So for the fourth day in a row a story about Madeleine McCann is on the front page of the Sun. I have asked friend who works on the paper what the motivation here is. Do the journalists really think they are on to something or is it more cynical than that - a simple calculation, perhaps, that putting this unfortunate child on the front page sells more papers. I haven't bought the Sun for years but I have to admit that I'll happily take a good look at the front page at the newsagent's when there's a Madeleine story. The problem is that it must be motivated by cynicism: you only have to read the story (click on the title) to see how thin the whole piece actually is. The headline of 'I sold a choc ice to Madeleine' should really read 'I sold a choc ice to a girl with blonde hair who might have been British and looked pretty unhappy. Oh and she had a weird eye. I think. I hadn't noticed/remembered this until you helpfully suggested that I might have seen that.'
It's stories like this and the fact that the Evening Standard's splash (followed days later by a grovelling apology for making the story up) last week about the Duke of Edinburgh having prostate cancer that make me despair about the press. They spend so much time talking about and believing in their role as a fighters for truth and justice, as exemplified by some very brave reporting from Georgia, only to remind us in the same breath, through trashy and untrue stories, that the only right that newspapers have is to sell newspapers.
Indeed - I have been thinking this for the past few days too. Today the headline says the child bought a chocolate ice cream... Maddie's favourite flavour!
Which young kid's favourite ice cream flavour isn't chocolate?
I do not have the same antipathy towards the McCanns that many have. They are just doing anything they can to keep the story alive to find their child - something which they have been very successful at. Any parent would do the same. But the lengths the papers will go to sell a few extra copies is getting rediculous.
Still, if people buy it, then they can argue they giving the readers what they want. But I do feel the stories are becoming more and more disingenuous with a provoking headline selling a non-story.