“howling blood-thirsty British tabloid journalists”
The British media has become so frantic in their coverage of the Madeleine McCann story that they have spawned a Portuguese website devoted to correcting their excesses. Paulo Reis is furious at the allegations that the Portuguese police have been lazy or incompetent. He describes the UK media in the Alagarve and Sky’s Martin Brunt in particular as
“howling blood-thirsty British tabloid journalists, willing to kill – or let someone be killed – to have a story. That’s ok with me, as you keep this low form of life inside your country and don’t export it to Portugal.”
More from Paulo anon, I hope.
May 15th, 2007 at 1:22 pm
[...] Charlie Beckett: “howling blood-thirsty British tabloid journalists” “The British media has become so frantic in their coverage of the Madeleine McCann story that they have spawned a Portuguese website devoted to correcting their excesses.” (tags: journalism portugal) [...]
May 18th, 2007 at 12:24 pm
[...] I have already pointed out that the British media has gone overboard on the story of Madeleine McCann, to the extent that a Portuguese journalist has set up a website to monitor the UK press activity. Now Simon Jenkins has laid in to the ‘prurient and tedious’ coverage. But he makes [...]
May 20th, 2007 at 8:58 pm
As an ex-pat in Greece I have been following the way this story has been developing in the UK – it looks from here like you are really having another Diana moment. Videos at the F.A. Cup Final? Appeal funds raising money that could innoculate hundreds of thousands of children in Africa yet will do nothing to help find the girl in question? It all looks very odd from over here – hasn’t made the news in Greece at all.
May 25th, 2007 at 11:38 am
[...] We should all welcome the fact that the Government’s top lawyer is considering action to reduce the misinformation and contempt surrounding high-profile arrests. As I have written before, there is too much leaking and secrecy around terror arrests, in particular. And the 24/7 media culture is also eroding respect for the spirit of contempt laws in respect of other alleged crimes, too, as we have just seen with events in Portugal. The Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith is more famous for his advice over the legality of the Iraq War and his intervention in the BA ‘bribes’ inquiry. But here he seems to be suggesting sensible steps to greater openess. In other words, if the authorities are more open and on the record about the nature of ‘terror’ operations then the speculation may be diminished. This is, of course, the [...]
September 10th, 2007 at 9:53 pm
[...] There is now a wave of media commentary condemning journalists for their treatment of the Madeleine McCann story: but could the tabloids be right? Roy Greenslade, a former tabloid editor, seems to share the distaste expressed by people like Jenny McCartney in the Telegraph and Max Hastings (a former tabloid editor at the Standard) who writes in The Guardian about his ’shame’ at the way his former colleagues have covered the story of the disappearance of this young girl while on holiday in Portugal. I warned at the beginning of this story that things could turn nasty when the British media pack are at play abroad. I pointed out a Portugese website devoted to UK media excesses. But I think that Simon Jenkins was more right than he realised when he wrote approvingly of the need for a ravenous media beast. [...]