Horrocks, Mannion 'squabble' over Madeleine

BBC head of television news Peter Horrocks and ITV News editor-in-chief David Mannion have publicly disagreed over how their respective organisations are handling the Madeleine McCann story.

On Friday, Horrocks posted a blog in which he noted that the absence of hard facts have "created quite a few dilemmas". He added:

"However the situation that many facts are not reliably established has not stopped many of our press and broadcast colleagues from treating rumour as being newsworthy."

Horrocks cited a specific case from the week before in which it was claimed Madeleine had been sighted in Belgium.

"For instance, ITN led last week on a claim that a child like Madeleine had been sighted in Belgium. ITN headlined this with a lurid photo-fit of a suspect abductor with the words 'Does this man have Madeleine McCann?'

"The BBC gave little prominence to the possible Belgian sighting, on the basis that there have been many previous false sightings.

"Yesterday it turned out that DNA tests had shown that the Belgian sighting is very likely to have been false."

He continued:

"The BBC absolutely needs to distinguish between fact and rumour. But the enormous febrile and emotional atmosphere, enflamed by a media for whom this story is a potential commercial opportunity, have made that hard."

The post prompted a response from Mannion, who posted in the blog's comments section.

"Though I regard it as unseemly to squabble over such a tragic event as the one now engulfing the McCann family, I feel I must correct the impression made by Peter Horrocks concerning the reporting of the story by ITV News.

"Peter points out that the lack of hard information has made coverage of the story difficult and then goes on to suggest that the paucity of established facts has not stopped other news organisations from treating rumours as newsworthy."

He said that "like the BBC, ITV News has given little or no prominence to the countless sightings which appeared to have no basis in fact," and offered a rebuttal to Horrocks' characterisation of ITV's handling of the Belgium story.

"The Belgium sighting, however, was different. The person who believed she saw Madeleine was a highly credible witness, a professional woman who worked with children and often worked with the police. We sought and achieved an interview with the woman in order that we might establish for ourselves, her credentials and to question her about what she saw. The police in Belgium confirmed that they regarded the matter worthy of detailed follow up investigation. In my book this was a story and your article, Peter, amounts to little more than an excuse for missing it."