Saturday, October 25, 2014

It's all out war between the mainstream media (MSM) and the social media.

Mainstream media - all TV news channels in the UK, as well as the press - are generally content to toe the line of those in government and authority. Opinion on the social media is a lot more wide-ranging. Nowhere is this divide more evident than in the case of Madeleine McCann, the girl who went missing in Portugal in May 2007.

By and large, MSM accept the McCanns' version - that Madeleine was abducted by a stranger, and that they, the parents, were falsely accused of any involvement.

Most views expressed on Twitter and other social media take the opposite position, namely that Kate and Gerry McCann were responsible for their daughter's predicament. A smaller body of social media opinion supports the parents.

On 2nd October 2014 Sky News repeatedly broadcast a report throughout the day in which a 63-year-old lady, Brenda Leyland, was accused of "trolling" the McCanns. Reporter Martin Brunt said a dossier with her name, and the names of other McCann "trolls" was in the possession of the police. BBC News sensibly ignored the story, though it was briefly referenced in John Humphrys' interview with Gerry McCann on the Radio 4 Today programme which took place the following morning.

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