If the McCanns were working class would the press have reacted differently?

Question

http://www.dailyexpress.co.uk/posts/view/14097/Mum+left+girls+aged+2+and+4+for+16+hours

Patonroan - well you seem to answer enough of these questions in worktime!

Eden - I'm sorry but I don't have time to check every question as I have a job! It just seemed an interesting contrast in media reaction!

Shells - read the link and the question is not hypothetical!

Brunelscooby - I've not lost sight that there is a precious child missing because her parents preferred a night out than a takeaway! I don't see her father leaving no-stone unturned in the local area? I don't believe the press which is why I raised the question! Unfortunately too many people read as gospel what they are told by the media....

Patonroan - Well when I retire I certainly won't be online all day - what a waste!

Shells - if you read the link you will see how the press (and police) treat a working class mother who left her children alone......

Answer 1

Of course they would!
There wouldn't have been half as much coverage - like someone said, she'd be just another statistic and the parents would have been slated - if they were on benefits they would have been called lazy irresponsible scroungers who put drinking before childcare.
To prove my point, the weekend M went missing 2 children were found dead in south London and their mother was sectioned under the mental health act. This was not reported a) because the press were so busy focusing on M but also because the family were 'overstayers' this country's rather lovely description of failed asylum seekers/ those still seeking asylum.
So we care very selectively about children in this country - little blonde white girls happen to be a favourite.

Answer 2

I am getting sick to death of all those people who are sticking up for the McCann parents. Does this mean that YOU would leave your children alone while you traipse off into the night to enjoy dinner for two?

If they were a working class family, saving up for a holiday and found the pennies were a bit tight for the baby sitting service, they would have opted for the free check-in service.

The facts are that a little girl is missing but SHE WOULDN'T BE MISSING if her parents had acted responsibly. There were two levels of baby sitting service available in the complex and neither McCann parent considered their children.

I don't know how Gerry McCann can say that they acted 'within the bounds of good parenting' and keep a straight face. What 'authorities' does he speak of? What authority in their right mind says that it's okay for parents to leave their children so they can enjoy dinner for two?

The next question will inevitably be, "How will they face their other two children when they are old enough to read about Maddie and how it could have been any of them taken that night?"

I see this story becoming buried if Maddie is found (dead or alive) and the parents being relocated with new identities at taxpayers' expense just as was done for Maxine Carr and those two boys who murdered Jamie Bulger.

Answer 3

This has been regurgitated time and time again. The answer is yes, they would have been treated differently but I also suspect that other doctors would have been treated differntly too. As a member of the family was quoted as saying, 'they called in favours'.

Answer 4

Of course the media would of reacted differently. You only have to look back at other child disappearances. Usually the family's are dragged through the mud by the press.

Answer 5

I think this is a foregone conclusion. Other people in similar circumstances but working class HAVE been treated differently. Just look at Ben Needhams family when he disappeared, they WERE slated by the media and little Ben WASN'T neglected each and every night.

Answer 6

Yes because the newspaper media & tv media are middleclass just like the Mcanns, they like to slag off the working class, thats what they do

Answer 7

Without a doubt. I said this from the start and still stand by it.

If it had been a single lass on a council estate who went to the pub over the road for a couple of hours there would (quite rightly) be an outrage.

Answer 8

Oh without a shadow of a doubt ....

The only thing that is standing in the way of the mccanns being investigated is their class and their money ..

One rule for one and another rule for the rest of us ..

Answer 9

You can bet your life on that one. I think I posted something to that effect the other day. I was a bit puzzled (?) as to why the judge reminded her of the Maddy case. Was it to highlight what could happen to the weans leaving them on their own or the lenient sentence she could expect?

Answer 10

Oh absolutely they would have. That's what irritates me. If it had been a "chav" family, everyone (and especially the press) would be criticising the parents for neglecting their child. Same if it was a child of an immigrant family. I dislike the media circus made of this event. Why should we be bombarded with spam emails, text messages and even cinema ads about Madeleine? How does meeting the Pope make it any more likely that she will be found? It strikes me that her parents could do less of the sympathy vote and spend more money actually physically looking for her.