Missing Children

Question 1

The news articles portray that Shannon Matthew is in the working class. The news article shows that the mother, Karen Matthews, was heavily influenced by the media, as she has appeared to take the storyline from Shameless on E4 and she made it become a reality. As this is evident, she is shown as a devilish person who just wanted to get money for the search of her daughter. Also, she is shown to be stupid as she watches TV and decided to steal ideas from programs which implies that she is from the working class. Furthermore, it is shown that Karen Matthews has 7 children with 5 different men. The media purposely shows this to establish that she is a bad person so that the public grows hatred over her. This is evident when this has no association with Shannon Mathews, however, the media wants the public to not like her.

McCann's parents generally showed a lot of disregard for the case, this was specifically more prevalent with Kate McCann show showed an eerie lack of concern. This would only end up adding to the claims that they had staged the entire ordeal.
Throughout the case, the parents status as senior doctors was constantly brought up which, perhaps inadvertently, gave their daughter a 'higher value'. So high in fact, that newspapers were willing to give £1.5m to whoever was able to find her, a far cry from the mere £50,000 that was offered for Shannon; whose parents have no job and therefore have an incredibly low standing which may or may not have affected the value of their daughter.They also attempt to portray her as a good mother, so good in fact that Kate McCann could not even bear to be separated from there current children at night. The father is also portrayed as hardworking and someone who people SHOULD sympathise with. Although this view was, no doubt, influenced by the fact they were able to afford their own spokesperson to help them put the view across that they were grieving parents.

Question 2

It is clearly evident that the media portray Karen Matthews to be a demon that came from hell however they portray Shannon Matthews to be an innocent and harmless person. Both pictures of the mother and the daughter are close-ups. These are used to show the person's facial expressions. The picture of Karen Matthews shows her being disgusted. This is implied as she is looking at the ground with no facial expression. Judging by her surrounding and her hair, it appears that Karen Matthews is outside but it is not clear where she is because the background is blurred. To conclude this, it comes to my attention that the schemer Karen Matthews is going to court for her sentence to be unravelled. On the other hand, Shannon Matthews has to a close-up shot of her posing and smiling to the camera. The background of her picture is also unclear however judging by the clear background, it looks like she is taking her school photo. To evaluate these two pictures, the readers of this newspaper article will first have doubts that the angel, Shannon, is the daughter of this demon which is Karen. Secondly, they would assume that the Matthew family is from the working class because of the outfits both the mother and the daughter are wearing. Also, it is because of their surroundings and their posture gives the readers the impression that they are from a low social class.

With the McCanns, many of the photos were taken while they were playing with their children or holding something that belonged to them. This helps to reinforce the image they are trying to portray, about being devastated parents, which is the opposite of what happened with the McCanns. All of the photos seem to look impromptu, as if they were almost candid, in situations where they are generally being good parents. Also, they are rarely seen out of the house or without some kind of stereotypically beautiful background such as a clear blue shot of the sky, or a shot of a view of the sea/coastline.

Question 3

Hall's theory of representation is evident in both readings of Shannon Matthews and Madeline McCann.

First of all, Shannon Matthews is portrayed that she is from the working class as the article mention that she watches television and that she made a storyline into reality from Shameless, a television show that aires from Channel 4.  Since her form of entertainment is television, it automatically shows the reader that the family is from the working class. This is because middle and upper class' form of entertainment is opera, theatre, classical music etc. The fact that Karen Matthews took the storyline from a TV show just to make more money because she saw how much money that's generated from the disappearance of Madeline McCann shows that she is in the lowest social class which is the working. Because of this, the media tries their best to insult Mrs Matthews so that the readers of the newspaper will consider her as an evil and selfish person. However, the media doesn't show the real reason why she did what she has done. There could be a good cause, for example, they needed the money to support her family but the media wants to discriminate her just for the reader to do the same thing and this results to the media getting more money.

Alternatively, Madeline McCann is established that she is from the upper-middle class because of the parent's occupation, which they are both consultants. As they are from a higher social class, the made covered this event more than the "disappearance" of Shannon Matthews. The newspaper article from The Daily Telegraph conveys to the audience that the parents of Madeline left the house unattended and with the door unlocked for them to go to a bar across the swimming pool. This article has the same initial reaction to the article about Shannon Matthews; disgust and the reader must think that they are bad parents. However, the parents had a reason to why they have done this. It is because that they can see the entrance of the house from the bar so that they will know if someone has entered. Some would still think that they are bad parents and that it is just an excuse nevertheless, the majority would sympathise with the parents because of the reason that they are from a social higher class. As a result to this, the McCann family are receiving money for the search and the police and detectives primarily in Portugal are willing to find the lost child of Madeline McCann.

This shows that Stuart Hall's theory of representation to be true. The attitude of the audience depends on the person or the group's social class and that the media makes a false accusation of but doesn't emphasise the full reason.

Question 4

The intended meaning of the Daily Telegraph is it is the most reliable way of getting very detailed articles as it is a broadsheet newspaper company. They have formal, 'quality' articles and it is aimed towards higher social groups. There are two different feelings that are produced by the audience; they think that Shannon Matthews is from a working-class family with a deranged mother that tried to get money for the search of her daughter but Madeline McCann is from the middle-upper class family with her consultant parents who are selfish to leave their children just for their pleasure, however, the audience sympathise with them because they looked at the wrong side of the house where kidnapper stole their daughter. I take a dominant reading from the Matthews article because I completely agree with the audience that the mother of Shannon Matthews is psychotic because she had the ordasity to start this drama of her daughter missing but she knows where she is being held; at her boyfriend's uncle's house. However, I take an oppositional reading for the McCann family because the media portrays that it is not the parent's fault that their daughter got kidnapped because they looked at the entrance of their house but if they were at the house, the kidnapping could have easily been avoided therefore I disagree with the media's interpretation of the disappearance of Madeline McCann.