Telegraph speedily corrects shocking blunder

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2013/jul/05/madeleinemccann-national-newspapers?CMP=twt_gu

Madeleine McCann - will editors show restraint in reporting new inquiry?

"Scotland Yard asked for media restraint in the coming weeks and months as it began what is being seen as the last chance to learn what happened to Madeleine" - The Guardian, 5 July, 2013

Media restraint and Madeleine McCann? Given the sad history to this sad story, that is surely going to be a big ask.

Today's coverage of the announcement that British police are to open a new investigation into the girl's disappearance illustrated yet again the dilemma for her parents, Kate and Gerry.

Naturally enough, they welcomed the news that a two-year review of the case by the Metropolitan police is to become a full-fledged inquiry. It offers them renewed hope.

But they also have to suffer once again the anguish of newspaper headlines and, especially, the re-publication of those poignant pictures of three-year-old Madeleine, who vanished from their holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in May 2007.

Her face featured on the front pages of five national titles this morning - the Daily Telegraph, Daily Mirror, Daily Express, Daily Star and Metro. And most of the others gave the story big shows on inside pages.

The headlines ranged from the wholly inaccurate "Maddie is still alive" (Star) through the highly speculative "Maddie: arrests in weeks" (Daily Mail) to the much more accurate, if blindingly obvious, "No proof she's dead" (Mirror).

Most of the coverage was measured, properly reflecting that police led by Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood were targeting 38 potential suspects (aka "persons of interest") from five countries, including 12 Britons.

But will the restraint last? Have editors learned the lessons from their former behaviour? They will doubtless recall the libel actions that cost several publishers many thousands of pounds in damages and costs.

They also need to take on board that Kate and Gerry McCann, as leading members of the Hacked Off group, have become much more media-savvy in the last six years. They will not tolerate a re-run of the disgraceful reporting of the past.

============

The Telegraph hasn't got off to a very good start, has it, with one of the worst blunders for a long time.

I am sure everyone will be delighted to know that the Telegraph has now corrected the appalling blunder it made earlier, and Ms Brand's piece now reads:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/10162189/Madeleine-McCanns-mother-Kate-McCann-Dignified-polite-a-fighter-a-true-marvel-of-a-woman.html

Who would be Kate McCann? The kind of pressure, torment and double-edged hope she must live with everyday would surely have crippled most of us by now. To lose a child is bad enough, but to then be made a suspect in that child’s murder, to be exploited and intruded upon by newspapers as detailed in her evidence to the Leveson Inquiry, to deal with hundreds of supposed sightings of her little girl in the months and years that have followed from that fateful night, endless speculation, hopes raised and dashed, and feeling that this will never be resolved.

Quick work by the Telegraph - though it might be an idea to get contributions from comediennes proofread in future.

Stand by for weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth from those who were so eagerly spreading the earlier falsehood all over the internet, in a frenzy of prurient speculation.

Re: what the mcanns have broken up???
Post Not Born Yesterday Today at 20:25

You beat me to it Almost Gothic with your last sentence; the thought of those two's grubby antics has me reaching for the sick bucket.

The article is truly nauseating and sycophantic; nothing new there. The reference to the marriage break-up puzzles me - just a mention in passing as if to something that's old news.

Oh well, no doubt this will be all over the tabloids tomorrow.

Doubt it, as there wasn't a word of truth in it and it has now been corrected.  

Posted by the author:

Katy Brand ‏@KatyFBrand 45s
Sincere apologies for the error in my @Telegraph #mccann piece yesterday. It has now been rectified.

She clearly made a stupid mistake, meant to write, endure false, malicious rumours about.. or similar and stuffed up - is there anyone who HASN'T done similar when posting?

It was very revealing to see which nasty little vultures went into a frenzy of ghoulish excitement, rushing from site to site to spread what they imagined was more pain for the McCann family.

By coincidence, the Telegraph error happened at the same time as various site were offline.

That also set the Gonc fan club off in an orgy of speculation that they were offline on police orders because the McCanns had been arrested      

If trolls-for-Gonc had bothered to READ the holding pages, they would have known the sites were only down for routine maintainance.

But when did the likes of them ever have much interest in reality?

This is an interesting thread:

http://miscarriageofjustice.co/index.php?topic=1909.30

- it's the one started by LOOKAMEEE!!!! when she was scurrying around, imagining she was spreading bad news. 

This is real obsession:



Mind you, fakelily trolled Madeleine's FB page on behalf of Bullsh*t, so what else can you expect?

Katy Brand ‏@KatyFBrand 1h
To those endlessly tweeting me #mccann conspiracy theories and so on all weekend, my next tweet will be the only one on this matter:

Katy Brand ‏@KatyFBrand 4h
The brief ref to #mccann's marriage was based on her own book detailing their difficulties. My wording was poor & confusing & so was edited.

So, the Amaral fan club has been pestering her with their brain dead 'theories' have they? One more person who can't stand them, then. It was glaringly obvious that it was a mistake, but wasn't it fascinating to watch the vultures descend, convinced they had been given another stick to beat Madeleine's family with?

Disgust for the haters must grow by leaps and bounds by the people they bombard with their sick posts.

