Vote totals:
Yes:
0%
No:
0%
Neutral:
100%
DEBATE: THE PERCEIVED LACK OF SYMPATHY ABOUT THE DISAPPEARANCE OF MADELEINE MCCANN IS A RESULT OF MEDIA OVERKILL
THE PERCEIVED LACK OF SYMPATHY ABOUT THE DISAPPEARANCE OF MADELEINE MCCANN IS A RESULT OF MEDIA OVERKILL
The McCanns are used to sell newspapers
According to Kelvin McKenzie, ex-editor of The Sun, having the McCanns on the front page of a newspaper means the paper will sell up to 15,000 more copies. The McCanns are a major cash cow for newspapers and they have been used shamelessly.
Any exploitation has been a two-way street. The McCanns have used the papers to spread their story and the papers have used the McCanns to sell copies. This Faustian pact served their interests for a long while, the problem is that when you do a deal with the devil you tend to lose your soul.
Even if they are used to sell newspapers, the fact that the sales volume increases is because people are interested in the ongoing story. The fact that people are interested does not mean that they regard the McCanns of playing the media and does not mean they are any less sympathetic.
THE PERCEIVED LACK OF SYMPATHY ABOUT THE DISAPPEARANCE OF MADELEINE MCCANN IS A RESULT OF MEDIA OVERKILL
Build them up, knock them down
Editors know that people get bored of one angle of a story. They also know that people love to read salacious gossip about celebrities. They have cultivated a great expertise in building people up and then knocking them down because they know that’s how they get readers. The build-them-up-knock-them-down strategy has been played out to its full with the McCanns, who, let’s remember, have lost their daughter.
The McCanns were sympathetic at first, only a monster would be unmoved by the plight of grieving parents. However, as we’ve learnt more about them they’ve become more unlikeable and doubts have emerged about their own conduct. The media haven’t needed to do any knocking down, the McCanns have shown themselves quite capable of providing enough material to criticise them as it is.
THE PERCEIVED LACK OF SYMPATHY ABOUT THE DISAPPEARANCE OF MADELEINE MCCANN IS A RESULT OF MEDIA OVERKILL
The media have encouraged people to think the worst about them
The media have invented stories, or twisted the facts, to portray the McCanns in an unfavourable light. They’ve had to because that’s how they sell newspapers. This is not a fault of the media alone, we as a society should be ashamed that we’ll buy such trash. But the fact is this trash is appealing, some people have wanted to dislike the McCanns as soon as they got ‘too much’ publicity – whatever that means. It is hard to imagine anyone who could suffer the scrutiny they’ve been through without providing something for the media to beat them with. And shame on us for believing it.
THE PERCEIVED LACK OF SYMPATHY ABOUT THE DISAPPEARANCE OF MADELEINE MCCANN IS A RESULT OF MEDIA OVERKILL
They should not have left their children alone
Plenty of parents leave their children alone, though this case has made it much harder for them to admit doing so. The supposed abandonment of their children simply provides an easy way for people to criticise the McCanns. People, for whatever reason, have decided they don’t like Kate and Gerry. They need something to hang their dislike on and leaving the children alone is the most obvious hook.
Her parents have been complicit in their own downfall. They are the ones who left their three small children alone while they could eat and drink in peace. No good parent would even think about doing such a thing and whilst it in no way excuses the taking of Madeleine it does account for some of the lack of sympathy the public feel towards her parents.
THE PERCEIVED LACK OF SYMPATHY ABOUT THE DISAPPEARANCE OF MADELEINE MCCANN IS A RESULT OF MEDIA OVERKILL
Her parents are milking it
Her parents rightly saw the mass media as the best possible tool for letting the world know about the disappearance of their beloved child. They needed everyone in Portugal, Spain, Morocco and elsewhere to be on the lookout for Madeleine and the press was the most efficient way of getting her face known.
Her parents and their PR machine have created a monster, they’ve clamoured for every bit of press that was going, supposedly to get Madeleine’s face out there but in all likelihood because they like being the centre of attention. Having created this monster it is hardly fair for them to complain when it turns around and bites them.
THE PERCEIVED LACK OF SYMPATHY ABOUT THE DISAPPEARANCE OF MADELEINE MCCANN IS A RESULT OF MEDIA OVERKILL
They are not very likeable
If the McCanns had been chavs or celebrities or black the response to them would have been entirely different. People would have sympathised with them a lot more – or at least felt unable to criticise them. The dislike for the McCanns comes from a perverse middle-class hatred of itself. It has no substance to it, other than made-up complaints that look absurd when written down.
There is something strange and unlikeable about the McCanns. People haven’t lost sympathy for the disappearance of their daughter for any other reason than the McCanns themselves don’t seem to deserve any. Kate is far too aloof and Gerry too professional. They also have a strong whiff of suspicion hanging around them.
