Don't believe everything you read
The McCanns, the Fritzels and the McGuckins: three family names have dominated the news this week. All three have experienced varying degrees of sympathy from the public.
On the anniversary of Maddy's disappearance, the McCanns are still in the papers and still in search of their little girl.
In Austria, a monster sits behind bars after fathering seven children by, and repeatedly raping, his daughter. He committed myriad other crimes too; crimes which make him more terrifying and sinister than any "bad guy" in movie history. Hannibal Lector and Se7en's John Doe seem positively charming by comparison.
In Maghera, the McGuckins are attempting to come to terms with their vilification in the national press.
Eamon and Antoinette McGuckin are the couple whose children were taken into temporary care on the first night of their holiday in Portugal last weekend.
It was reported that the couple had gotten so smashed at a pub that they only managed to get as far as the hotel lobby before passing-out in front of their kids - aged six, two and one. Reports from "sources" - nameless, faceless people always eager to spread a bit of scandal - said that they vomited in the lobby before falling unconscious as concerned staff phoned paramedics.
Before the McGuckins had a chance to refute these claims, and before any facts could be verified, the story was all over the national and international media.
I scanned a few different news websites to soak up the feelings of the general public and - surprise, surprise - found my favourite, hysterical right-wing bashings on the Daily Mail website.
'Very irresponsible', 'disgraceful' and 'shameful' went the condemnations, before anyone had time to catch breath or analyse the situation.The high and mighty came out in force before all the facts were known: "These two are a total disgrace. God only knows what the people of Portugal must think of the way the British carry on!" shrieked John, from Blackburn, on the Mail's website.
"I would never put MY kids in such a situation," harrumphed another holier-than-thou do-gooder.
In what situation? Would that person never deign to get food poisoning, or have their drink spiked by local chancers seeking easy robbery victims?
Basing opinions on facts that are yet to be verified - which I suppose, technically, aren't "facts" - is bad news.
We can only make decisions based on the information we have in front of us. It is up to us to determine whether the information is flawed and biased, or balanced and accurate.
In the year since Maddy disappeared, people's thoughts on the tragedy have swung in favour of, and against, the McCanns regularly. Often those opinions depend on what newspapers they read.
When the McGuckins finally got the chance to put forward their side of the story on Wednesday, it cleared up a few elements of the evening in question.
They said the amount of alcohol they consumed between the hours of 8pm and 10pm would not have been sufficient to render them incapable of being responsible parents. That seems pretty reasonable, given that during the two hour period they were having dinner with three young children. It’s not as if they were dancing on the bar and downing cheap shots.
Just because the bar had a sign advertising “One euro pints” doesn’t mean the McGuckins were inside sinking them at break-neck speed.
The McGuckins released a statement which said that Antoinette became violently ill on arrival at the foyer of the hotel and required assistance from the management. Her husband, Eamon, arranged with the hotel management to care for the children whilst he would accompany Antoinette to the hospital.
Hotel management agreed to this until the parents returned. The McGuckins left with the paramedics in the belief that once Antoinette’s condition was established, and treated, they would return to the hotel and to their children.
It continues: “The official report from Loule Health Centre confirms that Eamon was conscious, orientated and helpful with staff whilst his wife was unconscious.”
The above quote would appear to fly in the face of reports that he was a vomitous, snoring, shambles at that point.
A fellow holiday-maker became so upset at the media reports that she posted on Sky News’ website. Cathy, from Leeds, wrote (in capitals): “WE WERE THERE AND THEY WERE DEFINITELY NOT BINGE DRINKING.”
Unfortunately, that’s nowhere near as good a news story and “Mother falls ill on foreign holiday” wouldn’t win any ‘Salacious Headline of the Year’ awards.
The McGuckins said: “We are deeply saddened and hurt by the events of the past days. We live and breathe for our children and would never, ever place them in any kind of danger. We hope that this traumatic experience is now closed as we want to get back to our normal routine of loving our beautiful children and getting on with life.”
I hope they can because, if not, this little episode could be wheeled out in a playground argument in future and be used to bully and tease their kids.
That would be difficult enough for the parents to deal with but, more damagingly, would be horribly unfair on the kids - and all because people were in such a hurry to form an opinion.
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Weather for Derry
Sunday 27 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 14 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 12 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: South east
