Where Art Thou Madeline?

Perhaps, as unkind as it is to point this out, it is worth noting that the McCann’s have effectively been on an extended holiday without work (no doubt on full pay,) for the past few weeks since their daughter Madeline mysteriously disappeared from their holiday hotel room.

Today, a German programme, on which the McCann’s were appealing for help, accused the parents of being part of the plot – a claim which was immediately and profusely denied.

It’s sad to say that this whole kidnapping affair has been completely over the top and grossly out of proportion. The media at large hasn’t had a child or human tragedy story for a while, much in the style of the Soham murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman whose lives were so callously and brutally snuffed out by the monstrous psychopath Ian Huntley. Presented with another chance to raise newspaper sales and increase ratings, the news corporations have engaged in a widespread outpouring of collective grief, with almost non-stop coverage of the latest events.

At the same time, the McCann family seem to have willingly obliged the media’s lust for keeping the bandwagon story rolling by jetting all over the world to appeal for the support and money to keep up the search for their missing daughter, including an audience with his holiness the Pope at the Vatican and numerous appearances on television stations in different European countries.

The loss of a greatly loved child for anyone is a tragic event almost unimaginable, and the grief and anguish the McCann’s must be living with every day unbearable. This makes the, at times, faux anger and sympathy expressed by the newspapers and televised media in this country surrounding this case quite contemptible.

Sad thought this whole sorry saga may be, many hundreds of children go missing in this country every year without so much as a squeak from the media. Unlike Madeline, little effort will be placed into searching for them, and most will never be seen again. That is the real and ongoing tragedy.