McCann spokesman to address Oxford Union on Madeleine media coverage

Published by Jon Land for 24dash.com
in Communities

Friday 6th March 2009 - 8:48am






Kate and Gerry McCann's spokesman will address the Oxford Union tonight
about whether media coverage helped or hindered the search for their
daughter Madeleine.

Clarence Mitchell will discuss the
response to Madeleine's disappearance from her family's holiday
apartment in Praia da Luz, southern Portugal, on May 3 2007 while her
parents dined with friends nearby.

Despite a massive police operation and huge publicity worldwide, she has not been found.

Next week, Mr Mitchell will join Mr McCann to give evidence to MPs about how the media reported on the disappearance,

Mr McCann has been invited to answer questions from the Culture, Media and Sport Committee on Tuesday.

They will be joined by Mr McCann's lawyer Adam Tudor, a partner in libel firm Carter-Ruck.

Their evidence will form part of the committee's inquiry into press standards, privacy and libel.

The MPs are expected to ask Mr McCann, 40, why he and his wife Kate,
41, chose to sue a number of British newspapers for defamation instead
of going through regulatory body the Press Complaints Commission.

In March last year Express Newspapers agreed
to pay the couple £550,000 in libel damages over false allegations that
they were responsible for Madeleine's death.

Mr Mitchell said: "I can confirm that Gerry McCann, myself and Adam
Tudor from Carter-Ruck will all be giving evidence to the Culture,
Media and Sport select committee following an invitation from the
chairman to do so."

On the same day the committee
will also hear evidence from motorsport boss Max Mosley, who last year
won £60,000 in privacy damages against the News of the World over a
story claiming he took part in a "sick Nazi orgy".

Robert Murat, the first
person to be named an "arguido" or formal suspect in Madeleine's
disappearance, took part in a debate about the tabloid press at
Cambridge University last night.

His arguido status was lifted last July when the Portuguese authorities shelved their investigation into the case.

He said his life would be "scarred forever" by "tabloid lies".

He argued in favour of the motion "This House Believes Tabloids Do More
Harm Than Good" during a debate at the Cambridge Union Society.

"Tabloid journalism has done me and those closest to me real harm. It
very nearly destroyed our lives," Mr Murat told the debate.

"And the main reason I'm here is not to express anger or pain, or even
to talk about my vindication. It is that I hold out the hope that
discussions and debates such as this one may, in some way, help prevent
it from destroying the lives of others."

The motion was carried by 233 votes to 33.


http://www.24dash.com/news/Communities/2009-03-06-McCann-spokesman-to-address-Oxford-Union-on-Madeleine-media-coverage

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I think there's pros and cons about having lot of media coverage in a case. To be honest with you i think in this case its been a good thing in more ways than its been a bad thing. Although there have been a lot of lies and and twisted details in all honesty the police made a shambles of the case from the very start so having Madeleine's face pushed into the minds of everyone all over the world as probably been a good thing.Without that then i think madeleine would have an even less chance of being found. If my daughter went missing(god forbid) then i know i would want everyone all over the place t know what she looks like so that if they saw her they wouldn't miss her and she could be found faster...its kind of like the American system...where if a child goes missing they txt everyone's mobiles phones and messages pop up on motorway signs letting people everywhere know what the looks like etc.

I don't think the media have damaged the case where Madeleine is concerned,however i do they think they have done the mccanns no favours with regards to their reputations. They have torn them apart on many occasions and left the public to ponder on sick lies and accusations about them. However in the mean time it has ensured Madeleine's plight and her dear little face as remained in the public eye a lot more frequent than any other missing child ive ever heard about in my entire life...........shes well known to everyone.

it brings me to ask this....................Madeleine cant have gone from this planet she as to be here some where amongst us all........ madeleines face is soooo well known all over the world so why hasn't she been positively sighted somewhere?? Why as she been missed?? especially given she has a distinctive mark that even as she grows will never disappear!

Or has she ??


as for Robert Murat??........i still have a lot of unanswered questions in my mind about him.Back in the earlier days and also more recent days i have read and heard so much...some things from his family or close friends that im pretty unsure about and its going to take me a long time before i change my mind or even contemplate him being anything but having knowledge of something here...someone knows something and with the lies and things about the telephone calls and meetings between him and malinka im terribly uncomfortable about that.....There are also other things that have been said about his pas that have left me feeling quite concerned to be honest.... and it seems to me the inconsistencies in his statements are far more concerning than anything the mccanns have put in their statements. Of course that could all be more media lies and twists on his behalf.But everyone as built an opinion on this case based on what we have been fed by media and news reports.In all honestly poor madeleine is the only one that would be able to tell the real truth of whats happened here.And she will one day. I have faith in that.

Good, the more people talk about sweet Madeleine, the better. Her plight must continue to spread worldwide until she is found, and the same about all missing children worldwide.

Mr. McCann will today, this afternoon, give evidence to MPs about how the media reported about our sweet Madeleine´s abduction.