Interesting piece:

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/the-mccanns-innocent-until-tried-by-the-newspapers-8692535.html

JOAN SMITH

Sunday 7 July 2013
The McCanns: Innocent until tried by the newspapers
As British police swoop in six years on, Kate and Gerry McCann face weeks of press chatter

There is often a moment in old-fashioned detective fiction when someone decides to "call in the Yard". Bumbling local cops are sidelined as worldly-wise detectives arrive from London, spotting missed clues and identifying suspects. Hence the sense of déjà vu I experienced a couple of days ago when there was a "breakthrough" in the Madeleine McCann case. Scotland Yard has launched a new investigation, detectives are supposedly about to "swoop" and arrests could be made "within weeks".
The popular press has always treated this abduction as a completely irresistible mystery. Since she disappeared in Portugal in 2007, Madeleine has been "spotted" I don't know how many times, while one "suspect" after another has been dismissed from the inquiry. There is a difference this time, which is that Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, are being treated with kid gloves. I suspect this has more to do with their successful libel action against Express newspapers, in which they were awarded damages of £550,000, than a sudden outbreak of compassion and decency.

In other respects, the announcement produced the usual round of febrile speculation, despite an attempt by Scotland Yard to manage expectations. All we know for certain is that detectives have identified 38 "persons of interest", including known sex offenders, during a lengthy review of the case. Twelve are UK nationals whom the police believe were in Portugal when Madeleine went missing.

But a "person of interest" is not the same as a prime suspect. Logic dictates that most, if not all, of the 38 will turn out to have nothing to do with the case, while the police have been careful to talk about no more than the "possibility" that Madeleine is alive. The review which preceded the inquiry involved 30,500 documents, material collected by both British and Portuguese police forces and the findings of seven private-detective agencies. The fact that so much material has been amassed without producing hard evidence shows how difficult this case is; vital leads are usually generated within hours of a crime, and detectives are dealing with events that took place six years ago.

I'm sure Kate and Gerry McCann, whom I've met on several occasions, are desperately hoping they will finally discover what happened to their daughter. No one who heard their testimony to the Leveson inquiry could doubt how much they've suffered because of the loss of their child, but I can't help wondering about the timing of the decision. It comes after a dreadful few weeks for the Metropolitan Police, whose reputation seems to become ever more battered with every news bulletin.

Already the McCann inquiry has produced headlines suggesting that Scotland Yard will succeed where their Portuguese colleagues failed, but it's a risky strategy. Meanwhile, the McCanns will have to brace themselves for weeks of speculation – and what could be a big test of the conduct of the popular press after the drubbing it received in the Leveson report.

--------------

On current form, I'm none too sure that the media is capable of behaving itself; it seems Hell-bent on feeding pro-Amaral trolls at present.

the announcement produced the usual round of febrile speculation

Yup, that's Trolls For Gonc summed up perfectly.

 

Re: what the mcanns have broken up???
Post Not Born Yesterday Today

Should she reply to my e-mail sent yesterday, I'll ask her that.....usual forker blah blah blah....

So, not only was the Amaral fan club harrassing the woman on twitter, they were sending her nasty emails as well.

Hope they all get refunds from that Charm School!  

If she was not born yesterday, why does she do those things?  

Judging by the speed with which they jumped on that error you might be forgiven for thinking that they want The McCann marriage to end Now why would they want that?

They want them to be alone and in disagreement with each other.  Feeling miserable.

I guess like they feel?

lily wrote:If she was not born yesterday, why does she do those things?   

Because she was born the day before yesterday  

crazytony wrote:

lily wrote:If she was not born yesterday, why does she do those things?   

Because she was born the day before yesterday  

          

But will she change her forum name? 

We all saw who was rushing from site to site, beside itself with glee as it spread what it imagined was more pain for Madeleine's family, didn't we? True colors showing, and all that.

I see Trolls For Amaral are now occupied abusing Donal McIntyre for writing a piece they don't approve of for an IRISH newspaper.....

Their stupidity is mind blowing. What Donal McIntyre says is almost certainly true, given the odd detail, and yet they won't even consider it.
Or are they so blinded by the hatred of two people that they can never hope to be that they will only ever think badly of them?

Not that it matters what they think. Their reactions are so obviously totally lacking in logic.

The perpetual thoughts of hate must have re-wired their brains.  

Sabot, they're so dumb, they think Dublin is in Britain.    

Have you noticed today's meme from the delusional McCann-haters?

Journos like Donal McIntyre are really sending us secret messages of support, and Andy Redwood is communicating with us by blinking.      

Pathetic, desperate, delusional straw-clutching. But very funny.    

But PeterMac isn't dumb, is he? How did he survive for so long?
I wouldn't half like to know the circumstances under which he retired. He must have a grudge for some reason.

But PeterMac isn't dumb, is he?

It raises questions, Sabot. Remember, he appeared to know nothing about the custody laws of England and Wales.

And who can forget his totally WRONG rant about how poor ickle wickle Bennett was the victim of Mike Gunnill, and how Mr Gunnill was going to be charged with fraud.

He demonstrated that he knew NOTHING about 'test purchasing' laws - it was all in his imagination.

There have been a few incidents like that, when the supposed 'ex policeman' has demonstrated total ignorance of law and police practise. The hounders all lap it up, for some unknown reason.

I suppose with them, it doesn't have to be true, it just has to give them hope.

PeterMac's ignorance of The Law is certainly worrying, Bonny.