Candid Camera: Clarence Mitchell

It’s interesting that Mitchell chooses to use the words “they thought it was important to stop people believing this”


I would have thought that, in talking about libel & defamation, he would have said speaking or writing. Instead, it was clear that the intent was to impregnate into people’s minds, that the McCanns had nothing to do with Madeleine’s alleged abduction and/or death.

I cannot understand how they were able to sue Rocky when he was only repeating the conclusion of the police files.  In the police files there remains Question 49, so why was permission given for the  action to proceed?
Another question which will remain unanswered probably.

Clarence Mitchell spinning for the McCanns (video posted up-thread [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.])  - February 2010.

"But under the laws of defamation, as a journalist you will well know, that it if you allege, in effect, someone is responsible for the death of their child and has in effect, covered in up, that is prima facie defamatory of your good name.  They therefore they not only .. but .. not only .. they had to take action on that basis but more importantly their own reputation, or the damage that was doing to their wider family, they thought it was important to stop people from believing this because it would mean the search for Madeleine was hindered .. so this was a clear cut case of defamation regardless of the right (?) response ..

Yes, you have the freedom of speech to say what you want, within the rule of law ...."
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Hang on a minute Mr Mitchell, weren't/aren't you employed by the McCanns to act as their media manipulator monitor - how do you explain this?

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A nice hefty out of court settlement - eh?

Mr Amaral was doing his job, his book was a prosaic personal account of his brief assignment as case coordinator - in short, it was in accord with the Portuguese police investigation as published in great detail in the public domain back in the summer of 2008.

Did not that, along with the damning UK media reports, damage the 'search'?  Why was Mr Amaral's book, television interviews and his documentary been singled out?  Did not the McCanns own documentary damage the 'search', as it focused on Jane Tanner;s sighting, which according to ex-DCI Andy Redwood, was a mistake?

Why haven't the McCanns sued themselves for perverting the course of justice and harming the 'search'?  Rhetorical question of course!

Clarence 'pretty in pink' Mitchell stands for the conservative party for Brighton and Hove constituency.

Brighton Pier Pavilion [circa. May 2015]


Fully aware of the liberalness of the audience in attendance, Caroline Lucas kept it simple on the night. It was her debate to lose, after all, with opinion polls giving her a 10-point lead over Labour’s Purna Sen. Lucas stuck rigidly to her party line throughout, campaigning for free education, a re-nationalisation of the railways and an end to the ‘creeping privatisation of the NHS,’ amongst other issues. Only occasionally did the audience get a glimpse of the feisty nature that has endeared her to many during her time in the Commons, as she clashed with Conservative candidate Clarence Mitchell over the affordability of the Greens’ public spending plans.

Having noted the popularity of the Green Party amongst the students, both the Labour and Liberal Democrat candidates could be seen to consciously lurch to the left on key issues, leaving Clarence Mitchell isolated and alone on the right in defence of austerity. Though strong on local issues such as reducing parking charges and regenerating the seafront, which were welcomed warmly, the national Conservative dogma of ‘austerity and efficiency’ was continually laughed down by the audience. On multiple occasions throughout the evening, Mitchell was reduced to berating the audience for their rudeness towards him. Not a good night for the Tory, who may find come polling day that shouting at people is not the best way to get them to vote for you.

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It was a 3-horse race with CM coming third with a 22.8% share after the Greens and Labour.

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Clarrie/C.A. fiasco
Forward to about ten mins in to get past beeping.
I do have to wonder why Clarrie has been chosen to cover up for C.A. now?
Watching it a second time, it seems to me that Clarrie is being thrown under the bus, to protect C.A.'s name, which is never going to be trusted again. FaceBook has seen record numbers of ppl leaving, since this scandal broke, and no wonder. Even if you have never had an account your data is more than likely being passed about and sold to advertisers, and many other third parties online. Everything online ends up on the cloud now anyway, just go and look for yourself. This is all the slippery slope towards the Chinese "social credit scoring" - Totalitarianism.1984. A brave new world. China owns Apple now, and Google owns the whole world of online data.
It may not affect me in my lifetime, but they are definitely gearing up for our children's data to be locked into this forever. 
The public do not trust C.A. or Facebook, and never will so why has Clarrie been chosen as their spokesman? He would be the last 'spokesman' I would employ. And is he so desperate now that he doesn't mind being associated with such an invasive and illegal company?

