When the Media Hurricane Hits

The parents of Madeleine McCann, a four-year-old British girl reported missing during a family vacation in Portugal four months ago, know how to get good coverage from a fickle press industry. Or maybe they ran into a bit of luck.

Interest in her case has waned over the months. But to compensate for the news media's short attention span, the McCanns are going to air commercials all over Europe in two weeks to remind the world that their daughter is still missing. Naturally, this has again brought fresh coverage from various news networks such as CNN, BBC and MSNBC.

The family has already received more than $2 million in donations for a Find Madeleine fund, and Richard Branson, chairman of Virgin Group, pledged an additional $200,000 toward the McCann's defense expenses, as they are still considered suspects in the case.