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

And if they're persuing leads; they obviously think there's a good chance they will find something.
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Not necessarily. It may be to rule out particular line of enquiry.

I do agree amanda. But you do need to be careful not to talk about suspicious behaviour when referencing the parents.

It is a judgmental and perjorative term.

I hope they do find her, if only so the matter is settled once and for all.

There is a huge public interest in the case, which was partly caused by the parents, so the media need to report it.

What I hate is the fact that things would have been so different had she not been pretty and white, with white, well connected, middle class parents.

limited It's also true that The Times remains remarkably un-Murdoch.

But in stories which attract the tabloid readers - those with sex, crime, celebrity, children, or any combination - Murdoch's media will not generally leave the track (dirt-track?) which he has beaten for them.

They must have chosen that area based on evidence as it is holiday season in Portugal so this will be hugely disruptive so must be serious. These areas were searched at the time though so I would have though any disturbed areas would have been obvious so maybe just seeking clues?

Someone asked about numbers of other missing children in the UK: missingkids.co.uk/missing/

This shows children reported missing with some details. A quick glance shows that many of the younger children who are missing are likely to be with family, etc rather than simply vanished without a trace.

noddy - agreed, they must be pretty convinced there is evidence to be found to be undertaking this now.

Apparently two tents have been erected in the area in the last few minutes.

It's silly season. Newspapers have nothing to do, the local police have nothing better to do or maybe an officer has a book to sell or there is a documentary to promote.

I can't believe the shit that people are spouting on this thread. How can people who weren't even involved in the investigation be so sure that the McCanns were responsible for Madeleine's disappearance, when there clearly wasn't enough evidence to charge them with anything? What on earth happened to the concept of people being innocent toll proven guilty?

They have lost a child ffs! The nasty comments say so much more about the people who make them than they do about the case itself. Cold, shitty people without an ounce of empathy in their bodies.

We live quite near the McCanns. I sometimes see Kate and the twins, out and about. She looks haunted. I really feel for them right now, and am so sorry that the media are using the story I'm this sensationalist way.

I don't think they were responsible for her disappearance, but I do think they were very negligent in leaving the children alone in the appartment, the excuse that "everyone does it" is a lame one. Not where I come from they don't.

Jinsei it is the bonkers worldview of the conspiracy theorists who rather than seeing a complete lack of evidence for something (in this case that the McCanns killed and buried their daughter) as evidence of a cover up and a conspiracy of silence amongst the people who were there that night. Anyone who points the fact out there is no credible evidence to support the McCanns killed their daughter or point out how vile it is to make baseless allegations of this type is dismissed as a dupe.

Often when there is no evidence for something, it is just that a lack of evidence, not a massive conspiracy.

I can't link to the letter itself limited, it was an advisory. It is written up in part in this article - but while it quotes from the letter, it does not reproduce it in full and downplays a bit how emphatic it was

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-27300312

Rhine I honestly think that aspect of the story has been done to death, I really do.

I totally agree jinsei all of those who purport to have sympathy with the McCanns loss but in the same sentence suggest they may have had something to do with their daughters disappearance are just .. Well words fail me really. How anyone can look at Kate McCann and not feel empathy for how worn and tortured she looks?
I have also been feeling despair at the girls raped and hung from a tree in India as well as the woman sentenced to death by hanging in Sudan for being a Christian. Maybe I am feeling particularly sensitive at the moment but it is horrific that women have so little value in many parts of the world still. [ sad]

What I don't get is why you sit and watch some ghoulish news coverage which, let's face it, is filling airtime, allowing the media to monitor what's happening, and keeping the knuckle draggers off the streets, slack jawed waiting for 'something to happen'

And then go online to complain about it.

Ziggie has it been done to death? That whole thing has been brushed under the carpet by the media, I can't help but wonder if they'd have gotten the same treatment if they were say, factory workers instead of doctors?....

It might sound harsh, but I've never been able to get my head around how they could leave three toddlers alone in an unlocked room like that?

FFS Rhine, here we go again. Gleeful accusations.

Totally agree with you Junsei.

Rhine def been done to death at the time, and afterwards, ime. In the press, on discussion type programmes, and certainly on social media including MN.

Straw man, limited, means you've set up a false argument to knock down. In this case, your suggestion that either this coverage happens or we live in a world in which the police are hushing it up ( which you suggest in saying the choice is this or the police "saying, move along please, there's nothing to see here"). No one has suggested a blanket ban or police cover ups, just that the coverage of this incident doesn't need to happen in this way. I think invoking the freedom of the press here is a fig leaf for commercial interests. And it isn't a harmless decision, I think we're all injured by the relationship to tragedy that this invites.

Rhine, it has been done to death. What possible outcome would you want from that discussion? What more could be said? They've said themselves they shouldn't have done it. The only reason to keep harping on about it is to hammer parents that must be living in hell. A little girl is missing. Apart from blaming the person that actually did it there's no point hammering the parents. Anyone that thinks the parents had something to do with it are complete and utter idiots.

How is it gleeful to point out what happened? There's no getting around the fact that it was negligent thing to do. I can honestly say hand on heart my parents never, ever left us on our own at night. I can remember going on holidays as a child, my parents taking us out with them at night and us sleeping on the chairs with a coat over us. It was the same for other families I knew as well.

Rhine, what answer do you want? Yes, it was negligent? They know that, we know that, what's the point of going over and over that? What do you want from them? Do you want them on their knees prostrate begging forgiveness from the world? What do you want? Are they not suffering enough?

What is the point of your posts about what a negligent thing it was? All of us to pile in a rip them to shreds? It's been done before although thankfully on MN most are in sympathy with them.

OutsSelf Thank you for the explanation. I don't agree.

If Sky or anyone else is reporting tents and digging then watch it or don't.

What's your problem?