next line we hear from a local man who says he saw ten barrel-jelly fish in Port Gaverne Bay. These jellies are “harmless but the sighting have led to fears the more lethal man ‘o war will be following them.”
They don’t so much follow as get blown in.
In 2016, the Daily Star – “Warning issued as KILLER sea creatures wash up on UK beaches” – quoted Dr Peter Richardson, Head of the MCS Biodiversity Programme. He said: “We don’t receive reports of Portuguese Man-of-War every year, but when we do they can turn up in big numbers, usually around about this time of year…With the earlier strandings in Ireland, these recent sightings could herald the arrival of more of the creatures as they get blown in from the Atlantic.”
See also in the Daily Star, wherein killer jellyfish do arrive every year:
July 2016: “Beach TERROR: Killer jellyfish the size of DOGS attacking Britain”
July 2016: “Britain’s heatwave means KILLER jellyfish with 150ft long tentacles heading to UK shores”
August 2016: “Giant killer ‘floating terrors’ to invade UK in Bank Holiday beach terror”
September 2016: “Warning issued as KILLER sea creatures wash up on UK beaches”
October 2016: “Terrified tourists spot DEADLY ‘floating terrors’ on British beach”
December 2016: “Britain under attack: The DEADLIEST animals known to man are on our doorstep… All jellyfish sting to some extent but the sting of the Portuguese Man O’War is lethal….Although not actually a jellyfish the Man O’ War looks and stings like one. There have been increased sightings in the UK in recent years with the tentacled monster emigrating to our waters each summer.”
File under: fishy news.
Madeleine McCann: the Met’s 10th anniversary PR exercise ‘COULD’ be news
Madeleine McCann: 10th anniversary news round-up.
The Daily Mail (front page): “MADDIE POLICE CHASING ‘CRITICAL LEAD'”.
That Madeleine McCann remains front-page news 10 years after her vanishing – and after ten years of no evidence of what happened to her emerging – is remarkable. As for the news, we learn that police are “chasing a critical leader”. How critical? Well, it “could crack the Madeleine McCann case”. So only potentially critical, then.
What of the “mysterious new clues”, then, that “could explain why the three-year-old vanished in May 2007″?
We hear from Mark Rowley, a Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner, who tells us that the “latest lead” is “worth pursuing”. He says: “It could provide an answer, but until we’ve gone though it I won’t know whether we are going to get there or not.”
That’s three “coulds” on the front page alone. So much for the “critical lead”. Rowley says – without irony – “I’m not going to discuss…because it is very much a live investigation”.
The Mirror makes “COULD” part of its front-page lead. It could just as easily says ‘Could Not”.
Millions of pounds invested in the search for answers and still none are forthcoming. Ten years of looking and the Met are in full PR mode. They “don’t want to spoil it by putting titbits of information our publicly,” says Rowley as he chucks a tasty morsel to the Press. Indeed, this isn’t a hunt for alleged VIP sex criminals. There will be no televised raids and no airport arrests. So can Rowley tell us anything? “We don’ have evidence telling us if Madeleine is alive or dead.” says Rowley, “but as a team we are realistic about what we might be dealing with.”
As the Met gets realistic about theories, the Mail moves on to look at the parents. Over pages 4 and 15, we get “10 YEARS OF PAIN”.
Pages 14-15: “Maddie’s bedroom is piled high with a decade of unopened gifts. Kate’s given up work to care or their twins – while Gerry’s now a world-renowned heart doctor. As police reveal a ‘significant’ new line of inquiry… 10 YEARS OF HOPE AND HEARTBREAK”.
What a parent looking after their own children has to do with the case is moot, moreover the husband’s job. But this story always was laced with a middle-class thread. The blonde child. The medical professional parents. The upmarket holiday camp destination. It all overshadows the fact that police only might have a significant new line of enquiry. We don’t know. They don’t know. All we know is that Kate McCann is a “fitness fanatic” who “finds finds comfort in daily work-outs at he gym”; Gerry McCann “was recently praised for saving the life of former footballer Alan Birchenall after he suffered a heart attack and ‘died’ for seven minutes”; and “they have coped in different ways with the tragedy”.
Daily Express (front page): “VITAL NEWS CLUES IN MADDY HUNT.”
No. They could be critical clues. They might not be of any value at all. The Express notes that Operation Grange, the police investigation, has cost £11m.
Page 5: “Yard reveals ‘critical lines of inquiry’ in Maddy case.” It did. And it didn’t. The Met mentioned the leads and then said they were secret.
The paper does have some news, though. We learn that in 2013, “officers identified four people as possible suspects but they have now been ruled out.”
