Gerry and Kate McCann - wow, that's a toughie of a case to report on. Poor hard done by tragic Brit parents versus cold hearted killers whose guilt would "destroy our very trust in the goodness of human nature", according to the always fair and balanced Daily Mail. And the bugger of it is, no one seems to know a damn thing either way: no one's telling the poor little newspapers which photos they should use - Kate sadly looking out a car window? Or Kate mid blink giving her a satisfying, child killer evil glare? It's a toughie! Well, I say no one but obviously I'm excluding those very confident "unnamed sources close to the case" who seem to have quite the in on everything, from strands of hair to Gerry's semen (sadly, they don't seem to have resolved the question of what the kid's name is - Maddie? Maddy? Madeleine? Oh who cares, whatever fits in the headline space.)
So well bloody done is the phrase that comes to mind upon spotting the Daily Mirror's method of dealing with this tricky case: hand it over to the readers!
Today, Katie1980's quote to mirror.co.uk is flagged up in the paper in big ol' black box, presumably in the absence of any hard material in the article that would be worthy of using as a pull quote: "Many people have donated to the McCanns legal costs, but how much are the lawyers making from their distress?" asks the random 27 year old blogger. Meanwhile, Tigger1 pontificates, "The press appear intent on clearing the McCanns. Let the police do their job and find the truth, whatever it may be." And so on and so on.
And why not? There's no reason why the opinion of an anonymous blogger should be any less valuable than the similarly clueless journalists. Plus, whatever transpires, the paper is absolved of any wrongdoing, seeing as all opinions conveniently expressed are merely those of their alleged readers. Is this kind of blog opinion repetition the new TV phone-in scandal? Oh, what cynicism!
Lost in Showbiz is now thinking back fondly to the investigative journalist methods practised on American breakfast news we saw last week when a completely random rentaquote psychologist was hauled into the studio, despite having nothing to do with the case, no connection with the McCanns and, quite possibly, no personal experience outside the US. "What do you, Dr Whateverhisnamewas," the Ron Burgundy-esque anchorman inquired solemnly, "in your heart of hearts, feel happened in this case?"
Oh, in his HEART OF HEARTS? Why didn't we think of looking there?
