Libel damages for the McCanns

[debih]

Going off on a bit of a tangent here but I've often wondered why people (in general) were happy to believe that Ben Needham had been taken and it was nothing to do with his parents but the opposite can be said for Madeline.

Is it the age that we live in now do you think? Or that now the media have much more influence on what people believe.

Just an observation.

(I don't remember the Ben Needham disappearance happening so maybe it was just as high profile and that feelings ran high with the public as they did in the McCann case).

[TheOstrich]

At the time that it happened, the Ben Needham reporting reached nowhere near the hysterical level that surrounded the Madeline McCann case.

The Madeline McCann reporting was (IMHO) completely OTT, hyped up by the media. However "media" today (including the advent and availability of social media) is a very different beast from 1991 when Ben Needham disappeared .....

[Kaz]

Nanna (((N))) you should not feel unable to speak your mind on here. VV is not like some other places where insults and threats appear to be the norm.

Thank you for saying that Frank, I was about to say similar Never worry about speaking your mind on here Nanna, we might not agree but it would never be personal ((((((((((x)))))))))))))

[Kaz]

Debih I do remember the Needham case, the striking difference to me was in the demeanour and behaviour of the relative sets of parents. Kerry was distraught, just as you would expect the mother of a child who might have come to unspeakable harm would be.......................

The Needham case never had the same establishment help or the same amount of money spent, but then they didn't have a huge PR circus behind them

[Nanna]

Thanks Os and Kaz. But I know from experience what a battle field this subject is.

[Kaz]

I know ((((((Nanna)))))) Such an emotive subject xxxxx

[moondancer]

Debih I do remember the Needham case, the striking difference to me was in the demeanour and behaviour of the relative sets of parents. Kerry was distraught, just as you would expect the mother of a child who might have come to unspeakable harm would be.......................

Exactly why so many people believe the McCanns had something to do with their daughter's disappearance.

They were advised to show no emotion as this would simply amuse and encourage those who had taken her.

That now seems to have backfired and made people believe they didn't care.

You only need to look in their eyes to know they are suffering, and have suffered, more than most human beings are capable of.

And they have pursued this to the point of making everyone else tired to death of hearing about it.

Would you have done this if you had any involvement or knowledge of what had happened ?

Of course not; you would have been happy that the case was virtually closed .

I find it very hard to understand how anyone can think they had anything at all to do with it; people were, and still are, enraged they left their children alone....possibly they are correct; but to think they were personally involved is quite beyond my understanding.

[Kaz]

We don't get the full facts here in the UK. I'm not going to go into detail as I have no wish for VV to get pulled off the net, or myself or Mick to get sued, or God Forbid like that poor deluded soul from Twitter who got vilified and hounded to death by the media, but a lot has been hushed up x

[Osc]

I know what I believe

Whether the actual truth of this case will emerge someday is anyone's guess

Ditto. I know Kaz and I feel the same about this case.

[Kaz]

(((x)))