I wasn't going to bother giving attention to yet another tedious, inaccurate serving of sycophantic drivel in defence of the McCanns. Until that was, John Blacksmith decided to pen a reply to this embodiment of English journalism, Keir Simmons. Thus, by virtue of Blacksmith's reply, allowing me to post Simmons' tripe without the tedium of picking the thing apart.
I would however like to pick on one or two points that John Blacksmith, I won't say omits, but rather doesn't cover, if for no other reason than my two'pennorth doesn't fall within the structure of his reply.
From the very outset, the header gives us a hint of just what we might expect in the way objectivity from Mister Simmons, and be assured he doesn't disappoint.
No Mister Simmons far from disappoints when he treats us to pearls such: I can say today with confidence that the police hunt for Madeleine was utterly inadequate. Thus spaketh the hack, with confidence no less. From what I have read of the process, I can say with confidence and more, the investigation was far from inadequate, but then I have read the files.
Next up: Good journalists Perhaps you might furnish us with a name or two Mister Simmons, I would be more than interested who might fall into this category. In fact I would more likely be astounded by those on which you would bestow such a title.
But there is something you write that I agree wholeheartedly with, in fact I endorse it unequivocally from the bottom of my heart. we lost our balance You don't say? but you do! and still suffering such vertigo that no doubt your knuckles be so terribly sore. Some journalists lost the plot. Let me ignore that little gem, for haven't you already given us so much in so few lines.
Good journalists under pressure from London took far too many risks with the truth. Collectively in my honest view, we lost our balance. Some journalists lost the plot.
As equally as I shall ignore the poor parents and The suffering they are enduring, unimaginable as it may be. Because there is one little pearl, one little gem that outshines all others, and that little gem be.
At the centre of it all this were two parents who had no idea how to handle such pressure.
How long must Kate and Gerry McCann suffer?
Posted by Keir Simmons. 8 November, 2010
More than three years ago Madeleine McCann vanished from an apartment in a Portugese (sic) seaside town. Madeleine was three years old and 11 months. She has now been missing for almost as long.
She disappeared on the evening of Thursday May 3rd. I arrived in Praia Da Luz the next day. I felt sure she would be found and that I would be back in the UK before the weekend was over. I now know how wrong I was.
So much is easy with hindsight. I can say today with confidence that the police hunt for Madeleine was utterly inadequate. One of the detectives admitted as much in a newspaper article this weekend. I didn’t once see officers searching apartments in the area.
I look back at the media’s coverage of the events that would unfold with deep disappointment. Good journalists under pressure from London took far too many risks with the truth. Collectively in my honest view, we lost our balance. Some journalists lost the plot.
At the centre of it all this were two parents who had no idea how to handle such pressure. The last time I saw Kate and Gerry McCann was at a news conference around a year ago. They looked as shell shocked as when I first saw them – perhaps more so. The suffering they are enduring is unimaginable.
And yet, there continues to be a group of individuals who use the internet to attack these two poor parents. I hear from them all the time via Twitter. They demand that I investigate this or that “if you don’t you’re not a reporter” one informed me recently. After a report I produced for NBC News over the weekend I was subjected to a torrent of abusive messages – one suspects they are co-ordinating their attacks for best effect.... more blah blah
Dear Keir Simmons
by John Blacksmith
“But why should two parents who have suffered so much continue to have this groundless campaign against them?”
So glad that you wanted some feedback and I hope that someone will forward this to you or twitter you the link. First, by way of a taster, can I quote what the mayor of London wrote this morning about the BBC journalists’ strike, which you will note brought the country to its knees?
“I consume vast quantities of news – but almost entirely without the assistance of the BBC. I get up early and read a fair quantity of newsprint, notably this paper and the FT. But if I then switch on my computer and go to Google news, I can see what everyone is reading across the planet.
You don't have to wait and fume for a quarter of an hour while some egotistical journalist tries to skewer some temporising politician. You don't have to worry about the bias of programme editors, because the sheer multiplicity of sources enables you to shake out the bias and work out what is really going on. You can find it all out in your own time, and it usually takes about five minutes.”
That’s the world you now work in, Mr Simmons. more The Bureau
Anna Andress has a word or two to say about Keir Simmons, but in not quite the forgiving way as myself.
