There's never been a story like it.

The disappearance of Madeleine McCann a year ago produced a huge number of comments.

I posted a blog about it after she had been missing for only a few days to explain why we were devoting air-time to the story.

Various other posts on this and other blogs have also led to a big debate.

And our interview with Kate and Gerry McCann, one year on, has provoked a wide range of opinions which are just as strong as they were 12 months ago.

We put some of your questions to Madeleine's parents during the interview.

I am constantly trying to promote interactivity within Sky News and I believe you have a part to play in the news coverage.

The fact remains that Madeleine is still missing, her fate unknown.

Paul

Comments

[paul stone 23 May 2008 19:25:30]

i feel sorry for madeleine
but have the McCanns never
heard of takeaways . They
packed them off to a creche
all day then left them alone at night some holiday for the
kids.

[Kelly 23 May 2008 05:11:48]

So many cold hearted people who want to judge the McCanns. How dare you! I am an American who will never give up or lose interest in Madeleine until she is found.
I am shocked at the human race. How could people think this is a publicity stunt? Get real. A child is missing.

[Hayley Liverpool 20 May 2008 08:34:55]

As I see it, how can anyone leave 3 young children alone, especially in a strange country where they don't know where they are or know anyone who's there? It's getting a bit boring now hearing about it all the time.

Fair enough, it's not nice losing a child but to be honest it something that Mr and Mrs McCann should not have let happen. They should have made sure the kids were looked after.

It's time to hear something else on the news, and not the McCanns trying to get sympathy for their own mistakes.

[Kirsten Mayor, Congleton 16 May 2008 11:09:09]

I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure, Alex Boakye of Bristol, that an 0845 is a number you pay for the privilege of using so that everyone can call at a local rate from anywhere in the UK. It has NOTHING to do with making money. What a despicable allegation.

[andre south africa 15 May 2008 18:24:51]

I have no sympathy for the McCanns. How can two educated people even think of leaving three children alone. What would have happened if there was a fire, an illness or any other type of emergency - was Maddie, who was the eldest, supposed to handle the problem?

It is sad that a child has been lost but even when it first happened you very seldom saw the other children, the parents where still going all over the place without them. As a mother of three, if that had happened to my child, the other two would never have been out of my sight. Let them now carry on without all the fanfare - there are bigger problems in the world.

[Stephen Ramsey 12 May 2008 16:02:53]

I am fed up of hearing about the McCanns. As many people have commented around where I live: if they had been unemployed, smoking cigarettes the Portuguese police would have arrested them and taken the other chidren into care. Because he is a cardiologist and she a GP nothing happens. How many parents leave a 4 year old on their own anyway?

[larry ejele 8 May 2008 11:38:32]

It gets really fustrating how one should perceive issues concerning missing persons in recent times.This is because the sensationalism brought about by news coverage for whatever guise, be it for helpline purposes, headline purposes or for whatever reasons helps to disbalance the viewers sense of how to react to such news. Following recent cases such as the missing 'but found' Shannon Mathews and the more recent Josef Fritzl cases, it gets even tougher for the viewers to express a balanced and unbiased display of emotions without fear of what lies at the end of the tunnel.

While I sincerely feel the burden of the McCanns, at least as a parent myself, i find such feelings betrayed by the discovery and the latest rantings of Josef Fritzl saga.

This has left me with only one fear - let the day not come when viewers shun from publicised appeals for vital information on missing persons for fear that their opinions or even interest are only presented for use in a kangaroo court.

[Alex Boakye, Bristol 6 May 2008 11:47:21]

I was disappointed to read on Sky News the new hotline to contact for information leading to Madeleine is an 0845 number. Why can't they use an 0800 or 02 or 01 number which is free to ring on most networks even mobile phones. It just add up to the theory that the McCanns are making money out of this campaign which I hope is not. I do honestly believe that she is alive and will be found.

[Kaz 5 May 2008 12:29:18]

Please thank Dermot for one of the few more balanced interviews I have so far heard of this couple. Why are most interviews of the McCanns so sycophantic? Though many viewers questions chosen were of the 'Prime Minister do tell us about your policies' type, one or two were quite apt and incisive.

So many questions need to be asked, and Dermot did manage one or two. Hooray!

Best wishes... and more power to your elbow

[Neil and Lesley Wilding 5 May 2008 12:27:13]

We have just watched Dermot Murnaghan interview Kate and Gerry McCann and we both have to say it was one of the best Sky interviews we have ever seen.

Dermot managed to successfully explore the events in Portugal and the thoughts and feelings of the McCanns without the normal Sky trait of provocation and further sensationalism. The interview was therefore informative and thought provoking without being left with the feeling we had been battered by a media view.
It left us in no doubt that the caring, listening and positive approach during this interview by Dermot helped the McCanns to relax and cope with what must once again been
an ordeal for them both.
Well done Dermot! You should share your techniques with some of your colleagues.