He's perfect for the job.

As head of the MMU his job was "to control what comes out in the media", so maybe it's a natural progression to control what comes out in social media.

Maybe it's always been part of the 'wider agenda'.

Clarence Mitchell wrote:I have never felt the need to ask them that question because we have spoken contantly about this subject, and both tell me that they are innocent. Since I have spent a month with them, I believe in what they tell me. It is enough to see how they deal with the twins, Sean and Amelie. You can see that they are dedicated to their children and that they would never do anything to hurt them. This argument may not prove anything, but for me it is important that I work with honest people.

Well, there's an almighty clanger before you start.

Verdi wrote:

Upon his return he went back to his former role; just last month he was pushing a new initiative at the Media Monitoring Unit looking at an online monitoring product to track public debates from blogs.'

Hi Verdi,The Conservative Party has extremely close links to Cambridge Analytca,it took over five days for a Judge from the UK to gain legal access to a building they were operating from in the UK?
So they had five days start to delete information!?
The Government if not corrupted would have just turned off the supply of power,"Oh One of those "Privatised companies" has just cut through the mains,purely an accident,then the"rodents" would have fled from the nests,just walk in while they were leaving with a writ,like "Can't Pay,We'll take it Away" it works for their teams to walk through an "Open door" so why should Cambridge Analtyca be any different?

Where's a pushy spook when he is needed...?
Why right on Sky freebie News Channel! I saw him out of the corner of my eye, and then recognised his voice. He decribed himself as 'spokesman' for Cambridge Analytica. Journos and other questioners were asking reasonably about the precise actions of the firm. Where was boss, Mr Nix?... and a lot else. Scornful and domineering, he talked over the punters. (Their mikes seemed feeble and in short supply) Airily he waved his hand and said, 'unfortunately Mr Nix is currently indisposed. He will answer questions later'.

The whole topic of Facebook, HOC Committees, and Camridge Analytica is has security implications... so send for Clarence. There he was, being a bullying Mr Fixit..

comperedna wrote:Where's a pushy spook when he is needed...?
Why right on Sky freebie News Channel! I saw him out of the corner of my eye, and then recognised his voice. He decribed himself as 'spokesman' for Cambridge Analytica. Journos and other questioners were asking reasonably about the precise actions of the firm. Where was boss, Mr Nix?... and a lot else. Scornful and domineering, he talked over the punters. (Their mikes seemed feeble and in short supply) Airily he waved his hand and said, 'unfortunately Mr Nix is currently indisposed. He will answer questions later'.

The whole topic of Facebook, HOC Committees, and Camridge Analytica is has security implications... so send for Clarence. There he was, being a bullying Mr Fixit..

Hi comparedna,the One and only Lie machine was on channel four News. 
Where the interviewer Victoria Derbyshire gave Clarence a filibuster blathering idiot moment,that he was just a mendacious spook working for the Government in whatever role they had given him as their chosen PR, for Mr Nix,Cambridge Analytica,Cover Up,with serious links to the Conservative Party! 
Mr Nix now wasn't available to comment on Cambridge Analytica as his Brain was now being altered so as not to spin the wrong message about "Honey traps,revelations of past devious activities" but openly allowed to spin Bullshit if your names Clarence Mitchell,paid shrill for Kate,Gerry for the past Eleven yrs?

Surely there is something wrong in the UK Society and the system of Government,when a mendacious liar can be used to the MSM, Openly spreading false narratives of what Mr Nix had openly stated on camera(Under cover) to forthcoming business partners,that what he had divulged was now not true!? :wtf2:

It has become known via the channels of investigative resources where they have caught out the methods used by Cambridge Analytica, be it in Poland,Serbia,the next President of America,UK, Brexit via Facebook of stealing information from people without their consumed knowledge by apps applied to the Operating system,Mark Zuckerberb?

Hi Skyrocket, I have just viewed the Interview with Mendacious Clarence,He(Clarence) has only been onboard for One week and here was spouting finally astute words to flannel the interviewer yes I got the channel Four presenter wrong,as confirmed Siobahn Kennedy, apologies to Victoria Derbyshire!  
What an excellent interview by Siobahn and yes he was decidedly uncomfortable,especially when nailed about the Independence of the QC paid by Cambridge Analytica, your acting with impunity!

