The McCann family Parent Calls for Tougher Press Regulation Following Accounts of Media "Tormenting".

Gerry McCann, father to Madeleine McCann has urged for more robust scrutiny of the UK media, detailing how intense press coverage made him feel that he was being "drowning under the pressure".

The McCanns Subjected to Press "Abuses"

Gerry McCann stated that his family was subjected to press "excesses" and that the media had "frequently disrupted" the investigation into his daughter's 2007 disappearance.

He noted that the media attention exacted a "heavy burden" on his family. "We faced sustained interest and inaccurate reports for 15 months or more that compelled us to take legal action to stop it," he commented.

"We are lucky. We got through it. We had tremendous support. Yet, I must tell you, there were times where I felt like I was drowning, and it was the media, primarily, not the situation we were in," he recounted.

An Appeal for Restart Leveson Inquiry

McCann and his wife, Kate, are among more than 30 people who have put their names to a letter urging the government to restart the second part of the Leveson inquiry, which was set up to look into the relationship between the media and the police.

He expressed that it was unacceptable that after more than a year, press regulation was "off the agenda". He described how his family had been victims of "relentless targeting" by parts of the media and that the press was "camped" outside his home for months after the disappearance.

Recounting the Intrusion

Describing the intrusion, he said: "Reporters arriving at our home, photographers pushing their cameras against our car window, when we had our toddler twins in the back who were scared, and how upsetting that is for you as a parent."

"It's the half-truths. It's the making up of stories to drive a headline, rather than the facts, which ruins lives," he stated.

The Need for Stronger Regulation and Redress

He said the conduct highlighted why there needed to be more robust press regulation. "In the evenings, we'd put on the news, and there'd be major reports about ourselves and what supposedly happened," he described.

"That feeling is overwhelming, and you can see how people succumb to it and think they can't get out of it. The impact is devastating, and we need that protection. People deserve recourse. And at the minute, for most of the large media outlets, there is no effective recourse," he concluded.

Government Position and Changing Media Landscape

The Culture Secretary said that a follow-up part of the inquiry had been rejected and that the media landscape was now very different.

"Our position aligns that the context has evolved significantly from the time the second part of Leveson was recommended: the public is now more likely to get their news from diverse digital platforms, which has thrown up 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 "challenging task to get right," but recognized that "steps must be taken in this area".

A Continued Search for Answers

The child went missing from a Portuguese holiday resort in 2007 at the age of three. Gerry McCann said that it was "profoundly disappointing" how the press had consistently meddled with the investigation.

"Published material which should have been confidential... Consequently, anyone involved, you knew much more than you should have done," he explained.

Speaking about hope, he said the chance he would find his daughter was "small but still alive". "I'd love to find her alive, but we need to establish the facts and hold the perpetrator, and people are at risk while that perpetrator is free," he concluded.