McCann's: The Witch Hunt

Last night, as part of my course, I had to watch a half-hour of self-serving celebrites gorge themselves on the McCann case.

I felt like Charlie Brooker as I sat through this mostly newsless primetime pap.

The gorging managed to cover the whole of Tonight, and was introduced by a laid-back Sir Trev.

Vanessa Feltz was one of the interviewees, and as she chattted away I felt like I was watching Brass Eye.

Those who have had the nous to watch Chris Morris' excellent series of spoofs will remember her interview on Crime.

She pretends to be speaking as the voice of all those murdered.

Hello, you think you don't know me, don't you?

Yes, but you do because I'm the shopkeeper you shot in a mindless hold-up; you blew out my guts, remember?

I'm the old lady whose head you stove in with a loose wardrobe in the middle of the night, remember?

I'm the little boy whose face you stabbed off in panic when I found you robbing my house, remember?

I'm Marvin Gaye, shot by my own father – oh, yes, you know me all right.

This time Feltz didn't mention Marvin Gaye or wardrobes, but did describe the coverage of her in the tabloids as covering "every possible dimension of nastiness".

She also commented on the McCann's in the Express.

The Daily Express is one of the tabloids that could be accused of "McCann baiting"

While the programme rattled on about the plight of the McCann's, it failed to mention the smearing of Robert Murat in the press.

It failed to mention the comments of Tony Parsons.

Last Monday he referred to the Portuguese ambassador as a "sardine muncher".

Yesterday, he accused the Portuguese press of being tame to the ways of the Policia Judiciaria.

One interesting angle was the use of blogs and messageboards to comment on the case.

However, this only formed forty seconds or so of the program.

We had Max Clifford in his "Honest Max' role defending the McCanns.

Jon Gaunt was also grilled and made the point he was a columnist, and he was only doing his job.

It would be hard for this blogger to criticize a program for featuring a tired angle on the McCann's, considering how many posts on this blog feature them.

However, the lack of any new content was dispiriting.