Clarence Mitchell last seen on Deck of the Exon Valdez discussing formulas and World events,hes as slick as what that Sailing Vessel left behind?

Operation Grange,a Cover Up of UK Government collusion on the disappearance of a Three year old child named Madeleine McCann,joint operation not to find what happened,as seen by the Cognitive Dissonance by people in Power,the Establishment?

McCann's main media man goes into battle for scandal-hit Cambridge Analytica

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The PR supremo who became the key spokesman for missing girl Madeleine McCann's parents is now acting as a "hired gun" for controversial UK data firm, Cambridge Analytica.
Cambridge Analytica has been engulfed by scandal since accusations last month that the consultancy had misused personal information from as many as 87 million Facebook accounts.
Clarence Mitchell, a former seasonedBBC news reporter, is the man Cambridge Analytica last week put front and centre to help fight the growing backlash from the government and public.
Mitchell has forged a reputation as a highly-skilled publicist able to operate in cauldron-like conditions, following his hiring by Kate and Gerry McCann in the days after both parents were declared formal suspects in the 2007 disappearance of their daughter.
The McCanns came under unimaginable intense media pressure, particularly in the summer of 2007, in the months after three-year-old Maddie vanished from a holiday resort in Portugal.

Mitchell was viewed by some as using his influence to reverse the tide of what had become an increasingly negative portrayal of the McCanns in UK media.
Last week, in what was Cambridge Analytica's first counter-attack since the scandal broke in March, Mitchell was announced spokesman for the firm and he immediately went on the offensive.

"The company has been portrayed in some quarters as almost some Bond villain," Mitchell said in a press briefing. "Cambridge Analytica is no Bond villain."
Cambridge Analytica didn't use any of the Facebook data in the work it did for Trump's campaign and it never did any work on the Brexit campaign, Mitchell said.
Mitchell later sat down for a 30-minute grilling with the Channel 4 news journalist who had broken much of the story, including highly damaging undercover footage of Cambridge Analytica's chief executive.
During sometimes [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], C4 journalist Siobhan Kennedy criticised Mitchell as being a "hired gun" and "a stooge".

Kennedy asked Mitchell if it was appropriate that Cambridge Analytica had used him to "do their dirty work" instead of wheeling out executives to answer the hard questions.
Mitchell said Cambridge Analytica was "a good company" that had been subject to a firestorm of speculation, misinformation and misunderstanding.
"It's kind of you to say I'm a stooge, I'm certainly not a stooge," Mitchell responded. "I'm here to represent the company in the media focus given my own professional background."
Before working for the McCanns, Mitchell enjoyed a prized role as head of the UK government's Media Monitoring Unit (MMU).
The MMU, a team of several dozen analysts, was linked to 10 Downing Street. Their role was to the keep the prime minister and government departments aware of important stories in the 24/7 news agenda.
In the decade since Madeleine vanished, Mitchell has been a constant trusted presence at the side of Kate and Gerry.

This week will mark the [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] in mysterious circumstances that have never been solved.
Madeleine Beth McCann, who was just days away from her fourth birthday, went missing from apartment 5A of the Ocean Club Resort in an alleged abduction on the night of May 3.
Arguidos status (formal suspect) was lifted from Kate and Gerry when the 14-month Portuguese police investigation was shelved because of a [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.].
The McCanns have always steadfastly denied any involvement in the disappearance of Madeleine.

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Mr Mitchell appears to be having some difficulty holding down a job since his full time appointment with Brian Kennedy, working solely for team McCann..

Cambridge Analytica: Facebook data-harvest firm to shut

Cambridge Analytica, the political consultancy at the centre of the Facebook data-sharing scandal, is shutting down.

The firm was accused of improperly obtaining personal information on behalf of political clients.

According to Facebook, data about up to 87 million of its members was harvested by a quiz app and then passed on to the political consultancy.

The social network said its own probe into the matter would continue.

"This doesn't change our commitment and determination to understand exactly what happened and make sure it doesn't happen again," said a spokesman.

"We are continuing with our investigation in cooperation with the relevant authorities."

What are the accusations against Cambridge Analytica?

