How Newspapers Reported the Story of Madeleine McCann?

The story is about a missing British girl called Madeleine McCann who disappeared in Portugal on 3rd May 2007, whilst on holiday with her parents Kate and Gerry and her twin siblings. She was taken from a ground room bedroom in a villa they were staying in whilst left unsupervised as her parents dined in a restaurant about 120metres away. The story attracted huge media attention worldwide, and was widely covered by British newspapers. Everyday new stories emerged as new evidence was discovered.

All newspapers, tabloids and broadsheets both took different angles as to how they covered the story.

Some newspapers reported her parents killed her whilst others reported eyewitness claiming to have seen the kidnapper. The coverage by tabloids and broadsheets differ. The tabloids take a more direct approach in their coverage. They make more accusations and are more speculative. The headings are considerably larger than those in the broadsheet and are generally shorter and more ‘snappy’. This is due to the fact they target the less educated reader in order to sell their paper.

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Headlines such as ‘Maddie ‘Dumped in the Sea’, ‘Maddie Kidnap: The Proof’ and ‘Did you kill her by accident? show the assumptions and accusations they are making. On the other hand, the broadsheets generally take a more factual, and informative approach. Their headings are generally longer and talk more about evidence. ‘Madeleine Suspect Quizzed for Ten Hours’, ‘Maddie Hair in Car Boot’ and ‘Police Want Answers to 14 Questions’. These headings show the broadsheets providing more detail about the case and speculating less.

The difference in the way broadsheets present this story is that they target more educated readers. The ‘Daily Star’ and the ‘Daily Express’ take a different approach to the story.

This is down to their target audience and the type of newspaper they are. The ‘Daily Star’ is a tabloid aimed at young men who are interested more in sport than news takes a very direct and ‘out there’ approach. The headings generally cover the whole page with little writing. This is because they want people to buy their paper and read the story inside. ‘Maddie police arrest 80 paedos’, ‘I saw man who took Maddie’ and ‘Maddie was not taken by paedo’. These headlines are outgoing like many other tabloids are more speculative than informative and are just aimed at boosting sales rather than giving facts.

On the other hand, the ‘Daily Express’ takes a different approach. The ‘Daily Express’ is aimed at middle aged readers and takes this story more seriously. Its headings usually start with a bold ‘Madeleine’ with her picture and then present their headline. This shows the paper informing their readers of the latest update with her case. The headlines are usually followed by a small paragraph giving details on this update. Their headlines are less speculative and more informative. ‘We’ve let Madeleine Down’ and ‘Madeleine: She IS in Morocco. ’ These headlines show the ‘Daily Express’ giving a more enlightening approach.

In addition, they do not seem to take into account Madeleine’s families feelings as they just make uninformative accusations. ‘Maddie: Who the Daddy? ’ This headline is just causing trouble for the family in this time of distress. It is not something the family would want to think about at this time. There are a number of different headlines made about this story. Their language and style all differ. An early headline reads ‘Let her come home to mummy and daddy’ written by ‘The Sun’ a tabloid. This is a large heading with a huge picture of Madeleine next to it.

This heading is very emotive and pleading as well as sympathetic to her family. It is reaching out to the whole world. The use ‘mummy’ and ‘daddy’ shows the way Madeleine a 3-year-old girl would address her parents which is very childlike. This childlike language plays on the emotions of the public in order for them to help find her. This is a neutral headline as it just aims to help bring home the little girl. The picture of Madeleine reaches out to the public and is making them aware of what she looks like. There is a smaller picture of her parents above the writing, which also plays on the emotions of the public.

It shows the parents standing; crying in despair at the fact their ‘baby’ has been kidnapped. It is very emotive. Another headline written by ‘The Daily Mirror’, ‘We’re not returning without our Madeleine’ shows a very strong defiant message from her parents. It shows they are committed to finding their little girl and will not give up. The fact they are in another country shows how dedicated they are to getting her back. There is picture of her parents walking hand in hand which shows they are being strong and devoted, and are in this together. It shows they will not quit in their search.

The front cover has a smaller picture of Madeleine in a circle, which is used to get her face into the public’s eyes and get them very much aware of her disappearance. A third headline written by the ‘The Daily Express’ makes a bold claim. ‘’Syringe found in Madeleine’s apartment’’. This is a very outgoing claim. It takes up the majority of the front cover. The fact that it mentions a ‘syringe’ being found in Madeleine apartment shows the possibility that she may have been drugged and killed as opposed to being kidnapped and this is picked up by the sub heading which says ‘Parents anger at new claims they drugged her’.

This heading goes against the others as it now makes the case look like a murder than a kidnapping. It now shows her parents in a different light. This is very sensational. The picture of Madeleine again is used to get her face into the public’s eyes and get them very much aware of her disappearance and also with the parents not being there it could mean that it is a false report and may not be true. A fourth headline ‘Maddie: Who’s the daddy? ’ is written by the Daily Star’. It shows the newspapers have now turned against the McCanns as they start to dig around their family background.

It is very outgoing and may be false, but is aimed to change the public opinion of the McCanns. The question is used to imply Gerry may not be her father and shows Kate in a different light. This is a very over exuberant, subjective claim. It comes out of nowhere and at a time of distress for her family. The front page has a small picture of Gerry, which again brings Kate into a bad light as it shows she may have been lying to him this whole time. This headline was probably false but just used to sell the paper. I believe the media has over-exaggerated the story and are not giving the McCann’s fair press.

I think at first the media are sympathetic with the McCann’s as they plead for her safe return. ‘Let her come home to mummy and daddy’. This shows the newspapers appealing to the kidnappers to return her. The press also display her picture heavily at the beginning as they try to get the public aware of her disappearance. However, as the story goes on there are new stories emerging, which don’t seem as if they are based on any evidence. ‘Maddie killed by sleeping pills’, ‘Maddie buried in Spain’ and ‘I saw man who took Maddie’.

This shows the newspapers making new claims about what happened to her and contradicting each other as the first two imply she died and the other says she was kidnapped. These stories seem as if they have just been published to sell the paper, they are not justified and may be false. The paper is just interested in boosting sales. These false stories at this time for the McCann’s are not fair as they are grieving the kidnap of their child. In addition, it seems as if the media turn on the McCann’s unjustifiably as they accuse them of killing Madeleine.

McCanns are lying’ and ‘Parents’ car hid a corpse’ show this as they disagree with the McCann’s story. They are trying to show Kate and Gerry in a bad light and influence the public into turning against them. This is unfair on them especially at this time. It seems as if the newspapers are more interested in sales and are using this sad story to boost sales as opposed to taking into account the family’s feelings and respecting their privacy. I believe the newspapers have used this opportunity to make money and should not make up stories around a very sensitive case.

I think they went over the top and were carried away and didn’t realise they were hurting the McCann’s feelings. In a way, I think they must have influenced the justice system, as everyone would have read the headlines at least, if not read the story and that would have played a part in the way the case was handled. I believe there should be tighter controls on what is allowed to be published as people’s feelings are being hurt and people are being wrongly influenced. Overall, I think there were some very good reporting especially at the beginning of the case when Madeleine’s disappearance was being publicised.

Her disappearance took up the whole front page and her picture dominated all the newspapers to get people aware of her and look out for her. However as the story went on I think the media went over the top and just got carried away. There were several false stories and many contradicted each other, such as one said she was dead and the other said a rich Arab family took her. This was obviously false and unacceptable. I think the media over-exaggerated and tighter controls should be in place to stop this as people are being hurt.