The Amber Alert system used in the States seems to work quite well, but if the national newspapers just dedicated say one page to missing people every week that could make a huge difference. The “Big Issue” magazine has always had a page featuring missing people.

I was amused at the instant shock horror response in the media when a German reporter recently suggested that the parents may be complicit in the abduction, followed by a sharp intake of breath at the thought of “what if, and then won’t we have all looked really stupid?” Becuase in the vast majority of kidnaps and murders the victim is known to the perpetrator. Not that I am suggesting that is the case here. I fear poor Madeleine was snatched to order.

I was also amused at the parents comments that they were shocked at the extent of the media interest. Really? When you have gone out of your way to generate that interest?

If people offer to help one family of a missing child… or each popular magazine covers one missing child a month or? There should be a number of ways to help with issues instead of doing nothing and depending entirely on the police.

Oh, and if every lawyer would help a family find one missing child!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now that’s an idea.

I wonder at what point journalists and their organisations will back away from the story. Only to then report about again following a; a puplic backlash or b; the 6 month anniversary and or Wembley concert. Sigh.

How long before we have Madeleine the musical with Robert Murat playing the child catcher? Does anyone give any thought to life of his ex-wife and daughter, who although completely innocent have been driven out of their home by the attentions of the press?

Oh and here’s some details of a black kid that has been abducted, which funnily enough you didn’t hear about on the 6 o clock news.

myspace.com/jewelmahaviastrong

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article1865968.ece

then consider whether we should be hiring lawyers to deal with plagarism…

Lets get back to some serious issues such as the many children who die at the hands of the captalist system.

Several alone died in making this nescafe coffee I am drinking.

1) Allegedly the McCanns need to ‘raise awareness’ (in PR-speak) of their daughter’s abduction in countries other than those drinking from the Beeb and the Tabs’ cups - i.e. pretty much everywhere else than here, Canada and suchlike. Seeing the Pope is a big hitter for Catholic countries, Latin countries and the like. The Pope’s a big draw. Lord know who they’ll go to after, however. No pun intended.

2) Blaming the press for keeping this story warm is like shooting fish in a barrel. If you don’t like it, don’t buy it. It’s consumerism in a nutshell. Millions watch BB, read the tabs, Heat, you name it, and then moan about what they write/say. Get real; look in a mirror.

Most people want to read about Madeleine McCann because they will get a semi-subconscious feeling of relief from projecting themselves into the scenario. The press is imho just delivering this wish fulfillment of “thank god that’s not me, I can imagine what it would be like if it were my little girl” when, in fact, they cannot, and do not want to. I’m not saying I agree with how it does it, though.

However, it is sad that Alan Johnston never makes the front page, but the Johnston thing is a related issue - he’s being put in the papers for kind of the same reason.

3) If you think this is bad, wait for the trial.

4) Let’s poke at lawyers, rather than the press, for a change on this one:

a) The McCanns have had some very good, very expensive PR help here, most likely pro bono.
b) It’s working very well, for now.
c) Would they have got this expensive, high quality legal/PR advice if they weren’t your ‘middle-class, good-looking’ people who could see the benefit of it?
d) And, ahem, is pro bono work really as altruistic as lawyers like it to be perceived? Think of the publicity…

5) The reality of compassion fatigue:

I got an forwarded email this morning from a friend, allegedly originally from Phil McCann, with a pic of the girl and message to pass the email on to everyone in my address book to help them reach out beyond the UK press circle.

My first thought was “is this a trojan?” My second was “please not my mailbox!” My third was “wow, if I was a malware writer, this would be the PERFECT cover for a keylogging virus”. Not until I wrote this sentence did I remember fully what this is actually about.

In other words, Geeklawyer’s point is perhaps not one that he realised he was making. Will we all become so inured that we feel nothing when the press do, inevitably, move on?