The company has been accused of using the personal data of millions of Facebook users to sway the outcome of the US 2016 presidential election and the UK Brexit referendum.

In March, Channel 4 aired undercover footage of Cambridge Analytica's CEO, Alexander Nix, giving examples of how the firm could swing elections around the world with underhand tactics such as smear campaigns and honey traps.

The UK-based company, which denies any wrongdoing, has an extensive record of working abroad on many election campaigns, including in Italy, Kenya and Nigeria.

Why does it is say it is shutting?

Clarence Mitchell, a spokesman for Cambridge Analytica, referred the BBC to a statement on the firm's website.

"Over the past several months, Cambridge Analytica has been the subject of numerous unfounded accusations and, despite the company's efforts to correct the record, has been vilified for activities that are not only legal, but also widely accepted as a standard component of online advertising in both the political and commercial arenas," it said.

"Despite Cambridge Analytica's unwavering confidence that its employees have acted ethically and lawfully... the siege of media coverage has driven away virtually all of the company's customers and suppliers.

"As a result, it has been determined that it is no longer viable to continue operating the business."

The statement added that its parent company SCL Elections was also commencing bankruptcy proceedings.

Read on..

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Hi Verdi,it seems as though "Cambridge Analytica" could be the new"Bell-Pottinger" with mysterious connections to the Conservative Party!
You mention African Countries,Kenya,Nigeria,didn't Bell - Pottinger also become embroiled in similar shenanigans in abusing the democratic process just recently?
Now here in the UK the Conservatives are in a right state over Brexit,with Jacob Rees Mogg,Boris Johnson,Michael Gove and their cohorts providing funds to the EGR shenanigans of funds from the Government on the Brexit vote! 
Wasn't Clarence Mitchell a prodigy from Bell-Pottinger mixed up with a claim involving Carter Ruck,Democratic Congress in Africa,Nigeria,Trafigura,were they fleeced the payments to the people who had been poisoned?

willowthewisp wrote:Hi Verdi,it seems as though "Cambridge Analytica" could be the new"Bell-Pottinger" with mysterious connections to the Conservative Party!
You mention African Countries,Kenya,Nigeria,didn't Bell - Pottinger also become embroiled in similar shenanigans in abusing the democratic process just recently?
Now here in the UK the Conservatives are in a right state over Brexit,with Jacob Rees Mogg,Boris Johnson,Michael Gove and their cohorts providing funds to the EGR shenanigans of funds from the Government on the Brexit vote! 
Wasn't Clarence Mitchell a prodigy from Bell-Pottinger mixed up with a claim involving Carter Ruck,Democratic Congress in Africa,Nigeria,Trafigura,were they fleeced the payments to the people who had been poisoned?

Yep! 

Wasn't also Kevin Halligan of Oakley International fame, also heavily involved with the shenanigans of Trafigura?

Verdi wrote:

Hi Verdi,before being made Arquido's plenty of Government contact,Once made,"Arquido's" No Government contact?

But Mr Gordon Brown is thought to have blackmailed,coerced President Jose Socrates,Lisbon Treaty-Freeport agreement,to have the Portugal PJ Lead Detective to be removed from Madeleine McCann's case and ever since they refuses to answer any questions in regard to Madeleine McCann's disappearance case?

Gerry McCann had a special BBC breakfast radio Show,with Ed Miliband about IPSO being so inept in rebuttals of"Freedom of The Press" Hacked Off,Six days after the Police informed Mr McCann to keep a low profile on the anniversary of Madeleine's disappearance,as it could hinder or damage the search?

I think this is an interesting article - primarily because of the use of the epithet 'stooge'. I hope it's okay to put it here:
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Crackfox wrote:I think this is an interesting article - primarily because of the use of the epithet 'stooge'. I hope it's okay to put it here:
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Thank you Crackfox, that's interesting if for no other reason it's written by Mark Saunokonoko, who just happens to have connections with CMoMM.

Plus it led me to another report by Mark Saunokonoko about the recent promotion of Luis Neves, which I'll post over on the other thread.

