Madeleine McCann's Parent Calls for Stricter Media Regulation Following Accounts of Media "Hounding".

The father of Madeleine McCann has demanded greater scrutiny of the UK media, detailing how being "monstered" by the press made him feel as if he was being "drowning under the pressure".

A Family Tormented by Press "Abuses"

Gerry McCann stated that his family was deeply affected by press "excesses" and that the media had "consistently hampered" the investigation into his daughter's 2007 disappearance.

He emphasized that the media attention exacted a "significant emotional cost" on his family. "We endured ongoing coverage and inaccurate reports for over a year that compelled us to take legal action to stop it," he commented.

"We are lucky. We got through it. We had strong support. However, I assure you, there were times where I felt like I was being suffocated, and it was the media, primarily, not the situation we were in," he stated.

A Call to Revive Leveson Inquiry

McCann and his wife, Kate, are among dozens of individuals who have endorsed a letter calling on the government to revive the second part of the Leveson inquiry, which was intended to examine the dynamic between the media and the police.

McCann said it was unacceptable that more than a year on, press regulation was "no longer a priority". He said that his family had been victims of "relentless targeting" by certain the media and that the press was "posted" outside his home for an extended period after the disappearance.

Recounting the Intrusion

Describing the intrusion, he said: "Journalists coming to the house, photographers pushing their cameras against our car window, when we had young twin children in the back who were scared, and how distressing that is for you as a parent."

"It's the misleading narratives. It's the fabrication of stories to suit a narrative, rather than the facts, which destroys people's lives," he stated.

A Demand for Tougher Regulation and Redress

He said the conduct demonstrated why there needed to be more robust press regulation. "At night, as we prepared for bed, we'd put on the news, and there'd be front-page headlines about ourselves and unverified claims," he said.

"That can drag you down, and you can see how people are broken by it and think they can't get out of it. It's so damaging, and we need that protection. There must be accountability. And at the minute, for most of these mainstream media, there is no effective recourse," he asserted.

Government Response and Changing Media Landscape

A government minister said that a second phase of the inquiry had been discounted and that the media landscape was now drastically altered.

"Our position aligns that the situation has changed profoundly from the time the second part of Leveson was recommended: the public is now more likely to get their news from the internet, which has presented new and different challenges," they stated.

It was also noted that balancing the needs of those affected with the principle of press freedom was a "complex balance to get right," but recognized that "action is needed in this area".

A Continued Search for Answers

The child went missing from a Portuguese holiday resort in 2007 when she was three years old. Gerry McCann said that it was "absolutely dismaying" how the press had repeatedly interfered with the investigation.

"Published material which ought to have remained private... So if you were the perpetrator, you knew far more than you should have done," he said.

On the prospect of finding Madeleine, he said the hope he would find his daughter was "slim but it's not extinguished". "We hope to find her alive, but we need to find out what happened and see justice served, and others are at risk while whoever is responsible is free," he concluded.