Underwired* - News
Rated • 1 review • crime • underwired.com
OK. This is going to be quite a sensitive post, but I urge you to read it.
Firstly, let me start off by saying that I, like everyone, hope that Madeleine McCann returns home safely.
The issue I have with this story, though, is the disproportionately massive amount of coverage this story is getting. The BBC made it the headline story on its showcase 10 o'clock news story the other day and ran it for 10 minutes of the half hour show. There was NO news on the story.
While I have every sympathy for the family, I'd like to put this into perspective. The McCann family had no idea this was going to happen, but the last 8 days have been a nightmare for them worrying if their child is safe or even alive. Now think of the families of the 160,000 soldiers deployed in Iraq for example. The parents of those soldiers know that any day they could get the call that their son or daughter is coming home in a box. 3,674 of them have died during the war so far, with 54,461 wounded. They live with the fear that the McCanns are experiencing every day.
I personally feel that there are more important things to report on for a third of a flagship national news show than the fact that one single girl is still missing.
Also, do you think the news story would have the emphasis it does if the girl was ugly? I hate to be blunt about it, but when someone first told me about the story, my first reaction was "I bet she's pretty, with blonde hair and blue eyes, right?".
If you really want to do something to help the families of missing children, stop praying and start giving. The National Missing Persons Helpline says that 210,000 missing persons are reported to the police every year in the UK. Around two-thirds are under 18. That's 14,000 missing children a year in the UK, or to put it another way, 38 children A DAY.
Whether you believe that the media are fuelling public interest in this story, or the other way round, I hope I have raised your awareness a little that this family are now getting global support where countless other families around the world are suffering without the comfort that every paper and every news show around the world are helping to find their child.
If you really care about this story, please donate to the National Missing Persons Helpline.
Firstly, let me start off by saying that I, like everyone, hope that Madeleine McCann returns home safely.
The issue I have with this story, though, is the disproportionately massive amount of coverage this story is getting. The BBC made it the headline story on its showcase 10 o'clock news story the other day and ran it for 10 minutes of the half hour show. There was NO news on the story.
While I have every sympathy for the family, I'd like to put this into perspective. The McCann family had no idea this was going to happen, but the last 8 days have been a nightmare for them worrying if their child is safe or even alive. Now think of the families of the 160,000 soldiers deployed in Iraq for example. The parents of those soldiers know that any day they could get the call that their son or daughter is coming home in a box. 3,674 of them have died during the war so far, with 54,461 wounded. They live with the fear that the McCanns are experiencing every day.
I personally feel that there are more important things to report on for a third of a flagship national news show than the fact that one single girl is still missing.
Also, do you think the news story would have the emphasis it does if the girl was ugly? I hate to be blunt about it, but when someone first told me about the story, my first reaction was "I bet she's pretty, with blonde hair and blue eyes, right?".
If you really want to do something to help the families of missing children, stop praying and start giving. The National Missing Persons Helpline says that 210,000 missing persons are reported to the police every year in the UK. Around two-thirds are under 18. That's 14,000 missing children a year in the UK, or to put it another way, 38 children A DAY.
Whether you believe that the media are fuelling public interest in this story, or the other way round, I hope I have raised your awareness a little that this family are now getting global support where countless other families around the world are suffering without the comfort that every paper and every news show around the world are helping to find their child.
If you really care about this story, please donate to the National Missing Persons Helpline.
