How long should media cover Maddy McCann story?

[craigiep]

I can't recall another such case which has attracted so much publicity for so long without any developments. That's good for the family and friends needing the search to go on, of course. On the other hand, there are plenty of other cases which could do with even a tiny per centage of this attention. It seems the media are reluctant to drop it, perhaps for fear of looking heartless, but each day now their reports get increasingly flimsy and hard to justify. How long do you think they should go on reporting this case without something significant happening?

[Lonnie]

I reckon as long as necessary, but you right about the other cases also, unfortunately, the media is only interested as long as its news, even this story will fde from the front pages in time, re-surface occasionally.

[stokeace]

i hope they find the little girl soon but if this wasnt a middle class family concerned and say an ethnic minority family do you think there would have been such a media frenzy?

[tiggerwoo]

I would like to know how these neglectful parents have managed to whip up all this media attention and keep it going for so long and I don't believe it is helping to find this little girl at all...whoever took her will never dare to give her up now and so what will they do to her.Perhaps all this publicity is helping to deflect from the fact that this would not be happening at all if Jerry and Kate Macann had been proper parents to their young and defenceless children.I think it all comes down to the bad old class division and one rule for the rich and quite another for the poor in our society.And just what is the law of this country going to do with the Macanns when they eventually return home...with or without their little girl....bring them to justice?....let us wait and see....I am not hopeful...

[Lonnie]

Sorry, but I think this continuing knocking of Maddies parents at this time, is doing no good at all,
Yes, they were wrong in leaving their children, but its happened, we should all be behind the efforts to get Maddie back.

No matter what happens now, her mother will, for the rest of her life be blaming herself, rightly or wrongly, its a life sentence, lets leave them alone to concentrate on what has to be done.

[Reverandfunk]

Media coverage is already dying down, on the news I watched on Sunday night there was no mention of her at all. In reality give it another week or so and there will just be sporadic reporting. Its got to saturation point and what else can possibly be reported that hasnt been 100 times already.

[stokeace]

thats right there is absoloutley nothing new coming to light...............

[andy-hughes]

I have made my thoughts on this issue clear on other posts, but I have to reiterate that as sad as this case is, the utter overkill by the media has been sinister in the extreme.

This 'grief lite' attitude where total strangers align themselves with the grief of people they don;t know to the point of national obsession is not only harmful to everyone involved, it is also counter-productive.

If anyone seriously imagines that the kidnappers are going to be walking this little girl around in broad daylight, they just be dreaming - and the constant dessication of everything connected to this incident is proving, and helping nothing.

So, to answer your question - they should not have been so obsessed in the first place, then they would not be faced with the current situation - 'suddenly ... nothing happened ...' which will leave them moving on to other things having solved nothing, and 'reported' an incident to such indecent lengths that anyone who wants to push their emotional inadequancies onto total strangers has had more than enough opportunity to do so.

I hope and pray that the poor child is found safe and well - but turning her into Princess Diana will not make that happen.

[topkapi]

On the news on Friday they stated that over 700, yes seven hundred, children had been reported missing in the three weeks since the young girl disappeared in Portugal. most of them were probably found within hours but many are still missing and yet, if we were asked to name any of them we could all probably only name one. I hope she is found safe and well but she deserves better parents than she has. Why have they not sent the other two children home to family members while they go looking for her? They just seem to be sitting back, being brave and emotional, while everyone else is doing all the hard work. I could slap them both.

[tiggerwoo]

Me too.

[Mhayani]

You say that you cannot recall a case that has attracted such publicity for so long without any developments, but the case of Amanda 'Milly' Dowler was reported for 6 months, from when she disappeared to when her body was found. As was the case of Elizabeth Smart, although this was in the US. She was taken from her room in 2002 and the case was covered for 9 months, until the day she was seen walking with the people who had taken her. In this case the media attention really helped as without it, it is unlikely she would've been found.
There are many other children, as you state, that deserve as much media attention, the problem is is that they are not 'newsworthy' enough. If you haven't noticed the media only portray certain types of children with certain family backgrounds. I'm sure not a lot of you will have heard of Hannah Williams, Daniel Nolan, Adam Morrell, Damien Nettles, to name a few cases that got barely any media attention.
With the case of Maddy it will continue to be reported until there is a conclusion, maybe not with as much coverage as now but there will continue to be reports. This is because people want to know what has happened to her and while there is still a need for this to be answered then the case will continue to be reported within the media.