I am going to get slaughtered for this I know but I think the lack of news/response over the kidnapping of a 3 year old girl shows that ...

[wannaBe]

one child's plight is more important than another in the eyes of some.

She is also three, she is also Brittish, Yes she is currently still alive but there is a threat over her life, but it doesn't seem as relevant somehow.

is it because she's in a country most wouldn't travel to?

because she was taken by rebels and not paedophiles?

Maybe people were too busy posting on the other thread about how Madeleine was being thrust in people's faces so much and didnt have the time to post about another poor little girl and her family

ITV ahd it as their top story, the news preview bit at the start

so it is gettting coverage

and its not as if the public can help find her sadly, they know pretty much whats going on

The two cases do have similarities, young british girl abducted etc, but no one knows who had/has madeleine. Madeleines case is a freak situation whereas apparently kidnapping in nigeria is common place. We dont know why someone has taken madeleine, but we do know why maragret hill has been kidnapped. Both stories are tragic admitted but there is no need for the same height of publicity because there is no need for anyone to be looking out for margaret.
I continue to hope for the safe return of them both, god only knows what they are going through. I wonder how either of the families will be able to resocialise these poor dc after such a traumatic experience. It truly makes my heart bleed.

The concept that both children 'deserve' the same media coverage is very odd and misconceived IMO.
Media coverage isn't a reward for virtue. Of course this is a horrible event, and of course I feel for a little girl who must be absolutely terrified and traumatised, not to mention her parents, but there are lots of reasons why the coverage is different
a this happened in a highly dangerous part of Nigeria to a child who lives in Nigeria
not on a peaceful holiday resort to a child who lives in England
b There is no mystery as to what happened or where the girl might be
c getting her back will be as the result of skilled negotiation and payment of a ransom. Apparently oil companies out there have specialists in this because it is so common
She is likely to be released on payment of the ransom.

They don't need or want publicity to get her back though. They have kidnap specialists already working on it & they have made contact with the rebels.

Did the report say if they had the ransom money in place?, from the company perhaps?
I would agree that if they needed it from the public it would be a different matter.

According to the news, these oil cpmpanies take out ransom insurance, its that common

Thanks I just thought of that, the company probably has kidnap insurance.

The Nigerian government have nearly always paid any ransom demands in these kinds of situations - so the family are unlikely to have to find the money themselves.

Also the money people put up for MMC was for information to help to find her or the people/person who took her...it isn't for a ransom.

I agree all missing children cases should be treated with the same urgency and importance - but why don't we look at the McCann case and say ' lets do more of that in future' instead of 'nobody else is making a fuss like them'. The wrong is what isn't being done in other cases not what is being done in MMC case.

Personally both cases distress me horribly.

Except this case doesn't need publicity at all. and the element that are a huge part of the McCann stories just aren't present - eg we know what happened and who took her. No naming of new suspects, no new lines of inquiry, no mystery.

Yes, lets get JK Rowling, Richard Branson and the England Football squad to rack up a few million to pay for the ransom of this little girl. Great Idea. Then we can watch and discuss as hundreds of other small, western children are kidnapped all over the world in order to line the pockets of scores of evil b**tards.

Apprently the last child that was kidnapped- the ransom money only amounted to £51,000.

Im sure someone, somewhere would dig deep for what seems such a pittance against a childs life.

See my issue isn?t so much about the media coverage of this case, as stated below it?s a totally different case and therefore the coverage would be different anyway. The way I see it though is that people seem to feel that they don?t need to be so aware of this particular case because it could never happen to them, kind of a ?well it?s in another country so if I don?t know about it then it doesn?t happen? mentality. When Madeleine Mccann went missing people were talking about it everywhere, on here, on the tv/radio, people were emailing the news channels etc etc, even before people thought she might have been abducted. And yet when someone posted on here last night that a child had been kidnapped at gunpoint, the response was minimal to say the least.

I understand that the media coverage might need to be less, although the Mccanns were advised not to accept a reward and not to run a campaign/go for increased publicity because of fears for Madeleine?s safety, but it seems they didn?t care about that advice and went ahead anyway.

