Current Affairs Missing woman in Lancashire

[Daveysgingerlovechild]

Whilst I agree with the sentiment the
media are as they are because of the public.

If there was no morbid obsession about cases like this then the media wouldn't be acting shamefully in getting round the clock "scoops" to profit from.

I've barely kept up with the story not because I dont care more so why be fascinated in someone else's misery ? Plenty of missing people up and down the country that dont get the same media profile / air time.

Still very sad all the same.

Aye. The unfortunate line between the public interest and what the public are interested in.

 

[ForeverBlue92]

I honestly don’t

Despite the rise of social media the traditional media drive public interest, it was a missing woman almost an ‘everywoman ‘ that many could relate to . The element of mystery was in part created by the media and repeatedly fed by them even though the plod basically said from day one what had happened , across the media they paraded self proclaimed expert after expert until they found one who picked up the mystery ball and all but guaranteed it was just that a mystery and then wasn’t off the tv or radio for about 2 weeks with his social media exploding and comments driving the conspiracy theorists. Every Tom , [Poor language removed] and Harry whether a talking head , a talk radio presenter or a written journalist critiqued every part of the investigation advising search parameters and exactly where the police had gone wrong and even their sartorial choices .

The public might eat it up but it’s the media that make sure they create a ravenous appetite

Society is nothing but a mere mirror image of those who form it mate - its not a living, conscious entity.

If the public behaved themselves on social media/not rocking up to the site and stopped salivating over the next potential Netflix documentary on a murder / serial Killer that never was then the media have no real interest in making £££ from the story.

Its supply and demand ultimately and it saddens me.

 

[COYBL25]

The media don't do a great deal of good pete - they should, but they don't.

Tragedies are to them nothing more than an opportunity to create content / fill the paper or the TV show and ultimately make money out of it. All angles of this horror - the tragedy itself, the (probably self-selected and ill-informed) critique of the investigation, the bizarre antics of people who their reporting attracted to the scene and now who is to blame for not finding this body before now - are turned into money after being confidently spewed out by reporters and worst of all commentators who demonstrably have no knowledge or understanding of anything relevant.

If they can't make money out of it then they do not prominently report it, so stories that require effort and skill to expose (eg: local government corruption) are not reported at anywhere like the level they should, except in local papers/websites and the Eye's Rotten Boroughs column.

Of course the victim's status or ethnicity matters too, which is why (to use one example from today) Dan Walker being in a cycling accident that leaves him with minor facial injuries is national news on the BBC website, but a motorbike hitting a family crossing a road outside a mosque in Greenwich (killing an 8 year old boy and putting a ten year old and a 40 year old in intensive care with life threatening injuries) isn't (its the second article on the London site at present).

This is such a dangerous state of affairs, not only at the level of what happens to any of us when (God forbid) a tragedy strikes our families and we get squeezed for anything they can sell, but also for wider politics and the health of the nation as a whole.

They should report the news, honestly and openly, and go after wrongdoing. We, as citizens, need to know about problems so we can ensure they are fixed.

Do they do that? Nowhere near enough, in fact many papers are past the point of being part of the problem themselves (I include the Guardian in that).

They`ve wilfully and knowingly turned into a circus, for their own ends.

 

[Harryflashman]

Society is nothing but a mere mirror image of those who form it mate - its not a living, conscious entity.

If the public behaved themselves on social media/not rocking up to the site and stopped salivating over the next potential Netflix documentary on a murder / serial Killer that never was then the media have no real interest in making £££ from the story.

Its supply and demand ultimately and it saddens me.

I don’t think we’re massively disagreeing but the media see these people you describe and decide to give them more of what they want . That’s a conscious decision like itv & sky contacting the family when specifically asked not to . You’re right on society generally but people used to watch public hangings and I dare say you’d get a crowd now if you put one on but we don’t .

 

[PhilM]

They`ve wilfully and knowingly turned into a circus, for their own ends.

The British press isn’t called the gutter press for no reason: has been, is and always will be the lowest of the low in terms of public intrusion.

 

[coollino]

 

[Daveysgingerlovechild]

I don’t think we’re massively disagreeing but the media see these people you describe and decide to give them more of what they want . That’s a conscious decision like itv & sky contacting the family when specifically asked not to . You’re right on society generally but people used to watch public hangings and I dare say you’d get a crowd now if you put one on but we don’t .

Yr 1 undergrad politics and the media staple text this, but absolutely nails our media.

