Did She Fall? Was She Pushed?

Here's a how-de-do. If you've watched more than 30 seconds of cable news, you know about the British couple whose daughter has gone missing in Portugal. But have you noticed an unexampled novelty in this case--the press can't figure out how to spin it (link):

I can't stand it any more. I can't stand the dizzying manipulation of my sympathies.

First I had a pretty clear idea of what had happened to poor little Maddie McCann.

Then all these horrible rumours started to emanate from the Portuguese police, and my emotions lurched off in the opposite direction; and then there would be a pretty compelling counter-rumour, and a learned essay from some expert in forensic science explaining that DNA tests were not all they were cracked up to be, until I have reached the position at 5.30 on Wednesday afternoon - the latest I dare to sit down to write this piece - when I frankly haven't got a clue what to think.
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I look in vain for guidance to the tabloid press, with its legions of reporters in Praia da Luz and long expertise in knowing which way to fan the hysteria of their readers. Which is it?

Are the McCann parents a brace of cold-hearted child killers who have managed to concoct a gigantic fraud involving the police forces of western Europe, the Papacy and hundreds of yellow ribbon-wearing British MPs?

Or are they loving and normal parents who have fallen victim to a terrible crime, and who now see their agony compounded by a half-baked stitch-up operation conducted by Portugal's equivalent of Inspector Clouseau?

Either way, it is a sensational tabloid story; and yet the papers cannot go either way. The journalists are stuck in the middle, uncertain, cautious, hedging. ...

That from the London Telegraph. And here is a wrinkle I don't think you'd get on this side of the puddle: the author is Boris Johnson, MP for Henley and a cross-over journalist politician. He's also Conservative Party candidate for Mayor of London.

[Thanks, Joel.]