Media and PR

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Tribute in Madeleine's home town of [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], 17 May 2007

A Polícia Judiciária officer acknowledged in 2010 that the Portuguese police had been suspicious of the McCanns from the start, because of the "media circus".  Gerry McCann told Vanity Fair in 2008 that he had decided to "market" Madeleine to keep her in the public eye. To that end, a string of public-relations people arrived in Praia da Luz, deeply resented by the local police, who saw the media attention as counterproductive.  Alex Woolfall of the British PR firm [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], representing Mark Warner Ltd, dealt with the media for the first ten days, then the British government sent in press officers. This was apparently unprecedented.

The first was Sheree Dodd, a former Daily Mirror journalist, then Clarence Mitchell, director of media monitoring for the [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.].  On 15 May the McCanns set up [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], a limited company, to raise money; its website attracted 58 million hits in the first two days. The PR team arranged regular events to give the reporters a news peg. There was a visit to [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], where three children had reported a [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] in 1917, as well as to Holland, Germany, Morocco and Spain. On 30 May, accompanied by reporters, the couple flew to Rome—in Sir [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]'s [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]—to meet [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.].  The following month balloons were let off in 300 cities around the world.  From early June journalists began to voice concerns.  The "sheer professionalism of it ... troubled journalists", according to [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.].


When the government withdrew Mitchell, the McCanns hired Justine McGuinness, who was reportedly headhunted for the job. When she left, Hanover Communications took over briefly, headed by Charles Lewington, formerly [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]'s private secretary. In September 2007 Brian Kennedy of [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] stepped forward as a benefactor and offered to cover Clarence Mitchell's salary so that he could return. Mitchell resigned from his government position and started working for the McCanns full-time; he was later paid by Madeleine's Fund.


Placing Madeleine on the front page of a British newspaper would sell up to 30,000 extra copies. She appeared on the cover of People magazine on 28 May 2007 on the front page of several British tabloids every day for almost six months, and became one of [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]'s menu options: "UK News", "Madeleine", "World News".   Between May 2007 and July 2008, the Portuguese tabloid [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] published 384 articles about her.  By June 2008 over seven million posts and 3,700 videos were returned in a search for her name on YouTube.


^wikipedia

're Sheree Dodd, is it known how this turned out?
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Sorry if I've posted the link wrong.

Marco wrote:'re Sheree Dodd, is it known how this turned out?
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Sorry if I've posted the link wrong.

The answer is in the link you provide.

for information..

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Profile: Clarence Mitchell, spokesman for the McCann family

November 28, 2007 by Hannah Marriott

Clarence Mitchell has only been in PR for a few months. But at the CIPR's presidential reception three weeks ago, he was certainly the star turn.

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Once word got around that the spokesman for the McCann family was in attendance, the great and the good of the PR ind­ustry were almost queuing up to talk to him, all eager to find out a little more about the mystery of Madeleine’s disappearance.

Mitchell is a seasoned hard news reporter, who worked for the BBC for nearly 20 years, and then for the Government’s Media Monitoring Unit (MMU) for two years, before being seconded out to handle the media in Portugal for the McCanns tow­ards the end of May.

As a reporter, Mitchell says he was ‘always seen as a fireman’, and would be flown in ‘when there was trouble kicking off in Northern Ireland’, or in other dangerous locations such as Iran and Iraq. He also covered the death of Princess Diana, the murder of Milly Dowler and the Fred and Rosemary West mass-murders.

Like any reporter, Mitchell became used to being dispassionate. He describes one of his ‘lucky breaks’ as being on the motorway behind the Kegworth air crash on the M1 in 1989: ‘It sounds dreadful, but that’s journalism – you need to be in the right place at the right time.’

In his current role, of course, Mitchell is far from neutral – indeed, he is vehemently convinced of the McCanns’ innocence, a fact that has not been lost on the press covering the story. One national newspaper journalist describes Mitchell’s work with the McCanns as a ‘crusade to right what he perceives as a real injustice’.

Mitchell wears his commitment to the family almost literally on his sleeve, sporting a pair of bright yellow and green campaign wristbands. He also has a yellow and green ribbon pinned to his lapel, signifying the search for a missing person and strength.

Mitchell was first sent to meet Gerry McCann at East Midlands airport two weeks after Madeleine’s disappearance. The pair flew back together to Portugal. Mitchell then spent an intense month of 15-hour days with the family.

