Paper Monitor
14:22 UK time, Wednesday, 19 March 2008
There will be icy tendrils of dread creeping through some parts of Fleet Street today.
The apology by four titles of the Express Newspapers group over their coverage of the Madeleine McCann case has left media pundits scratching their heads for a precedent.
Front page apologies are vanishingly rare, but they are not unheard of. The Daily Mirror had to apologise in May 2004 over its notorious publication of hoax photos purporting to show Iraqi prisoners being mistreated by British soldiers.
But former editor Roy Greenslade has suggested the apology by the Daily Express, Sunday Express, Daily Star and Daily Star Sunday is a first in modern newspaper history - a whole family of newspapers admitting they were wrong.
The front page of the Daily Express is revealing in the precise wording of its apology over articles that suggested Kate and Gerry McCann might be responsible for the death of their daughter.
It says: "We acknowledge that there is no evidence whatsoever to support this theory."
There is no qualification, no suggestion that it is new evidence that calls the newspaper's earlier articles into doubt.
The McCanns' legal team are not releasing a list of the 100 or more headlines and stories the couple took exception to.
But they have let it be known that there were three dates – 17 and 20 October and 22 November 2007 – in the Daily Express, and three dates – 2 and 23 October and 3 November 2007 – in the Daily Star that most upset them.
Some of the libellous and false headlines from this period – "PARENTS' CAR HID A CORPSE" and MADDIE: 'ONLY PARENTS OR PALS COULD HAVE DONE IT' – are obvious in their offence to the family.
The first was attributed to an anonymous police source, the second merely constituted the ruminations of a tapas waiter.
As well as the apology for printing the stories, the libel case has had an effect on the Express's website. Use the search facility on the site and you are given nine popular search terms – "Madeleine", "Madeleine McCann", "McCann" , "Princess Diana", "Crossword", "Kate Middleton", "Maddie", "Madeline" and "Sunday Express".
From this you can see how central the coverage of the McCann case has been to the paper's editorial agenda. And yet, a search of the website seems to suggest all stories about the McCanns, with the exception of today's apology, have now been removed from the database.
But looking at the dates that most offended the family on the LexisNexis newspaper database, you see a huge volume of coverage. From 17 October, there are five Daily Express stories on Madeleine.
When public appetite for a story is as immense as it has been, and when there is such a dearth of information from the Portuguese police, there is inevitably pressure on reporters at the scene and back in London to deliver.
The disappearance of Madeleine was of massive interest. There has been considerable debate over the volume of coverage given to the McCanns, compared with other cases like that of Shannon Matthews. A number of commentators have suggested that a case involving a photogenic middle-class girl gets more coverage than one involving a girl from humbler origins.
But whatever the reasons, stories involving Madeleine McCann have been seen as boosting circulation.
"The Express decided - and the Express and the Star are increasingly one and the same - that Maddie sold copies," says former Independent on Sunday editor and media commentator Kim Fletcher.
"In the Express last year... there would be a story about Princess Diana or the McCanns or house prices.
"What happens is you get the cart leading the horse - 'you are going to have a story on that so find a story on that'."
With pressure growing, the normal rules of journalism, such as seeking two reliable sources for a story, can start to erode for some reporters and editors, says Fletcher, chairman of the National Council for the Training of Journalists.
"Often these stories start with freelance agencies. They pitch a bit of hearsay and to their astonishment it is taken up."
While there will be many in the media who will want to consider the Express Newspapers' apology as a one-off case, there are others who will fear it will have more general consequences for the way the news agenda is shaped and stories executed.
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