Power Without Responsibility - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Shame its not been updated in recent years.

 

[tsubaki]

Yr 1 undergrad politics and the media staple text this, but absolutely nails our media.

Power Without Responsibility - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Shame its not been updated in recent years.

Nick Davies' Flat Earth News is probably its spiritual successor, but even that has been overtaken by events.

 

[peteblue]

The media don't do a great deal of good pete - they should, but they don't.

Tragedies are to them nothing more than an opportunity to create content / fill the paper or the TV show and ultimately make money out of it. All angles of this horror - the tragedy itself, the (probably self-selected and ill-informed) critique of the investigation, the bizarre antics of people who their reporting attracted to the scene and now who is to blame for not finding this body before now - are turned into money after being confidently spewed out by reporters and worst of all commentators who demonstrably have no knowledge or understanding of anything relevant.

If they can't make money out of it then they do not prominently report it, so stories that require effort and skill to expose (eg: local government corruption) are not reported at anywhere like the level they should, except in local papers/websites and the Eye's Rotten Boroughs column.

Of course the victim's status or ethnicity matters too, which is why (to use one example from today) Dan Walker being in a cycling accident that leaves him with minor facial injuries is national news on the BBC website, but a motorbike hitting a family crossing a road outside a mosque in Greenwich (killing an 8 year old boy and putting a ten year old and a 40 year old in intensive care with life threatening injuries) isn't (its the second article on the London site at present).

This is such a dangerous state of affairs, not only at the level of what happens to any of us when (God forbid) a tragedy strikes our families and we get squeezed for anything they can sell, but also for wider politics and the health of the nation as a whole.

They should report the news, honestly and openly, and go after wrongdoing. We, as citizens, need to know about problems so we can ensure they are fixed.

Do they do that? Nowhere near enough, in fact many papers are past the point of being part of the problem themselves (I include the Guardian in that).

I understand that the Media do it for their own ends. I also understand that they can cause problems. The simple point I was trying to make is that for the family involved any publicity via the media that keeps it in the public eye is helpful…..

 

[peteblue]

Anyway, now that the Police have confirmed it was the poor woman, once the cause of death is confirmed the family may be able to start the grieving and closure process which many never obtain……..

 

[bigjonny]

As if to illustrate the point about the media creating a story North Yorkshire police have announced today that they’ve found the body of a man called Matthew Dillon who is in his 40’s left home to go for a drink in town in early January .


This is someone local to Liverpool who’s been missing over a month much to the distress of his family and recovered in the sea . How many people even those who live here know anything about him ?

There was a fair bit of Twitter activity in the first week or so after he went missing, then it went quiet.

 

[Harryflashman]

There was a fair bit of Twitter activity in the first week or so after he went missing, then it went quiet.

Exactly but if the media had decided it was interesting everyone would be all over it , weirdos pestering the family and no doubt we’d have heard plenty from that expert .

 

[PhilM]

As if to illustrate the point about the media creating a story North Yorkshire police have announced today that they’ve found the body of a man called Matthew Dillon who is in his 40’s left home to go for a drink in town in early January .


This is someone local to Liverpool who’s been missing over a month much to the distress of his family and recovered in the sea . How many people even those who live here know anything about him ?

He was a known figure in the local real ale scene. He’d been for a few pints, text his family that he was nearly home and then never turned up.

He was seen in York a few days after and then nothing, until now. There was a bit of a social media campaign, but the difference was the sightings.

It meant that many suspected he’d just run away. But as I sadly said yesterday, if you go in water you can disappear for a fairly large period of time.

 

[Harryflashman]

He was a known figure in the local real ale scene. He’d been for a few pints, text his family that he was nearly home and then never turned up.

He was seen in York a few days after and then nothing, until now. There was a bit of a social media campaign, but the difference was the sightings.

It meant that many suspected he’d just run away. But as I sadly said yesterday, if you go in water you can disappear for a fairly large period of time.

Yeah I know of him and although he was always quite quiet and reserved I’ve been in the same pub as him at the same time . So I’ve kind of been a little aware of developments , certainly I’ve been watching.

I accept the original sighting difference but I don’t think there was any bank activity. My point really is the media comparison is chalk and cheese , I was just trying to point out how some stories are media catnip .

 

[tsubaki]

Anyway, now that the Police have confirmed it was the poor woman, once the cause of death is confirmed the family may be able to start the grieving and closure process which many never obtain……..

the family also want to make one further point, pete