He had to return to his government role, and others handled the McCanns’ PR. But even then, he says, the family still called him for advice in his own time. ‘We had bec­ome friends,’ he says. ‘But I couldn’t help them beyond the odd phone call, bec­ause officially the Government couldn’t be seen to be involved.’ In September, he quit his government role in order to work for the family, at a time when much of the media seemed to be turning against the McCanns.

Mitchell is clear about the reasons for this change of feeling: ‘I have to be careful what I say, but somebody who has good connections with the police decided early on, it appears, that they were somehow involved, and decided to plant stories.’

The Portuguese press ran these stories – ‘they have a very lurid end to the tabloid market, just as we do,’ he says – and then the British press picked them up.

Mitchell is obviously angry with the press, many of whom he believes were simply ‘recycling rubbish’: ‘As a former journalist myself, some of the behaviour of the British press has been shameful.’

Mitchell played a great part in quashing the most negative of these stories. He exp­lains that he had a very simple strategy: ‘When I came aboard Gerry and Kate were being accused left, right and centre. What people don’t always understand is that the papers aren’t running these stories necessarily because they believe them – they are good angles. They will also run an equally good angle from the other side.’

Mitchell also gets fired up at accusations from some sections of the press that the McCanns have been too concerned with PR. He says that the majority of the time he is turning down requests for interviews.

And at the beginning of the campaign, when then McCanns were raising awareness, the strategy was different. As someone with three young children, Mitchell says: ‘I would say that any family in this situation – myself included – would hit the phones and do what they could.’

Mitchell admits that he does get angry. But one journalist covering the case says that the fact that Mitchell ‘is not afraid to say what he thinks’ can only be a good thing for the McCanns.

When Mitchell left the BBC in 2005 it was because he had reached a plateau, having being passed over for the role of royal correspondent and realising he would never present the Ten O’Clock News.

He describes his post at the Government’s MMU as an ‘inward-facing, administration role’, adding: ‘Sometimes when there was a big story I’d be thinking, I know where I’d be today.’

Now, he’s back at the heart of the story. Indeed, Steve Anderson, the Mentorn Media creative director, who was the exec­utive producer on this month’s Panorama Special: The Mystery of Madeleine McCann, goes as far as to stay that this was the job Mitchell was ‘meant to do’.

Mitchell seems completely driven by personal conviction and adrenaline, and it is understandably difficult for him to predict what he will be doing next. Officially, he says, he is now communications director for multi-millionaire Brian Kennedy – the McCanns’ main benefactor – so he will still be employed when the situation is res­olved. After that he will look into opportunities, either with Kennedy or elsewhere.

At the end of the interview, Mitchell cannot help but bring the message home: ‘Don’t forget that in the middle of all this there is a little girl out there, alive, and she needs to be found and brought home.’

TURNING POINTS...

What was your biggest career break? There have been a few at different times. Getting into papers in the first place, after a couple of years in a boring job I didn’t like, in a bank. And being on a motorway when an aircrash happens in front of you, from a reporter’s point of view, is a big break. Having the Prime Minister as your local MP is a big break. I’ve been in the right place at the right time many times. And without the government role I would never have been in touch with Gerry and Kate, so you could say that was a break as well.

What advice would you give someone climbing the career ladder? Know what you want to do, absolutely focus on it and keep ploughing away. Eventually people will start taking your seriously. That applies to journalism, to PR, to any walk of life.

Who was your most notable mentor? I haven’t had a mentor as such. I’m pretty much
self-driven, although there have been people I have respected. My very first newspaper editor, Dennis Signy, was very influential and I’m very grateful to him. A number of BBC editors have also been very kind. That said, you make your own luck.

What do you prize most in new recruits? Drive, a degree of ambition, but properly focused. Passion underscored with scepticism.

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Hi Verdi,Tiswas was ahead of the game,with the gunk tank,perhaps Clarence was unrecognisable masked in gunge but little has changed on that personae,he couldn't save the Conservative Party friends "Cambridge Analytica" a Bridge too Far,similar to the Mc's?

Clarence Mitchell, official spokesman for Kate and Gerry McCann, tells a Dubai audience how he used PR to battle with the press during the search for their missing daughter.

by PAUL McCLENNAN
15 November 2009

EVEN BY Clarence Mitchell's own admission, there has never been a search quite like the one launched two-and-a-half years ago for Madeleine McCann. "It was a story that shocked the world," said Clarence Mitchell, as an opening remark to a presentation he gave last week at the PR Congress in Dubai.

