Anyone else feel Madeline Mccann story overplayed?

[flack]

Tragic for her family and others who loved her.
I would never blame her parents for efforts they made to keep this in public mind.
The story obviously touched a lot of hearts.
But does it deserve so MUCH attention? In playgroups, schools, cinema, supermarket and street-corner notices a thousand miles away from where she disappeared?

Not trying to get on Sky news, nor am I a heartless b*tch. But I do get upset that so much attention and energy has been devoted to this topic when much worse and more important things are happening in the world.

Even among us parents, surely we should put this in more proportion?

Am I the only one thank thinks like that?

I think the trouble is that the McCanns are running a very very efficient press campaign. As any parent in that situation would want to do. But a press campaign is essentially about manipulating people's feelings and thoughts. And if you get the balance wrong, people start to mind the sense of being manipulated.

Well said and very succinct NKF

To say that she has been snatched by a pedo is as highly speculative as saying she hasn't. I don't care about statistics.
MMC is still in the news because there is a campaign and she's extremely newsworthy.

Agree, no-one know where she's gone, how she left the room etc.

The Mccanns manipulating the media? The other way round surely? What a gift to the British press - a lovely blonde girl, with her lovely parents so happy to talk to them, pose for pictures with their other lovely blonde babies. And the British public loves it - it's the "Ooh Mavis, that could have been me" factor. People who've been on a Mark Warner holiday, or nearly went on one or know someone who went on one, the huge debate about who leaves their children unattended and who doesn't (and those who don't are lambasted for wrapping their children in cotton wool) and everyone has a theory, or knows someone who knows a policeman who does. The poor Maccanns can't step off the media bandwagon if they want to because if they do go back home and try to quietly get on with their lives there will be a huge queue of people waiting to accuse them of heartlessly forgetting their poor lost daughter. They are damned if they do and damned if they don't - damned for leaving her in the first place, damned for for their relentless quest to find out what happened to her and damned if they give up the search. But whatever happens the newspapers get a story - they can't lose.

what surprises me is that there has been no mention that i know of that maddies parents have been contacted by Ben Needam's parents/mum who sadly lost their son in spain 10 years ago.
He was about 4 as i remember and went missing from the yard where he was playing and was never found .
I don't know wether anyone else remembered this case but i'm sure that the mccanns would gain alot of strength from talking to a parent that had such a similar experience.
just a thought

Please forgive me but it was 10 years ago!

well said kerrymum, but i doubt it..parents on holiday..booze not refferring to anyone in particular but i think with some parents on holiday the word relax means forget your responsibilities did anyone see holiday showdown last night?

I would rather see clips of Madeline than another Paris Hilton story

Well said NKF

Agree with NFK. Also would like to add that the Mccanns personally are not manipulating the media, or vice versa. They have a highly successful campaign manager dealing with the press, setting out rules of contact etc. Which is fair enough, they are probably wracked with terrible emotions which would make this very difficult to do.

In reply to original op.......

Are you mad?!

A child has been abducted, been / going through hell!! She is 4 yrs old ffs!

If that was my child, I would want the whole world to know and be aware. Someone has to know something! I would move heaven and hell for my dd. Even if that did mean I was annoying peoples viewing!

I think your the one that doesnt have things in perspective here!!!!

The McCanns, or their publicity people, have asked everyone to participate in their campaign.

If you do that, you have to accept that some people will not want to. Just as not all of us wanted to watch Princess Diana's funeral, or hold a wake for George Best, not all of us want to be recruited to the Find Madeleine campaign.

This is not because we are not horrified by the story. Of course we are. But we would prefer not to take our participation any further, thank you. No more ads, no more school assemblies, no more yellow ribbons, no more emails, and no more old ladies peering into the eyes of young children who happen to be called Madeleine. Because really, what good is it doing?

The reason this case has run and run is because there is no resolution. There is no closure. No body, even. Chances are it will never be resolved and we will never know the truth. I think it may be time for people to accept that they will not solve this case by themselves, that in fact there is nothing they can do, and move on.

Salsmum - Ben Needhams mum has been in contact with the McCanns and there was quite alot of media coverage about it at the time too. Sadly when he was abducted not many people had the internet (did anybody have it? When did we 'get' the internet?)so there wasn't the same level of internatinal coverage I don't think.

If it was my child that had gone missing then I would want to keep it in the public eye as long as possible. Quite ofter in cases like this it is a member of the public who spots something so the longer it is kept in the public eye the better. Have a heart this poor little girl is only 4 and probably wonders what the hell is going on. If anyone is sick of hearing of it then don't go onto web pages with news on it or you can always turn off the tv.

i for one would be perfectly satisfied to see the media coverage of all missing children as frequently as we have heard of the MMC. The campaign and the highlighted media coverage must keep going until someone finds her the poor poor child. I know that if it was my dd that was missing i would do everything i could to ensure everybody never forgot her or what she looked like. And I would not care less for those people who do not want to see or hear about her or those who have children who are distressed by the coverage, selfish i know but ffs a small child is missing and now for far too long. Especially at this time of year when we are setting out on our summer holidays to various places all over the world, the coverage is timely precise. Overplayed? not in the slightest!

to the OP> IAWTC

I agree Haychee, they are willing to air puff stories, they should be replaced with stories about children who are missing. The number of them is staggering

I know people are saying that this story has been overplayed but to all the people who think this....imagine it is your 4 year old missing, with god knows who and god knows where. Would you not be doing the same and trying to keep her face in the public eye incase someone spots her?

I know I would.

I do think this has become more about the parents though and the media are losing sight as to what really matters, that missing child. The supposed media gag, the increasingly bizarre stories, the fact that the McCann's have reportedly put a collection can at the reception desk of the place where she was taken. It all seems to be about this fund and how much money it can gather.

And lets face it, with all that money, what is it nearly £1million, over that? Well, you could hire the best investigators on the planet couldn't you. There just doesn't seem to be much of a search going on, and releasing bloddy balloons in Beirut is just sick. That must be the Lebanese peoples top priority.

I guess the truth will out one day, who knows what happened. The attention should be on that missing girl, every missing girl and boy for that matter. What was the number that UNICEF reported, I think it was 800 children missing in the first week of Madeleine's disappearance, worldwide. The PJ seem to be about to make a move so we will see what they say.

all i can say to the people on here with anything negative to say ...... if it was your child would you want the world and media to give up hope!!! i dont think so and also this family has been blessed with the help of the media in hope of finding their baby! i am disgusted that people can say i am sick of seen her face on ads!! imagine someone saying that about your child!!
i feel so sorry for maddies family and they do not need to be hearing on the news today that parents ..yes PARENTS! are on mumsnet today moaning about seen their MISSING DAUGHTER on cinema screens!
you should be ashamed of yourselves!
from jayne
mum of two beautiful daughters

Er, mummyto2girls, this thread is 6 weeks old, so Maddie's parents are not 'hearing on the news today that parents ..yes PARENTS! are on mumsnet today'.

They aren't. You are dragging up a topic that has been discussed and is now finished. So let it lie.