In the PR world the month of August used to be regarded as ‘silly season’. With politicians away, celebrities off to sunnier climates and many people trying to get through the school holidays, there isn’t often much to report. Traditionally this is the time when news stories that, at other times of the year, would generate little to no media interest dominate the headlines in print and online.

However, this all changed last year when the London riots erupted and we saw some of the worst atrocities to descend across the UK. No longer was August the month of non-stories making the news.

This year again there is little space for silly season stories. Since the start of the greatest sporting event to ever take place on British soil, which coincided with the start of the holiday period, media coverage has reviewed every angle, twist and turn and the subject matter consistently appears as a trending story on Twitter. Newspapers have dedicated pages to providing results, profiles, news and what to watch out for with pull out guides and souvenir issues.

Whilst the Olympic Games were always going to dominate the media headlines during this time it’s slightly worrying how some other important current stories are not actually as prominent as they perhaps should be including that of school girl Tia Sharp who has been missing for nearly a week.

A young, vulnerable 12 year old school girl’s continued disappearance didn’t make it onto the BBC evening news or London news last night and even today (8^th August) has only made it onto page 29 in the London edition of the Metro newspaper. Had this happened when the Olympics weren’t taking place then media coverage would be intense.

With the closing ceremony for the Olympics this coming Sunday and 17 days before the start of the Paralympics, hopefully a serious amount of editorial can finally be dedicated into helping find this little lost girl if she isn’t home already by then.