Have the Press behaved honourably in the Madeleine case?

[Lyall]

Crimewatch would likely have been a hindrance to good relations SH since the Met has no right to conduct investigation inside Portugal yet that is effectively what they were doing with the content of that TV broadcast. You can't blame the papers for that. Nor can you for the Mail article of January 3rd imo: that was the Met speaking.

The press have spun since, we all know that but all articles carry a quote and that quote never says can you guys pack this speculation in please. Nor do the police say it. So you can't blame people for thinking what they do, that people aren't too concerned about the papers exaggerating.

[Sherlock Holmes]

Crimewatch would likely have been a hindrance to good relations SH since the Met has no right to conduct investigation inside Portugal yet that is effectively what they were doing with the content of that TV broadcast. You can't blame the papers for that. Nor can you for the Mail article of January 3rd imo: that was the Met speaking.

The press have spun since, we all know that but all articles carry a quote and that quote never says can you guys pack this speculation in please. Nor do the police say it. So you can't blame people for thinking what they do, that people aren't too concerned about the papers exaggerating.

Point taken about the right of SY to investigate, but the bottom line is that if Portugal wants to thwart British investigation on the ground in Portugal they have every right and means to do so. And if crimewatch was going to be any kind of hindrance, that presumably would have been factored in when SY decided to take part in the program. SY presumably felt  on balance that the program should be done.

Let's cosider a scenario in which members of the public respond to Crimewatch with positive information for police, which is then followed up in Portugal by the PJ leading to a 'resolution' in the investigation. Everyone is happy. SY have played their part, and the PJ still have the oficial honour of wrapping things up. No diplomatic problems there. And remember that Crimewatch (or equivalent) was broadcast all over Europe, so citizens of various nations could potentially assist police - presumably, at the first instance, in their own countries. This case is not just a matter of Portugal vs the British.

Regarding the press, of course they are not going to suggest that police find their articles unhelpful. But the question remains :

What, specifically, do the McCanns have to gain - especially at this stage of the investigation when much of the preliminary reviewing of material still remains to be done -  by creating police tension and an international rift?

Can anyone answer that?

[Silkywhiskers]

Point taken about the right of SY to investigate, but the bottom line is that if Portugal wants to thwart British investigation on the ground in Portugal they have every right and means to do so. And if crimewatch was going to be any kind of hindrance, that presumably would have been factored in when SY decided to take part in the program. SY presumably felt  on balance that the program should be done.

Let's cosider a scenario in which members of the public respond to Crimewatch with positive information for police, which is then followed up in Portugal by the PJ leading to a 'resolution' in the investigation. Everyone is happy. SY have played their part, and the PJ still have the oficial honour of wrapping things up. No diplomatic problems there. And remember that Crimewatch (or equivalent) was broadcast all over Europe, so citizens of various nations could potentially assist police - presumably, at the first instance, in their own countries. This case is not just a matter of Portugal vs the British.

Regarding the press, of course they are not going to suggest that police find their articles unhelpful. But the question remains :

What, specifically, do the McCanns have to gain - especially at this stage of the investigation when much of the preliminary reviewing of material still remains to be done -  by creating police tension and an international rift?

Can anyone answer that?

Divide and Conquer.

Anyway I don't believe what the press are printing any more.

They are either making it up as they go along, or are being purposely leaked distracting stories.

Probably both.

I think SY and the PJ are in perfect harmony now.

[Mr Gray]

Divide and Conquer.

Anyway I don't believe what the press are printing any more.

They are either making it up as they go along, or are being purposely leaked distracting stories.

Probably both.

I think SY and the PJ are in perfect harmony now.

they have been making things up since day one...thats why they were sued for libel...problem is many believed the early stories

[Cariad]

To anyone claiming that the McCanns / Clarence Mitchell / Whoever it may be have some kind of hand in all the ludicrous tabloid articles that we have seen recently, the question has to be posed as to how such activity could possibly be of benefit to the McCanns or to any investigation.

Indeed almost the opposite is being revealed to be true - as if it weren't obvious through common sense already - namely that having the UK press effectively conducting their own parallel investigation is not only a distraction to the official investigation (s), but a hindrance.

A spokesman for the Mccanns was named as the source of a story by the Guardian.

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jan/13/madeleine-mccann-british-police-arrests-portugal

It's unambiguous and no retraction has been made.

[a.baker]

Is it a coincidence that all these stories have been in the press whilst the McCann's are waiting on a decision on the libel case. I don't think so.
 
 

[VIXTE]

Madeleine case: PJ investigators ‘hit back’ at British press
http://portugalresident.com/madeleine-case-pj-investigators-%E2%80%98hit-back%E2%80%99-at-british-press

Following endless sensationalist stories in the British press - all claiming inside knowledge of the ongoing Madeleine investigations both here and in the UK - Portugal’s Polícia Judiciária appear to have drawn a line in the sand.

