Post Stella Yesterday at 1:56 pm
said Sir Christopher Meyer, on the Daily Politics Show, 2nd April 2009
Andrew Neil:
“Why couldn't you stop... why... why couldn't the Press Complaints Commission stop some British newspapers from implying, almost claiming, that the McCann's had killed their missing daughter, when there wasn't an iota of evidence to show that was true and, frankly, I can't think of anything worse for parents who have lost their daughter to be accused in the tabloids of having killed her. Where was the PCC on that”?
Sir Christopher Meyer:
“The PCC was there all the time. 48 hours after Madeleine disappeared, we said to the parents - through the British Embassy in Washington - that we were here to help. This is what we can do to help you, if you so wish. We cannot be more Catholic than the Pope, more Royalist than the King”.
Andrew Neil:
"But you didn't stop it".
Sir Christopher Meyer:
"We didn't stop it because they did not want us to stop it".
NOW HERE IS WHAT WAS ACTUALLY SAID
Andrew Neil:
“Why couldn't you stop... why... why couldn't the Press Complaints Commission stop some British newspapers from implying, almost claiming, that the McCann's had killed their missing daughter, when there wasn't an iota of evidence to show that was true and, frankly, I can't think of anything worse for parents who have lost their daughter to be accused in the tabloids of having killed her. Where was the PCC on that”?
Sir Christopher Meyer:
“The PCC was there all the time. 48 hours after Madeleine disappeared, we said to the parents - through the British Embassy in Washington - that we were here to help. This is what we can do to help you, if you so wish. We cannot be more Catholic than the Pope, more Royalist than the King”.
Andrew Neil:
"But you didn't stop it".
Sir Christopher Meyer:
"We didn't stop it because they did not want us to stop it because at that time, and don't forget this, Andrew, they were very busy - and I would have done the same thing, if I'd been in their position - stimulating publicity to try and find their daughter. I personally met Gerry McCann in the summer to explain to him face to face, eyeball to eyeball, 'Gerry, this is what I can do to help, if you so wish'.
AN: Alright. My memory may be fading here but I know they wanted a lot of publicity, for obvious reasons. I don't think they wanted the kind of publicity that accused them of killing their daughter.
RG: No, they surely didn't. I mean, I think the problem was in -and you illustrate it perfectly here - is in the nature of this discretion and done behind closed doors, and so on. Really, in a sense, there should have been a public statement from the PCC...
SCM: But we couldn't...
RG: When... when...
SCM: No, Roy, we couldn't make a public statement, while...
RG: ...saying that much of this was obviously speculation. Journalists, by the way, there are... there are eight...
SCM: You miss out... you miss out one absolutely key fact here; it was the Portuguese authorities themselves...
RG: I know, I agree with you...
SCM: ...who made them arguidos and that created a massive complication.
RG: There are eight editors on the commission. All of those editors knew that what was being published in the papers was based on speculation. You could have made a statement, saying: 'Be warned newspapers, if you go into this area you are doing the wrong thing and you are actually...'
AN: Okay, we're going to have to leave it there...
SCM: You cannot trump the wishes of the parents.
AN: No, Christopher, we're going to have to leave it there. You've made that point.
SCM: Yes. Have I? I want to make it again.
SO ONCE AGAIN THEY ARE CHANGING THINGS TO SUIT THEIR OWN NEEDS AND IDEAS
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