The press printed a lot of rubbish, and attributed it to 'police sources'. Some have believed them and have even suggested it was Amaral who was the source. In reality there were all kinds of people spreading all kinds of rumours on both sides. Very little that was printed can be believed therefore.
In my opinion the problem you have with that one is that the Amarals of this life are really only tiny cogs in a far larger propaganda machine with many legitimate outlets to be used as and when the occasion arises.
All kinds of people are today still banging the same drum they have been beating since 2007 and disseminating precisely the same or much the same falsehoods of yesteryear and I think one has to wonder exactly what the reason for that might be.
To put it more succinctly … cui bono?.
Is it a steady income for them stemming from their careers as media pundits ... or is there something larger than these little people plying their shoddy trade using a little girls name as their cash cow?
Correio da Manhã TV (CMTV) is acting as a vehicle for the untruths these people have been allowed to circulate for years.
Now complete with embellishments which are even more ridiculous than the original falsification particularly as the truth of many matters have been in the public domain since 2008 when Portugal shelved a missing child case and the files were posted on the internet.
One wonders why is it in someone's corporate interest to apparently make such an effort to keep the flame alive on at the best misunderstanding and at the worst totally made up stories dripping with falsehoods and innuendo.
(CMTV) is owned by Cofina which is a Portuguese media conglomerate established in 1995.
Cofina owns Correio da Manhã and Record newspapers and several magazines, including TV Guia. The company also controls free newspapers Destak and Metro.
Now that ... in my opinion ... really is "controlling" the press and I doubt if any couple of private individual could hold a candle to that machine.
Which all goes to show in some measure what the McCanns have been up against over the years.
Perhaps now that they have the British and the Portuguese police onside under the ever watchful eyes of the world we will eventually find out the who and the why of it all.