In the UK alone, a child goes missing every three minutes. Contributing to 60% of all missing person cases between 2015 and 2016 were children under eighteen (Missing People, 2017). This frightening notion can be confirmed by the numerous campaigns by local Police, families and communities which are seen every year in a desperate attempt to reunite lost children with their families. This essay will seek to explore the representation of missing children in the media, and the reception and impact of the campaigns ran in the hope of their safe return. Considering the significant impact class has on media representation of these children, it will also take into account the role of audiences during coverage of these events. It will draw comparisons and contrasts between the cases and coverage of the disappearances of British children, Shannon Matthews (2008) and Madeline McCann (2007).
On the 19th February 2008, nine-year-old Shannon Matthews did not return home to her family home in Dewsbury, Yorkshire. Three hours after she was last seen, her mother, Karen Matthews, reported Shannon missing which led to a twenty-four-day appeal for her return (Steward, 2008). However, on the 14th March 2008, the public were delighted at the news Shannon had been found. As the police investigations began to unfold, it became known that Shannon was found drugged and tethered inside the base of a bed at the flat of Michael Donovan, a relative of Shannon’s stepfather. After being found guilty of kidnapping, false imprisonment and perverting the course of justice, both Matthews and Donovan were sentenced to eight years in prison. Just a year previously to Shannon’s disappearance, on the 3rd May 2007, three-year-old Madeline McCann disappeared from her bed whilst on a family holiday to Praia du Luz, Portugal. Her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann had left Madeline and their two-year-old twins in the apartment whilst they dined at a Tapas restaurant nearby. As of 2017, Madeline has yet to be found but the Metropolitan police have spent £11 million to date, in the hopes of providing an answer. It could be argued that the two cases share some similarities. However, they hold stark contrast in the way that media representations present the disappearance of a young girl from a middle-class background on a luxurious family holiday in Portugal compared to the disappearance of a young girl from a working-class estate in the North of England.
The contrast between these two girls is often highlighted in the difference between their mothers. After her regretful decision to leave her children at home whilst she dined with friends, Kate McCann faced criticism from the British press and the general public, who questioned her actions on the night and scrutinised her ‘cool, calm and collected behaviour’ (Cotterill, 2010). However, Kate McCann became increasingly emotional which led to more media attention. The relationship between Kate McCann and her daughter Madeline was always depicted as positive. They were both photogenic, leading to the infamous images of Madeline’s childhood and Kate’s reaction to her disappearance accompanying every news article and television broadcast. The audience often were left with an emotive response as they witnessed a conventionally attractive, educated woman clutching at her daughter’s cuddle cat distraught at her daughter’s disappearance. It left the public distressed at the thought of something so horrific happening to a family like them.
However, the news coverage of Karen Matthews, both before her arrest and afterwards, became synonymous with somebody that it could happen to. Before the public grew suspicious of Karen Matthews involvement in Shannon’s disappearance, she was already a symbol of ‘Broken Britain’ (Brooke, 2008) where her ‘Pick and Mix’ family (Street-Porter, 2008) was pitted against the perfect nuclear family of the McCann’s. As the media coverage continued, it was clear Matthews’ role as the mother of a lost child was always likened to Kate McCann. As Matthews’ attended a television appeal for Shannon to be returned, she brought along with her a teddy bear, which had been compared to Madeline’s Cuddle Cat. Holding it against her, Karen was asked what Shannon had called the bear, she replied ‘I don’t know’ (Shannon Matthews: The Mother’s Story, 2017). Despite her efforts, her lower-class background had meant that neither Karen nor Shannon would never receive the same affection and attention as the McCann’s did. The McCann’s appeals were orchestrated, educated and were much more effective in evoking the support of British public whilst Matthews’ working-class vernacular did nothing but reinforce the public opinion on working class estates and its residents (Cotterill, 2010).
Whilst it is clear to see how the difference in social class has led to skewed media coverage of both disappearances, it is important to note that this can be in detrimental to their respective campaigns. I will now explore how the positive coverage of Madeline McCann’s disappearance resulted in her case being left open over a decade afterwards. In contrast, the dehumanising impact of Shannon Matthews’ coverage, led to public disdain at lower-class communities and a lack of willingness to support the most vulnerable individuals. I will explore the impact of audience involvement and their passivity in being influenced by the press.
Media coverage of Madeline’s disappearance has been at the height of discussion for the past decade. After just nine days, the media had covered 465 stories about her disappearance (Independent, 2008). Major newspapers and media companies had sent journalists and reporters to Portugal for weeks on end in order to report back to the British public as accurately and quickly as possible. Whilst the press published ranged from pieces on who was to blame to pleas for her safe return, they became necessary as part of the campaign. The sheer amount of media coverage Madeline received, led to her case becoming known across the nation, and in fact, the world. It was this coverage that led to a reward of £2.6 million being raised after just two weeks. Offered by public figures such as Sir Richard Branson, Simon Cowell and JK Rowling (Sydney Morning Herald, 2007). It is therefore clear to see the true impact the campaign had, encouraging both the wealthy and the ordinary people of the nation to contribute in hopes of seeing Madeline return home.
