On Wednesday evening, the LSE hosted an event called, The McCanns and the Media which was attended by the McCann family spokesman, Clarence Mitchell.
During the debate, Mr Mitchell criticised the UK media for their "appalling, lazy, sloppy and negative" coverage of the case. (paraphrase)
In the parallel universe that I have been living in, the UK media has mostly been supportive and sympathetic of the parents, particularly in the first few months after the disappearance of their daughter.
The Special Relationship
Before the arguido situation, the UK media had virtually canonised the parents. They were affectionately known as ‘Kate and Gerry’ rather than ‘the Drs McCann’.When the arguido situation occurred, one BBC news reporter took great pains to explain that the arguido status in Portugal was very different from being declared an official suspect in the UK. As far as I can remember, these explanations didn't occur when the first arguido was named.
When lurid negative reports or insensitive bloodthirsty headlines did appear in the UK press, they were often attributed to the Portuguese media under the guise of reporting the "cruel smears" that were being directed at the family abroad.
I did hear one rare voice of dissent from a TV commentator who was bewildered at the idea that three children under five were left alone in an apartment at night. ("If stupidity was a crime, those parents would be doing life!" he ranted). But that was on an American TV show.
On the other hand, in the UK, many TV presenters have come out in sterling support and have openly said that they have often left their very young children unsupervised when on holiday. Everybody does it, they said.
There was also an article where the parents were admired by the author (who had met them prior to events on the same ill-fated holiday) for not being paranoid overprotective parents.
The case had also affected the world of entertainment. Last May, Coronation Street refilmed and cut out their baby abduction storyline so as not to cause offence. EastEnders followed suit and cut short their own baby abduction storyline. The movie Gone Baby Gone was also not released in the UK so as not to cause offence.
Silence the Plebs
On radio phone-in shows, people with critical views about the parents found it difficult to get on air or were cut off by the interviewer.People who expressed any hostile views about the parents were usually accused of being a disgruntled member of the working class, jealous of their professional success (or good looks), or of being sick, sad obsessives congregating on internet forum boards to wallow in "grief porn" or devise conspiracy theories. Sometimes these critics were banned from posting on message boards. One internet sub-forum about the case has recently been closed down.
This journalist who attended the debate at LSE writes here about his view of the behaviour of some of the critics of the McCanns who also attended the event:
“Their unconcealed bile, their lack of compassion for the McCanns, their sanctimonious statements about the supposed parenting inadequacies of the McCanns, do not stem wholly from poor reporting…
“They were the equivalent of those mobs outside courts in murder trials, deaf to facts, cocooned from reality by their own self-righteous demagoguery.”
Children Without a Voice
Apparently 100,000 children in the UK go missing every year."Many of the children who disappear in Britain end up begging, stealing or in prostitution. Although a large number are found quickly or return home by themselves, some never reappear."
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2429369.html
"Referring to the media focusing on just a handful of missing children cases, [Ross] Miller said the press tended to report on "stranger abductions".
Many families are also too distressed to talk to the media, which results in television and newspapers not covering the disappearance of their children, he added."
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4156/is_20071223/ai_n21172509
Conversely in this case, there has been a massive PR campaign, TV appeals, the eye logo etc., 'fighting funds', extensive news coverage and endless speculation.
But whether it’s been covered from the 'has there really been an abduction?' angle or the 'dignified-doctors-confronting-every-parent's worst-nightmare' angle, the focus of this news story has never really been about the missing child and her ordeal. It has always been about the parents.
Related Link
The McCann Files
