Madeleine McCann's Father Demands Stronger Media Regulation Amid Accounts of Media "Hounding".
Gerry McCann, father to Madeleine McCann has demanded more robust scrutiny of the UK media, recounting how intense press coverage made him feel as if he was being "suffocated and buried".
A Family Tormented by Press "Abuses"
Gerry McCann stated that his family was deeply affected by press "intrusions" and that the media had "repeatedly interfered with" the search for answers regarding his daughter's disappearance in 2007.
He emphasized that the intrusion took a "huge toll" on his family. "We had ongoing coverage and inaccurate reports for 15 months or more that compelled us to take legal action to stop it," he commented.
"We were fortunate. We got through it. We had incredible backing. Yet, I must tell you, there were times where I felt like I was drowning, and it was the media, mainly, not the situation we were in," he reflected.
An Appeal for Revive Leveson Inquiry
McCann and his wife, Kate, are among a group of people who have endorsed a letter asking the government to restart the second phase of the Leveson inquiry, which was set up to look into the relationship 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 subjected to "relentless targeting" by parts of the media and that the press was "posted" outside his home for months 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 two-year-old twins in the back who were scared, and how traumatic that is for you as a parent."
"It's the half-truths. It's the fabrication of stories to fit the agenda, rather than the truth, which ruins lives," he stated.
The Need for Stronger Oversight and Redress
He said the conduct demonstrated why there needed to be tougher press regulation. "At night, as we prepared for bed, we'd put on the news, and there'd be major reports about ourselves and alleged events," he told.
"That almost pulls you under, and you can see how people give in to it and think they can't get out of it. It's so damaging, and we need that protection. People deserve recourse. And at the minute, for most of the large media outlets, there is no redress," he asserted.
Government Position and Changing News Environment
A government minister said that a second phase of the inquiry had been rejected and that the media landscape was now drastically altered.
"We agree that the context has evolved dramatically from the time the Leveson's second phase was recommended: people now are more likely to get their news from diverse digital platforms, which has presented new and different challenges," they stated.
The minister further stated that balancing the needs of those affected with the principle of press freedom was a "really difficult thing to get right," but recognized that "reform is required in this area".
A Continued Search for Closure
Madeleine McCann disappeared from a Portuguese holiday resort in 2007 at the age of three. It was stated that it was "deeply disturbing" how the press had repeatedly interfered with the investigation.
"Confidential details which ought to have remained private... So if you were the perpetrator, you knew far more than you should have done," he noted.
Speaking about hope, he said the hope he would find his daughter was "faint yet persistent". "Our wish is to find her alive, but we need to discover the truth and bring whoever's responsible, and others are at risk while that perpetrator is free," he concluded.