Isn't it understandable then that 'It wouldn't happen to me' means that you have less fear about it and may take less of an interest. Road safety campaigns worry me more than stop-smoking ads because I am a driver and not a smoker. I see what you are saying but surely that is a natural response.

The McCanns were actually told that the best chance of getting her back was to keep publicity high.

Which is what they are doing & who can blame them.

that's not what I read tazmosis, I read that the police thought the intense media coverage had possibly prevented anyone holding Madeleine from giving her back.

Loobyloo I do take your point, but reality is that the majority of people reading about the Mccanns could be just as certain that it could never happen to them as in this case. i am certain my child could never be abducted in those particular circumstances because I would never leave my child unattended in an apartment while I went for dinner, a view shared by the majority of the Brittish public. So I'm wondering if the response to MMc's disappearance was based more on shock "how could they" than "it could just as easily be me".

Fair enough point Wannabe, however personally I would say that, whilst I would not leave my three year old daughter alone in the same circumstances, the McCanns made a mistake and the unimaginable happened. Even though you know it is unlikely to happen to you, whereas the likelihood of my daughter being taken hostage by Nigerian gunmen is considerably less.

It is like the story of the woman who left her baby in the car in hot weather all day because she forgot and thought she had dropped him off at nursery. That story had me freaked out for days thinking god, anyone could do that under stress etc, when really it is beyond unlikely.

There are lots of conflicting stories I know. The thing I read was badged as an interview with the McC's and it said that that the guy that the FO put in was an ex media bod and he told them to up the publicity and the police backed that view. That was in a broadsheet - not that that a guarantee of accuracy of course...

I know the guy doing their publicity, he is indeed a former tv news reporter who I believe specialised in crime reporting.

Also, on the subject of this being given a lower priority in news coverage compared to MMc or indeed other current news stories.... I can't really comment on the difference on reporting the MMc abduction and Margaret Hill, however I do think there are fundamental differences between the cases. However, I think that this week there have been news stories that affect and could potentially affect a far greater number of people and this may be the reason why they are given a higher news priority. It is tragic when a child is abducted, but the threat of another terror attack in my mind is of a greater significance to so many more people. So too in the case of the flooding last week. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think that's why the kidnapping of Margaret Hill hasn't yet had the focus the abduction of Madeleine McCann.

Of course we are more interested in things closer to home. That's why the local paper isn't full of old ladies having their handbags stolen in Idaho or Bonn. It is natural to care more for people you identify with or feel you know. And we haven't even seen a picture of this child, which makes a huge difference.
Even mice show more distress at seeing a mouse they know in pain than a strange mouse.
You are galvanised by your own office gossip, but left completely cold by someone else's. If your mum's boiler exploded blowing out her windows and frightening the cat, you'd be interested (a bit) and sympathetic but if it happened to Mr A Sams of 35 Norwood Road, you would be totally indifferent.
I'm not belittling this little girl's suffering not at all. it is awful and very sad and I hope she is released very soon.

Surely this is because there is nothing they can ask the general public to do?

Agree 100% with OP and Expat. As a black person I know that the lives of my children have less currency with many in this country than those with blond hair and blue eyes.

I remember many years ago when a little black girl (I think her name was Leonie) was kidnapped and later found raped and murdered. It happened soon after a white girl had been kidnapped and murdered. Guess what? The black girl's story made about page 7 of the newspaper and only warranted a tiny column unlike the white girl that was front page news for days.

I also remember in Birmingham when they were seeking the rapist of a 15yo girl. The local paper wrote in the last paragaph, "The girl, who was not a virgin, was black". That absolutely disgusted me and is one of the reasons why I do not buy newspapers.

That newspaper comment is beyond comprehension, how shameful. I don't believe though that there is less coverage of Margaret Hill's abduction is because she is black I think it is just entirely different circumstances. The question is if Madeleine had been anything other than blonde, pretty and blue eyed would there have been a difference? If it had been a boy I wonder if it would be different.