đź”— Share this article Madeleine McCann's Parent Demands Stricter Media Oversight Following Recollections of Media "Hounding". Gerry McCann, father to Madeleine McCann has issued a call for greater oversight for the UK media, recounting how intense press coverage made him feel like he was being "drowning under the pressure". The McCanns Tormented by Media Intrusion According to Gerry McCann, his family was tormented by press "excesses" and that the media had "repeatedly interfered with" the investigation into his daughter's 2007 disappearance. He stated that the intrusion took a "huge toll" on his family. "We endured constant scrutiny and inaccurate reports for over a year that compelled us to take legal action to stop it," he reportedly said. "We are lucky. We survived. We had incredible backing. However, I assure you, there were times where I felt like I was drowning, and it was the media, mainly, not the situation we were in," he stated. A Call to Revive Press Regulation Review McCann and his wife, Kate, are among a group of people who have signed a letter calling on ministers to revive the second part of the Leveson inquiry, which was intended to examine the relationship between the media and the police. McCann said it was not acceptable that over a year later, press regulation was "off the agenda". He said that his family had been victims of "monstering" by parts of the media and that the press was "posted" outside his home for months after the disappearance. Describing the Intrusion Recalling the harassment, he said: "Reporters arriving at our home, cameras being shoved their cameras against our car window, when we had young twin children in the back who were frightened, and how upsetting that is for you as a parent." "It's the half-truths. It's the fabrication of stories to suit a narrative, rather than the facts, which ruins lives," he emphasized. A Demand for Stronger Oversight and Accountability He said the conduct showed why there needed to be more robust press regulation. "In the evenings, we'd put on the news, and there'd be splash stories about ourselves and what supposedly happened," 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 the major publishers, there is little accountability," he argued. Official Position and Evolving Media Landscape The Culture Secretary commented that a second phase of the inquiry had been ruled out and that the media landscape was now drastically altered. "We agree that the landscape has transformed significantly since the Leveson's second phase was recommended: people now are more likely to get their news online from a whole variety of sources, which has presented new and different challenges," they explained. They added that balancing the rights of victims with the need for a free press was a "really difficult thing to get right," but acknowledged that "steps must be taken in this area". A Continued Search for Answers The child went missing from a family vacation apartment in 2007 when she was three years old. Her father expressed that it was "absolutely dismaying" how the press had frequently obstructed with the investigation. "Published material which ought to have remained private... Consequently, anyone involved, you knew much more than you should have done," he explained. Regarding the ongoing search, he said the chance he would find his daughter was "slim but it's not extinguished". "I'd love to find her alive, but we need to establish the facts and bring whoever's responsible, and others are at risk while that person is free," he affirmed.
Gerry McCann, father to Madeleine McCann has issued a call for greater oversight for the UK media, recounting how intense press coverage made him feel like he was being "drowning under the pressure". The McCanns Tormented by Media Intrusion According to Gerry McCann, his family was tormented by press "excesses" and that the media had "repeatedly interfered with" the investigation into his daughter's 2007 disappearance. He stated that the intrusion took a "huge toll" on his family. "We endured constant scrutiny and inaccurate reports for over a year that compelled us to take legal action to stop it," he reportedly said. "We are lucky. We survived. We had incredible backing. However, I assure you, there were times where I felt like I was drowning, and it was the media, mainly, not the situation we were in," he stated. A Call to Revive Press Regulation Review McCann and his wife, Kate, are among a group of people who have signed a letter calling on ministers to revive the second part of the Leveson inquiry, which was intended to examine the relationship between the media and the police. McCann said it was not acceptable that over a year later, press regulation was "off the agenda". He said that his family had been victims of "monstering" by parts of the media and that the press was "posted" outside his home for months after the disappearance. Describing the Intrusion Recalling the harassment, he said: "Reporters arriving at our home, cameras being shoved their cameras against our car window, when we had young twin children in the back who were frightened, and how upsetting that is for you as a parent." "It's the half-truths. It's the fabrication of stories to suit a narrative, rather than the facts, which ruins lives," he emphasized. A Demand for Stronger Oversight and Accountability He said the conduct showed why there needed to be more robust press regulation. "In the evenings, we'd put on the news, and there'd be splash stories about ourselves and what supposedly happened," 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 the major publishers, there is little accountability," he argued. Official Position and Evolving Media Landscape The Culture Secretary commented that a second phase of the inquiry had been ruled out and that the media landscape was now drastically altered. "We agree that the landscape has transformed significantly since the Leveson's second phase was recommended: people now are more likely to get their news online from a whole variety of sources, which has presented new and different challenges," they explained. They added that balancing the rights of victims with the need for a free press was a "really difficult thing to get right," but acknowledged that "steps must be taken in this area". A Continued Search for Answers The child went missing from a family vacation apartment in 2007 when she was three years old. Her father expressed that it was "absolutely dismaying" how the press had frequently obstructed with the investigation. "Published material which ought to have remained private... Consequently, anyone involved, you knew much more than you should have done," he explained. Regarding the ongoing search, he said the chance he would find his daughter was "slim but it's not extinguished". "I'd love to find her alive, but we need to establish the facts and bring whoever's responsible, and others are at risk while that person is free," he affirmed.