Madeleine McCann's Parent Calls for Tougher Press Regulation Following Accounts of Press "Tormenting".

Gerry McCann, father to Madeleine McCann has demanded more robust oversight for the UK media, detailing how sustained media attention made him feel as if he was being "drowning under the pressure".

A Family Subjected to Press "Abuses"

According to Gerry McCann, his family was subjected to press "abuses" and that the media had "frequently disrupted" the search for answers regarding his daughter's going missing in 2007.

He stated that the media attention exacted a "significant emotional cost" on his family. "We endured ongoing coverage and inaccurate reports for 15 months or more that led us to take legal action to stop it," he commented.

"We are lucky. We survived. We had tremendous support. 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.

A Call to Revive Leveson Inquiry

McCann and his wife, Kate, are among a group of people who have put their names to a letter urging ministers to revive the second part of the Leveson investigation, which was due to examine the relationship between the media and the police.

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

Recounting the Intrusion

Recalling the harassment, 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 upsetting that is for you as a parent."

"It's the half-truths. It's the making up of stories to fit the agenda, rather than the truth, which ruins lives," he emphasized.

The Need for Stronger Regulation and Accountability

He stated these actions showed why there needed to be tougher press regulation. "In the evenings, we'd put on the news, and there'd be splash stories about ourselves and unverified claims," he said.

"That feeling is overwhelming, and you can see how people are broken by it and think they can't get out of it. The harm is profound, and we need that protection. People deserve recourse. And at the minute, for most of the major publishers, there is little accountability," he asserted.

Government Position and Evolving News Environment

The Culture Secretary stated that a second phase of the inquiry had been ruled out 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: the public is now 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 weighing the needs of those affected with the principle of press freedom was a "really difficult thing to get right," but conceded that "reform is required in this area".

A Continued Hope for Answers

Madeleine McCann disappeared from a family vacation apartment in 2007 at the age of three. It was stated that it was "profoundly disappointing" how the press had frequently obstructed with the investigation.

"Published material which was meant for police only... Consequently, anyone involved, you knew a lot more than you should have done," he noted.

On the prospect of finding Madeleine, he said the chance he would find his daughter was "faint yet persistent". "Our wish is to find her alive, but we need to discover the truth and hold the perpetrator, and others are at risk while that perpetrator is free," he affirmed.