The Telegraph prefers to lead with a question: “Madeleine McCann: Are the police any closer to knowing the truth?” As Betteridge’s law of headlines states: “Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no.”
This is Mark Rowley’s statement in full – delivered to deadline. The Met calls it “AC Mark Rowley reflects on the tenth anniversary of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.” It reads like mixture of school report and therapeutic journey:
As an investigation team we are only too aware of the significance of dates and anniversaries. Whatever the inquiry, we want to get answers for everyone involved.
The disappearance of Madeleine McCann is no different in that respect but of course the circumstances and the huge public interest, make this a unique case for us as police officers to deal with. In a missing child inquiry every day is agony and an anniversary brings this into sharp focus. Our thoughts are with Madeleine’s family at this time – as it is with any family in a missing person’s inquiry – and that drives our commitment to do everything we can for her.
On 3rd May 2017, it will be 10 years since Madeleine vanished from her apartment in Praia Da Luz, a small town on the Algarve. In the immediate hours following her disappearance, an extensive search commenced involving the local police, community and tourists. This led to an investigation that has involved police services across Europe and beyond, experts in many fields, the world’s media and the public, which continues to this day. The image of Madeleine remains instantly recognisable in many countries across the world.
The Met’s dedicated team of four detectives, continues to work closely on the outstanding enquiries along with colleagues of the Portuguese Policia Judiciária. Our relationship with the Policia Judiciária is good. We continue to work together and this is helping us to move forward the investigation.
We don’t have evidence telling us if Madeleine is alive or dead. It is a missing person’s inquiry but as a team we are realistic about what we might be dealing with – especially as months turn to years.
Now is a time we can reflect on an investigation which captured an unprecedented amount of media coverage and interest. The enormity of scale and the complexity of such a case brings along its own challenges, not least learning to work with colleagues who operate under a very different legal system. The inquiry has been, and continues to be helped and supported by many organisations and individuals. We acknowledge the difference these contributions have made to the investigation and would like it known that we appreciate all the support we have and continue to receive.
Since the Met was instructed by the Home Office to review the case in 2011, we have reviewed all the material gathered from multiple sources since 2007. This amounted to over 40,000 documents out of which thousands of enquiries were generated. We continue to receive information on a daily basis, all of which is assessed and actioned for enquiries to be conducted.
We have appealed on four BBC Crimewatch programmes since April 2012. This included an age progression image which resulted in hundreds of calls about alleged sightings of Madeleine; an appeal for the identity of possibly relevant individuals through description or Efit; and information sought relating to suspicious behaviour or offences of burglary. These programmes collectively produced a fantastic response from the public. The thousands of calls and information enabled detectives to progress a number of enquiries. This was in addition to over 3,000 holiday photographs from the public in response to an earlier appeal.
The team has looked at in excess of 600 individuals who were identified as being potentially significant to the disappearance. In 2013 the team identified four individuals they declared to be suspects in the case. This led to interviews at a police station in Faro facilitated by the local Policia Judiciária and the search of a large area of wasteland which is close to Madeleine’s apartment in Praia Da Luz. The enquiries did not find any evidence to further implicate the individuals in the disappearance and so they are no longer subject of further investigation.
We will not comment on other parts of our investigation – it does not help the teams investigating to give a commentary on those aspects. I am pleased to say that our relationship with the Portuguese investigators is better than ever and this is paying dividends in the progress all of us are making.
We are often asked about funding and you can see that we are now a much smaller team. We know we have the funding to look at the focused enquiry we are pursuing.
Of course we always want information and we can’t rule out making new appeals if that is required. However, right now, new appeals or prompts to the public are not in the interest of what we are trying to achieve.
He says publicly.
As detectives, we will always be extremely disappointed when we are unable to provide an explanation of what happened. However the work carried out by Portuguese and Met officers in reviewing material and reopening the investigation has been successful in taking a number of lines of interest to their conclusion. That work has provided important answers.
Answers? But there was only ever one question: what happened to Madeleine McCann?
Right now we are committed to taking the current inquiry as far as we possibly can and we are confident that will happen. Ultimately this, and the previous work, gives all of us the very best chance of getting the answers – although we must, of course, remember that no investigation can guarantee to provide a definitive conclusion.
However the Met, jointly with colleagues from the Policia Judiciária continue the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann with focus and determination.
No progress, then. The Met is looking back – just as it always has done.
Posted: 26th, April 2017 | In: Broadsheets, Key Posts, Madeleine McCann, News, Reviews, Tabloids | Comment