However, when Shannon had been missing for two weeks, the only reward money raised came from British tabloid The Sun, who had offered a £20,000 reward – which would eventually be raised to £50,000 – along with a local pensioner who had offered £500 (Independent, 2008). This further heightens the importance of media coverage in the campaigns. Where Shannon’s reward was significantly lower than Madeline’s, it could be argued this is in direct correlation to the mere 242 stories written about Shannon’s disappearance (Independent, 2008). Furthermore, the stories that were continuing to be run were being put aside in favour of other events, such as a poster campaign in The Sun, which was run on page 17 – rather than on front page (Independent, 2008). In his 2011 book, Owen Jones notes that ‘if money were anything to go by, the life of Madeline McCann had been deemed fifty times more valuable than that of Shannon Matthews’ (Jones, 2011). In this case, not only does the sense of class division become clearer in what the general public and influential figure deem valuable of saving. It also suggests significantly less coverage has led to a smaller impact in terms of monetary contribution which could have been detrimental in finding Shannon.
One of the most memorable parts of Shannon Matthew’s disappearance was the overarching community spirit that was seen when the local residents of the estate came together to look for Shannon. This community spirit was dramatised in the recent BBC Drama, The Moorside (BBC, 2017), which explored the campaign orchestrated by a family friend, Julie Bushby. Much like the real campaign, the drama explores how the local community faced their own problems and hardships yet still came together in the hunt for Shannon. However, in media coverage of the disappearance, the community is often degraded. The Dewsbury estate is considered a ‘sink estate’, a term coined by British Prime Minister, Tony Blair in 1997, which refers to an area characterised by social and economic deprivation (Cotterill, 2010). However, this has led to the dehumanisation of its residents, with their community being symbolic of ‘all that is feckless and disreputable about the working class’ (Cotterill, 2010). The representation of the Dewsbury estate in which Shannon lived being consistently degraded, pitted against the ‘Home Counties Idyll’ or a ‘Portuguese Holiday Resort’, supports the theory that reveals the stance of British journalists covering the case, who much preferred to push criminal stereotypes of council estates ‘prejudices of the white underclass’, rather than focus on the individuals (Carter, 2008).
British journalist and political activist Owen Jones commented on how journalists reporting on both cases were more connected to Madeline McCann in a way that they were not to Shannon Matthews. He argues that the journalists having been born into lifestyles similar to Madeline’s were more concerned with her disappearance, because her family are equally as middle class. Senior Mirror Journalist Kevin Maguire argues that the journalists who went to Northern England to cover the story ‘just wouldn’t know that Britain… Because it’s not their Britain’ (Jones, 2011). This implies that the journalists reporting on the cases were disconnected from not only Shannon Matthew’s story, but the lifestyle choices of her mother and her community. Furthermore, it was only expected that the stories be dehumanising to the estate and its residents, given their lack of understanding of the case and that they were ‘as removed from that kind of poverty as we are from events in Afghanistan’. (Reid, 2008). Arguably, the media bias of both events led to an influenced readership and audience who indulged in the unbreakable bond to their middle-class ‘Maddie’ and turned Madeline’s case into the ‘poster girl of the UK’s burgeoning child-protection industry’ whilst Shannon Matthews remains safely found but at the expense of a direct attack on her community and upbringing (Hume, 2013).
The cases of Shannon Matthews and Madeline McCann are imperative in highlighting the class divide in the British media but furthermore, expose the true extent of the ‘hypodermic needle theory’, which explores the direct influence on the attitudes of individuals. (Lasswell, 1927). Given Madeline’s portrayal as a vulnerable girl from middle-class, educated parents, the British public digested this and have turned Madeline into a symbol of a united Britain, where all communities come together to support her campaign. This can be seen by the monetary support by influential figures. However, during the disappearance of Shannon Matthews, support from influential figures remained less impactful and was only given towards the end of the campaign. This led to a smaller reward fund and less support for the community. Rather than report on the missing girl, British press rather highlighted Karen’s position as a working class, un-educated mother of seven children, which regarded her as undeserving of public sympathy (Shildrick, MacDonald and Furlong, 2016). The way both cases were presented by the media led to a different public opinion which meant the middle-class girl was given more attention and sympathy and therefore more support, whereas the girl who grew up in a working-class background was stigmatised more than supported.
In conclusion, the media coverage of both Shannon Matthews and Madeline McCann exposes the vast class divide which led to the significant support for Madeline in comparison to the further stigmatisation of the class Shannon was from. Despite the inconclusive results of Madeline’s campaign and the criminal actions of Karen Matthews, both campaigns highlight where British interest lies and reinforces the disconnect British journalism faces when entering these unknown worlds such as the Dewsbury council estate. In this way, it is clear to see how the social class of both girls had a significant impact on the effectiveness of their campaign and how the varying media depictions directly influenced the way the British public felt about each individual case and therefore the actions they took, albeit donating money or simply showing their support and solidarity for the cause.