Post by Admin on Apr 17, 2016 21:45:39 GMT
In a series of highlights from this year’s CommsCon event, we look at how public relations professional Clarence Mitchell kept the Madeleine McCann story in the news for 8 years in this keynote presentation.
Clarence Mitchell, the man who kept the story of the disappearance of three-year-old British child Madeleine McCann in the media for eight years, opened CommsCon 2016.
The former BBC reporter discusses how he worked with the McCann family, international police forces, British government and international media to keep the story of Madeleine’s disappearance in the news – and what he did to fight defamation, handle daily requests from upward of 300 journalists and manage overwhelming expectation from all angles.
Timeline:
0:00 Introduction by Miranda Ward
4:00 Clarence Mitchell takes the stage
5:15 The case of Madeleine McCann: An exceptional story in a multi-platform environment
10:30 Public perception
11:44 The big picture: international police, international media, official leaks, the parents, friends, the governments
14:00 Information leaks: the deal, the damage
15:00 Blogging – in the wrong hands and with an agenda can do enormous damage
16:00 Question everything, no matter what, as a journalist would
17:00 A ‘pool’ is not just something you swim in: sharing information
19:26 The newsroom and the tidal wave of content
20:55 Lack of relationships between competing media: 200 to 300 media on-site and more in the UK
22:30 Going legal: defeating misinformation, lies and gross defamation
23:20 Keeping the focus on the search not the parents
26:40 Keeping the British press in line
28:00 The media pool: A daily soap opera with few checks or balances
29:00 Journalists pressured to produce stories resulted in false sighting reports
31:00 Calling on the government for help: Operation Grange, the Scotland Yard inquiry
33:00 More than 100 articles deemed “grossly defamatory”; the front page apologies, payouts and trust fund
35:00 Be straight with the media
39:00 Meeting the Pope
40:00 Kate McCann’s role for missing children organisations in Britain
42:00 Media calls for 2017’s 10 year anniversary of Madeleine’s disappearance
44:00 The battle for hope: cases of women being held against their will
45:00 Miranda Ward takes stage with Clarence for one-on-one Q&A
49:00 Audience questions
1:02:15 Presentation concludes