Madeleine McCann's Father Urges Stronger Press Regulation Amid Recollections of Press "Hounding".

Gerry McCann, father to Madeleine McCann has issued a call for greater scrutiny of the UK media, recounting how sustained media attention made him feel like he was being "suffocated and buried".

The McCanns Tormented by Media Intrusion

Gerry McCann stated that his family was deeply affected by press "intrusions" and that the media had "repeatedly interfered with" the investigation into his daughter's 2007 disappearance.

He emphasized that the intrusion took a "significant emotional cost" on his family. "We had constant scrutiny and misleading headlines for many months that led us to take legal action to stop it," he explained.

"We are lucky. We got through it. We received tremendous support. However, I assure you, there were times where I felt like I was being suffocated, and it was the media, mostly, not the situation we were in," he reflected.

An Appeal for Restart Leveson Inquiry

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

He expressed that it was unacceptable that over a year later, press regulation was "no longer a priority". He described how his family had been subjected to "relentless targeting" by sections of the media and that the press was "camped" outside his home for months after the disappearance.

Describing the Intrusion

Detailing the events, he said: "Media at our doorstep, cameras being shoved their cameras against our car window, when we had young twin children in the back who were terrified, and how traumatic that is for you as a parent."

"It's the misleading narratives. It's the invention of stories to fit the agenda, rather than the facts, which causes immense harm," he emphasized.

The Need for Stronger Oversight and Accountability

He said the conduct highlighted why there needed to be tougher press regulation. "In the evenings, 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 give in to it and think they can't get out of it. The harm is profound, and we need that protection. There has to be redress. And at the minute, for most of the large media outlets, there is no redress," he concluded.

Official Response and Changing Media Landscape

The Culture Secretary stated that a follow-up part of the inquiry had been rejected and that the media landscape was now drastically altered.

"Our position aligns that the situation has changed dramatically from the time the Leveson's second phase was proposed: the public is now more likely to get their news from the internet, which has thrown up new and different challenges," the minister said.

They added that weighing the rights of victims with the principle of press freedom was a "really difficult thing to get right," but acknowledged that "steps must be taken in this area".

A Continued Search for Closure

The child went missing from a Portuguese holiday resort in 2007 at the age of three. Gerry McCann said that it was "deeply disturbing" 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 a lot more than you should have done," he said.

Regarding the ongoing search, he said the chance he would find his daughter was "faint yet persistent". "We hope to find her alive, but we need to find out what happened and see justice served, and others are at risk while that perpetrator is free," he stated.