To be shocked at Sky News' coverage of the excavations in Praia Da Luiz?

[ziggiestardust]

I didn't see a lot of the initial coverage, as I was working abroad in 2007. But the Police are potentially excavating a little girl's body, regardless of the circumstances, and they've got live cameras at the scene, waiting. It's macabre, and it seems like regardless of the fact MM was a tiny little defenceless girl, she's fair game for the media.

I just think it's shitty. Do a quick piece on it, but is there any need for the close ups of the excavation site and a blow by blow account of what's happening?

Her poor family

Well, I'm here debating this because we aren't getting it right here and I don't buy the freedom of the press.is at stake here. This is about commercial transactions and to invoke the end of democracy as a counter argument is about precisely refusing to negotiate the line in this case because of another hypothetical one elsewhere which I'd bet my life does not depend on a million people watching in the hope of glimpsing the buried remains of a little girl who died violently.

THe BBC coverage is not that dissimilar to SKY on this one. Shots of the approximate area, a reporter on the ground and interviews with locals about what they think of the search being conducted just as the holiday season is gearing up.

I very much doubt people want to see any remains.

They want to know what happened.

I would be interested still to know out if you object to the nature of the coverage by this media organisation, or just coverage of the action itself?

I mean 24hr coverage of a media van (or multiple media vans) on site. Reporting, free reporting is A Good Thing. But they could have covered it with a photo of MM, an aerial map of the place they were digging (not live obv, just a Google Map still), and someone in the studio in an even tone, announcing that excavations have begun in a new phase of the operation. Done.

I'm focussing in on Sky as that's the coverage I have seen today.

Thanks ziggie for clarifying.

This kind of live coverage isn't news though, is it? It's entertainment. Sky news is appealing to people who want to be entertained, not informed.

andrew I'm not sneering at Portugal, I'm just saying that it was a political dictatorship in living memory and may still have laws and culture that easily circumvent reporting. Britain does too, but it's subtler.

I happen to think that's a bad thing and that's nothing to do with my job and more to do with me being an ordinary citizen.

I like having people like Jeremy Paxman asking: 'why is this lying bastard lying to me?'

I say again, would you prefer the police to be able to say: 'Move along please.'

Because I don't.

Of all the horrendous things going on around the world they focus on the bones of a tiny child, for the whole day. That's not news or reporting, that is just curtain twitching nosiness.

They are focussing of the resolution of a possible crime. If that involves a body then so be it.

It is in all our interests that crimes are investigated and solved. because that is why we have a social contract that states that some actions are crimes and punishable. Justice must be seen to be done.

limited Understood; not a sneer.

As to Move along please it depends. If it will enable the police to do their job better then yes. It does not depend on whether the person to whom it is said is or is not media.

It's Sky. What do you expect?

I've clicked over to Sky and they are not doing the wall to wall coverage, its just a 2 minute update along with all of the other headlines.

They obviously have a reporter in Portugal but i would think all of the other news outlets have aswell

The difficulty lies in the particular nature of this crime.

Of course it is dreadfully upsetting, and awful to contemplate the reality of what might be buried there.

And I think this is a right and respectful emotional response to the situation.

But I think we have to careful not to conflate that natural and humane response with moving straight to curbing coverage of these things.

If we only covered news that was benign and feel good, then we would have no coverage, no coverage of those poor girls in India, no coverage of the poor women sentenced to death for their choice of religion, or for being raped.

These are knotty and testing issues, but we must know about them.

The possible murder of a child is newsworthy, as is the possible resolution to the mystery.

I agree the nature of the coverage should be respectful and measured. But I utterly believe it should be covered.

Straw man again, limited.

I am objecting to the nature of this coverage, to be clear. Though I am suspicious of our overall news culture, I am not advocating shutting it down. I am very suspicious of its truth claims, my family were miners striking in the 80s. I think it does us harm, endlessly to be saturated in horrid over which we have no agency and from which we can gather nothing apart from how appallingly cruel the world is.

Obvs, I don't have an answer but I agree that democracy can only function in the context of equality of information. But this information in this way?

Yes but all those things you've just named, Madame, have been going on for a long time. It's just that now, there is an appetite for those particular kinds of savagery. Which really tells us all we need to know about the realities of the transparency agenda.

I see the tin foil klaxon has gone off again

I think the point is that this is currently NO information, so restricting it would not be restricting any information.

what does it tell us out?

I mean, is it just me or have we suddenly noticed how very mean countries associated with Islam are to their women when there's an ideological war against Islam? We seemed remarkably unconcerned by the plights of such women when their governments cooperated with Western governments. And isn't there a degree to which that narrative of the women "really" oppressed in Other countries is used to minimise the sexism of our own culture?

Its on again now... Are we talking about the search?

To be honest, the thing I was most shocked by on the bit of coverage I saw (ITN I think) was a local lady complaining about "all this fuss for one little girl" .

She went on to say that a little German boy & three others little boys were also missing, but that their families had "just put posters up on the beach as it should be" .

With regards to this thread, I am also saddened that people are still dragging up every little thing that the McCanns did or did not do on that evening. Often as if they have something new to say that will change everyone's mind - although we have all heard it numerous times before. I could sort of understand people asking those questions at the time - but, now, seven years on? How will it help Madeleine?

Personally, I have never for a moment thought that the McCanns had anything to do with their daughter's disappearance - but if I am wrong & they have been playing a huge game of cover up for seven years (would that even be possible? ) then you can bet your last euro that the police have a pretty good idea about it & justice will be done at some point.

I am split on the news coverage - I think that updates should be given as and when there is something to say - but I don't see the merit of someone being sent to the search area with a microphone, no.

It's Sky. What do you expect?

JonesRipley That says a lot more about you than it does about Sky News.

They have some very good correspondents - I think much better in terms of foreign news than the BBC.

Tim Marshall is an excellent political commentator, particularly in terms of the Middle East.

I'd rate him as the best - better than Frank Marshall - who I really like - and Jeremy Bowen and that ridiculous Widow Twanky act John Simpson.

Alex Marshall is great. I really like Mark Stone in Asia.

There are other domestic news Sky News reporters I rate but sticking with the foreign ones - they're reporting in forrin-land, and very well - what else do you want them to do?

Yes; at the moment it's a 2/3 minute update. The coverage I was referring to earlier was much longer. Possibly it's only showing at peak times?