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?

aloha I was talking only about people I know in real life, not MN

forgive typing 1 handeed

The parents have specifically asked for no publicity - may actually be worried that it might be like the MCCanns.
'In a statement released through the Foreign Office, Margaret's parents asked for some privacy. It said: "You are well aware of the effects that this terrible situation will be having on us as a family. Everybody is trying to help us get our daughter back. We are very grateful for their support and ask the media to please leave us to work with others to try and bring our daughter home safely and quickly."

link here

I think if that girl had been abducted in Praira da Luz there would be the same coverage - certain initially. The press would be camped out the same as they were. She is british after all.

I think yes it's Lagos, Africa, in a dangerous place where kidnappings are quite frequent so it's not so 'shocking'.

Apparently they have now asked for money so I suppose this is positive and a resolution may be in sight.

What is shocking is that apparently 200 people have been kidnapped in similar circumstances in the last 18 months - 20 British this year. I think this is the first time I've heard about it so is a three year old girl therefore more newsworthy than an adult hostage.

The news priorities quite often seem odd to me - Paris Hilton and Victoria Beckham get top billing over all sorts of much more critical stories.

That's not quite correct, Layman. Margaret was kidnapped in Port Harcourt, not Lagos, which is hundreds of miles away.

Marina and others who've spoken kind words about me and mine, thank you. All was sorted out over the 3am phone call and no damage done.

The Nigerian police are very experienced in dealing with these scenarios and I suspect would prefer to deal with this one without the spotlight glare of publicity, especially as one of the most militant groups in the Delta is willing to help find MH. There is also, allegedly, more to MH's kidnapping than meets the eye, involving alleged localised turf wars. No one needs to make donations for ransom money; there is, allegedly, a slush fund in place for just this purpose.

Serenity, we don't have guards go everywhere with us. We use them to go to & from the airport, almost entirely because the traffic jams are so bad vehicles can be sitting ducks for opportunistic robbers. If they sorted out the traffic the problem wouldn't exist.

I don't for one moment defend their activities but I'm not at all sure that the Delta rebels are woman/child rapists & killers or boy soldiers. Women and children are generally well respected here and I haven't heard any stories of that ilk. There are plenty of armed hoodlums in the Delta but the story is a lot more complicated than it appears on the surface.

I knew this nwould be raised as soon as i saw the thread about Margaret.
I think the same as a the people who have said that it's circumstances and the shock factor of Madeleine's dissapearance. Of course for Maraget that doesn't help, but they know who has her and it's not such a 'mystery'

I pray that both children are returned and it hurts my heart to think of any child being so scared.
I know it's daft and i don't know quite how to put it into words but whenever someone gets at the Madeleine publicity i always feel like crying for Madeleine. First she is wrnched from her family and now she seems the subject of such anamosity1

It makes me feel heartbroken to. I hope they find both of these little darlings

I stand corrected suedonim.

good name btw

Angeliz - I feel exactly the same.

confess no time to read entire thread closely but have skimmed. i first heard this story on the radio and had exactly the opposite reaction - i was surprised it was making bulletins at all (kidnappings v common in that part of nigeria). call me cynical but i said to to dh 'i assume she's white then, that's why she's on the news'
'oh yes' he said
i'm sorry to say if both parents had been black nigerians we'd not have heard of it as it is she's pretty high up the news agenda.

Getting teams to africa takes time and is expensive compared to portugal. the bbc is using their reporter in nigeria, itn don't have a local journo so are doing coverage from london (based on what i saw last night). Nigeria is also a difficult place to work, again, compared to portugal.

having said that, it's not the expense stopping crews being sent out to port harcourt, it's the heirarchy of suffering which all news is slaved to, with white middle class children at the top and adults from the developing world at the bottom.
how many bangladeshis have to die before the story gets the same coverage as madeleine? and in what fashion would they have to perish? i dread to think.

But even with the best will in the world the journalists can't cover every single story worldwide - so of course they cover stories that they think are more pertinent to their readers. I don't think colour of skin has anything to do with it, but citizenship does. That is why Margaret is in the news because she is British - not because she is or isn't black, white or mixed race.

I think this has shown the disparity between the two, although we know what has happened to Margaret there is still a question mark over exactly what happened to Madeleine.

I found it disgusting that the first press reports named the dad but refered to the mum as an "Nigerian woman." Like that makes a difference in how we are supposed to relate to her? Are we not supposed to bother because she is a local, not white, not a professional and not able to gear a media circus into frenzy? I wondered if people would be so rabid over Madeleine if she weren't a pretty, blonde white girl from a middle-class background and I think this shows it true.

Margaret's mum is still terrified over her little girl and probably even more so as she knows who has her and what they are like. I feel heart sorry for her, the dad and for little Margaret and Madeleine.

I should add that although I have explained to dts (age 5 1/2) about Madeleine I won't be about Margaret. There is a huge difference between the two in that respect and while we could discuss the Madeleine situation the thought of being kidnapped like that would terrify them. They would never sleep again.

Lots of people could related to the Madeleine story. I expect most of us have headed off to sunny Europe for a two week holiday. I can imagine going to Portugal, in fact I have been there.

But I don't suppose very many of us have ever thought about holidaying in Nigeria or living there, so it's sort of outside peoples bubble IYKWIM. Therefore lots of people simply can't relate to this incident as they could to something on home turf.

Well this is the reason I think that the McCanns story attracted more press coverage than the Hills.

relate, not related

Nothing strange about empathising more with people who are more like us & suffer in circumstances we can imagine ourselves in.

i do think that the coverage of madeleine.....actually do you know...i cannot be arsed to get flamed over what I think about it.

'It's because it's in Africa, not a nice sunny resort.' says expatinscotland, actually there are plenty of lovely sunny resorts in Africa

Naturally I hope the wee girl is found soon but I want to point out that plenty of people choose to live in Africa and its not all doom and gloom.

I think you know what I was implying, cameroon, particularly if you read my other posts on this subject.

I've not seen any news at all all weekend.

Hopefully the kidnappers and negotiators have come to an agreement.

No one was implying it's gloom and doom there.

Just that in the press it gets a bad rap on the whole.

you are right expat, it is often the media's portrayal of Africa as all doom and gloom, Darfur, war, famine etc that fuels people's impressions of Africa.

There doesn't seem to be any more news on the subject today sadly.

on the news just now, they say she has been released - hurrah some good news!

oh that is good news

it's not on the BBC yet but it's breaking news on Sky.

fantastic news.