Mitchell, a former BBC journalist of 20 years, quit his role as director of media monitoring at the British government's Central Office of Information in September 2007, to handle the McCanns' PR full time.

He was quick to point out to delegates that, "There is no evidence to suggest Madeleine is dead, and until the family know that for sure then we will continue to look for her". Only last week, the McCann's issued new pictures of Maddie to the media, illustrating how her appearance would have changed since she went missing on 3 May 2007 in Portugal.

Mitchell believes Maddie, aged four at the time, is still widely talked about due to the fact her disappearance occurred during the digital age. "Madeleine is the first, and most high-profile, missing child case in the internet era," he said.

Recalling the early days of the Maddie case, Mitchell said, "The Portuguese police thought it suspicious that a government advisor should turn up, but it was only because of all the media attention [that I was appointed]. I remember standing on the balcony counting 42 TV crews from around the world. It was a phenomenal situation which no family could have coped with."

Mitchell said the McCann family then had to endure leaks and rumours which emerged from Portugal, due to a "lack of evidence", surrounding Maddie's disappearance. "Stories were picked up by the British media and were mistranslated. So we had a distortion of the original distortion - it was a complete cycle of lunacy. There were soon debates for and against the McCanns and that needed to be monitored. Where it strayed into libel we took action because it was imperative to set down a marker."

It wasn't long before Mitchell had to call upon his PR skills to help shape the stories that were published about Maddie. "A few months later I needed to get positive messages out into the media and rebuff the lies. We had to challenge the preconceptions - this was done privately with editors. We had to establish our own narrative and key messages," he said.

"Journalists were hounding everyone who knew the McCanns," said Mitchell. "Reporters came to the door every day. For six months there were photographers at the end of the driveway, photographers crawling through hedges looking for them. Journalists wanted material for the 20-day and 50-day anniversaries - it was ridiculous."

"British newspapers did step out of line and we had 108 grossly defamatory headlines from the Express Newspaper's four titles, based on misinformation coming out of Portugal. We recived front page apologies and £500,000 damages which went to the search fund. We also had apologies News of the World for printing parts of Kate's diary."

Mitchell and the McCanns still have to be prepared for factually incorrect stories, such as false sightings, appearing in the papers. "We always have to act swiftly against rubbish being disseminated in the media. But if you respect the media they will respect you back. The age of 'no comment' has gone - you have to engage," said Mitchell, who sometimes fields 300 calls a day from journalists around the world writing about the case.

Another challenge he is faced with is releasing fresh information to the media at the right time: "For the first anniversay we had to offer the press something decent to keep the interest going so we did Panorama and Hello!. For the second anniversary Oprah had been chasing us for some time so we worked with her. [The broadcast was televised in 144 countries.] I have 120 interview bids on the table for Kate and Gerry, from their local paper in Leicestershire to Larry King. We have also worked with Al Jazeera because we feel there's a chance Madeleine could be in the north of Africa."

TV appearances were not easy for the McCanns, who were closely scrutinised every time they appeared in front of the television cameras. "The police told them from the outset not to show emotion in interviews because there are cases when kidnappers get satisfaction from seeing the distress they've caused," explained Mitchell. "So Kate and Gerry did this but were then vilified across Portuguese media for being too cold and suspicious. Then when Kate did break down and cry people said she was just crying crocodile tears."

When asked by Media Week how the public viewed PR following Maddie's disappearance, Mitchell said, "I think the public, for various reasons, can be suspicious about PR - they don't see it as necessary and that it's there to hide and confuse. But that is categorically not the case in this instance." He also said that Arabic coverage of the case tended to be neutral.

Mitchell wrapped up the talk by saying he hoped media interest in Maddie would continue. He said, "Any story will have a gradual decline as time goes by but the media is still devoted to covering it [the Maddie case.] We will do what we can to keep it out there and I will continue for as long as Kate and Gerry want me to. But let's hope it all ends tomorrow with a phone call."

We had to challenge the preconceptions - this was done privately with editors.

Quite extraordinary.

I guess if you are the Governments Media Manipulator you can do that.

Extraordinary.