On taking a dayjob lunchtime stroll most afternoons over the past
few weeks, the announcements screaming out from the London
Evening Standard news hoardings, presumably hoping to attract
purchases of the Standard, have invariably been about some further
alleged "drama" affecting Madeleine McCann's parents.
The London Evening Standard is usually quite a good read but its
bill boards of late typify the continuing media interest in the case.
Often those who seek attention through the media can expect
the attention to continue when perhaps they might prefer
certain matters to be kept private. The New Testament warning
in Matthew 26 that "those who live by the sword, shall die by the sword"
might be said to apply just as well in C21 to "those who live by the media...".
However by any yardstick the loss of the young child Madeleine, is a
tragedy. The parents' decision to try to trace her through media publicity,
could have been sucessful.
The fact that publicity has not resulted in their daughter's
whereabouts being traced is very sad. This sadness is exacerbated by the media
now treating the parents in the same way as if they were 'stars' whose publicity
stunts having been fully reported must now expect their grief and unhappiness
to form part of an ongoing tragic saga for public consumption.
The parents did not intend themselves to live by the media
and their essentially being made to die by the media is another tragedy.
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