CNN
Fionnuala Sweeney, Emily Chang
Excerpts:
FIONNUALA SWEENEY, CNN ANCHOR:
Hello, I'm Fionnuala Sweeney in London.
Welcome to CNN's INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENTS, where we turn the spotlight on the media.
This week, the parents of missing Madeleine McCann go on a PR offensive. We look at their efforts to control the direction of the story.
... First, the media and the case of missing Madeleine McCann, a story that has dominated countless column mentions and television news bulletin in Portugal and Britain for more than four months. With few details released by authorities, much of the reporting has been based on leaks or speculation. Now the parents of the child have recruited a new family spokesman to help present their side of the story. Emily Chang reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
EMILY CHANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over):
Kate and Gerry McCann follow closely behind their new front man, as he makes his first statement outside their home.
CLARENCE MITCHELL, MCCANN FAMILY SPOKESMAN:
And I feel so strongly that they are the innocent victims of a heinous crime.
CHANG:
This on yet another day when speculation about what happened to Madeleine continues to swirl and media coverage of the case goes round the clock.
(on camera): What do you have to say about speculation that Kate and Gerry are somehow involved in Madeleine's disappearance?
MITCHELL:
It's just not true to suggest that they harmed their daughter. They love their daughter as they love their other twins. And to somehow suggest, even indirectly, that they were responsible for her disappearance or even her death, if you know them, you realize that is just ludicrous.
CHANG:
In his former role as media advisor to the British government, Mitchell spent time with the McCanns in Portugal, just after Madeleine went missing. Sometimes he said up to 14 hours a day.
MITCHELL:
They didn't expect some of the coverage to turn the way it did. And they are relieved to be home now. They - and as a result, they're getting stronger. They - today, they're quite positive in fact. Of course, there's the constant reminder that Madeleine isn't there, but you know, they are dealing with that in their own way.
CHANG:
And Mitchell says they will continue to do everything they can to find Madeleine.
Emily Chang, CNN, in Rovely, England.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SWEENEY:
Debate 12 over how the media has covered the Madeleine McCann story. To assess that, I'm joined in the studio by Rita Jordao, the London correspondent with Portugal's Journal de Noticias and FIC TV and Charlie Beckett, the director of POLIS, the journalism think tank of the London School of Economics.
First of all, Rita, as a Portuguese journalist trying to cover this side of the story in Britain, what has been your experience?
RITA JORDAO, CORRESPONDENT, JORNAL DE NOTICIAS & SIC TV:
I think it's been very hard for British journalists in Portugal. It's been very hard for Portuguese journalists over here because you're Portuguese and because this story has become so big.
It became quite difficult for Portuguese journalists to cover the story and to get information, especially from official sources, even though, I mean, what is an official source in this case, we don't any more. But we do. Now with Clarence Mitchell, things seem to be becoming a little bit easier for journalists. Now we finally have information regularly. And hopefully, we will. And that's - up until now, it's been very difficult, very hard to get any information.
SWEENEY:
Clarence Mitchell, of course, being the person who was appointed initially by the government as the conduit to help the McCanns with their publicity that now actually has resigned his job. And there has been, has there not, Charlie Beckett, a complete distinct change in the coverage of the McCanns in terms of what they're putting forward for their defense through the media since he came on board full time again just a few days ago?
CHARLIE BECKETT, DIRECTOR, POLIS:
Well, I think Clarence is a great appointment all around. He's a very respected and a straight experienced reporter.
So he's going to have the sympathy of the news media in Britain, but also the international media. But I think he's also going to have the respect of the wider public. This is somebody who's trusted so from the McCanns point of view. He's a very good appointment. And it may bring some clarity.
But it's - in a sense, just another part of what has been a whole sort of public relations exercise. I don't mean that in a disparaging way. What I mean is that this has been extraordinary media event from the Day One. And in a sense, quite rightly, the McCanns have attempted to, if you like, use the media and control it so that they don't end up as victims of the media.
SWEENEY:
And how effective has doing that been for them?
BECKETT:
Well, I think it's the old adage. You know, those that live by the media can, if you like, die by the media. It's a very dangerous game to play. But I think from their point of view, they would say, look, they've been as honest as they can be. They've been as accessible as they can be. And they've tried to tell their side of the story. And I think that's all that you can expect from people embroiled in such an appalling situation.
SWEENEY:
Rita Jordao, as a Portuguese journalist, do you feel that the media in your country correctly judged how the story was going and reported how the story was going?
JORDAO:
I think it's been very difficult for the Portuguese media. I mean, even though we're used to dealing with the way the Portuguese police operate in the country, in this case, it's - the story has become international from day one. It's a Sky story from day one. And therefore, the Portuguese police kind of got a bit - the Portuguese press, sorry, kind of got a bit lost amongst this whole story.
I mean, there's no official information. Everybody needs to get something new today, because that's press. And the newspapers want to get, even if it's the small bit of information that the others don't have.
SWEENEY:
But most of the information was coming from leaks in the Portuguese authorities to the Portuguese media. And then, hence, you know, reported in the British media.
JORDAO:
Yes, but when we call sources within the Portuguese police, I don't know exactly what we're talking about. This could be a clean (INAUDIBLE). This could be an accountant that works for the Policia (INAUDIBLE). We don't really know who these sources are. And especially for some of the more tabloids of newspapers.
Do we trust them? I don't know.
SWEENEY:
At the end of the day, it did lead to Madeleine McCann's parents being named formal suspects. And that was always something that was more or less consistently reported in the run-up to that in the Portuguese media.
How do you think the British media have covered this in the very twists and turns, one has noticed changes in temperament and tone?
BECKETT:
Well, I think in defense of the tabloid British press, you could argue that the early criticism of them that they were going over the top on this story was actually wrong. This was an incredible story. There's another criticism of them, which was that they were too pro the McCanns. And also, that they were too hostile to the Portuguese police.
Well, I suspect that they may have been right to have been critical of the Portuguese police, not just because of the investigation, but in terms of the way that this relatively small regional police force was completely unprepared for the way they should or could have handled the British media.
SWEENEY:
Well, there is something about the British media, the pack abroad that's rather frightening for the inexperienced...
BECKETT:
It's not unknowing. We know that by now. Most international authorities should know that by now. And in a sense, the Portuguese press has not been greatly more distinguished than the British tabloids. So it's not just a British disease.
And I think what's interesting is the way - whether the story is part a legal problem the Portuguese police have, but the way that the story has been allowed to spiral out of control, that would never have happened in this country. Big cases like the (INAUDIBLE) cases. So the police have a strategy...
SWEENEY:
Yes.
BECKETT:
...for trying to manage media speculation.
JORDAO:
I think international factor is very important here. And I think there's been a rivalry between the Portuguese press and the British press. And that's what spans a lot of things, because whilst the British press was pointing a finger at the Portuguese police, the Portuguese press was pointing the finger at the McCanns. And therefore, and because that added to the fact that there was no official information, people need to - or the press needs to pick out little beyond little details.
I'll give you the simple example. In Portugal, for instance, the name McCann became almost an obsession. And some Portuguese journalists thought because everybody believed that the McCanns have got a lot of influence in Downing Street somehow.
It kind of became an obsession. We need to find out who these...
SWEENEY:
People.
JORDAO:
...who these people are. We need to find out whether the link is. And there's been so many lies...
SWEENEY:
Yes.
JORDAO:
...printed in the last couple of weeks.
SWEENEY:
I suspect they'll be a lot of doctorates done on this in the future. And indeed, more as time spent by us looking after it in the next few weeks and months as it evolves.
Rita Jordao, Charlie Beckett, thank you both very much indeed.
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