Shannon who?

A while back when the news was dominated by ‘Team Madie’ I made a point in a post about the circumstances around the disappearance of Madeline McCann whether the media would have reacted and reported it differently if it had been a working class family. The answer to that is yes and it has become glaringly apparent with the disappearance of Shannon Mathews; a 9 year old from a council estate ‘up north’. Shannon’s been missing now for 3 weeks and media coverage has been minimal in comparison with that of ‘Team McCann’ This point hasn’t been lost on the media, because the ultimate irony is that; I’ve heard more in the media over the last couple of days over the reasons why the press and TV haven’t covered it as much as the McCann’s than I have about the efforts to find her. The reasons ranged from, a lack of public interest, to what Shannon looked like compared to Madeline and the social differences between the two families, which influenced public opinion. Just shows what an image conscious media driven class ridden society we have become, and still are. Still I suppose all publicity is good publicity.