A report by ionline says Portuguese detectives have “advised” the Metropolitan Police that they “refuse to carry out an investigation via newspapers”, particularly as the PJ’s theories are very different to those of British investigators.

“Since the English police decided to set up their own investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, the English press has been reporting, with frequency, information on police activities underway,” writes ionline.

“A good part of these news reports ends up being unfounded, which increasingly compromises the possibility of cooperation” between the two forces.

One of the major issues the PJ has with the British media circus is that “the two police forces have different lines of investigation, and their policies over communication are also contradictory,” two PJ inspectors who prefer to remain anonymous told ionline. Thus the warning to stop “pronouncing on supposed facts of the Portuguese investigation ... as it is something that the British do not know about”.

The warning echoes words of former Madeleine investigator Gonçalo Amaral - no stranger to sensationalist stories in the British press.

According to Amaral, Portuguese justice “works in silence” - the inference being it should be allowed to do so.

ionline adds that the latest revelations in the British media - picked up by news services all over the world - centred on a ‘secret dossier’ sent to the Met by Portuguese investigators.

“No secret dossier was ever delivered to the Metropolitan Police,” writes the news service, suggesting it was very probably the list of people known to police in the area that had been requested in one of the standard letters of request sent by the Met to the PJ.

As ionline points out, “over the past few months” British newspapers have had a field day, publishing ancient identikit photos drawn up years ago by private investigators and reporting on “thousands of leads” when, in reality, “police are still working on the very basic job of trying to identify mobile phone activity that took place in and around the Ocean Club on the night of May 3 2007”.

How Hippocratic!  PJ gave an ultimatum on leaks but is leaking itself to the press?
And then if no real detectives speak out then we get the likes of Amaral freely commenting and their opinion being  taken as a truth!
No, thank you!
'You don't speak to UK papers but I can speak to Portuguese papers' so then the 'PJ chosen baked truth' comes to the UK press by translating the PT press, like it was back in 2007.

And yes, the secret files do exist! They are mentioned in Kate's book!

[Estuarine]

Libel by the press: no case ever went to court to be tested. One Portuguese rag went bust before any court case could be heard and the British press settled out of court. So being guilty of libel is a moot point. The current delayed case in Portugal will be the first time the accusation of libel has been tested in court.

[Carana]

That sounds like yet more of the usual sensationalism in the PT/UK press war to me.

Once the original team got booted, the PJ seem to have been doing their best to avoid leaks. However, the PT press were the first to publish the Euclides story. That was then picked up by the UK, which went further by publishing the guy's name. Personally, I find that reprehensible on many levels.

I wouldn't be surprised if dealing with the media was an agenda topic at a joint meeting, but neither the Met nor the PJ can control their tabloids, particularly in an international investigation.

It may well be that the two teams are focusing on different leads / aspects to a certain extent. If legal considerations mean that they can't form a JIT, then they will have to continue separately, with common areas of cooperation.

Trying to build footballesque antagonistic hysteria isn't helpful to either police force, nor - more importantly - to Madeleine.

[Mr Gray]

Libel by the press: no case ever went to court to be tested. One Portuguese rag went bust before any court case could be heard and the British press settled out of court. So being guilty of libel is a moot point. The current delayed case in Portugal will be the first time the accusation of libel has been tested in court.

so you think the papers settled out of court because they were not guilty...they were sued for libel and settled...another desperate attempt by you to deny the truth

[Luz]

Do you have a link for that, Luz ?

No I don't. Such cases are confidential and are not published in the Media. If you contact Associação Aboim Ascenção (Faro) they can give you the numbers.

[Carana]

Is this meant to be serious or facetious?


The warning echoes words of former Madeleine investigator Gonçalo Amaral - no stranger to sensationalist stories in the British press.

According to Amaral, Portuguese justice “works in silence” - the inference being it should be allowed to do so.

[AnneGuedes]

Is this meant to be serious or facetious?


The warning echoes words of former Madeleine investigator Gonçalo Amaral - no stranger to sensationalist stories in the British press.

According to Amaral, Portuguese justice “works in silence” - the inference being it should be allowed to do so.

Serious of course.
How many tabloids here in Portugal ? And how many readers ? Do you know ?
And have you seen DCI Redwood despised, ridiculed and insulted in Portuguese media ?
You can't mix up towels with rags.

[Lyall]

Serious of course.
How many tabloids here in Portugal ? And how many readers ? Do you know ?
And have you seen DCI Redwood despised, ridiculed and insulted in Portuguese media ?
You can't mix up towels with rags.

British papers do like to make things personal: they love a hate figure. And even Mitchell admits they're xenophobic. So put the two factors together and you have what happened in 2007.

[Carana]

No I don't. Such cases are confidential and are not published in the Media. If you contact Associação Aboim Ascenção (Faro) they can give you the numbers.

Who runs this association?