Madeleine McCann's Parent Demands Stricter Press Regulation Amid Recollections of Press "Monstering".

The father of Madeleine McCann has issued a call for greater oversight for the UK media, recounting how sustained media attention made him feel as if he was being "overwhelmed".

The McCanns Tormented by Press "Abuses"

Gerry McCann stated that his family was tormented by press "excesses" and that the media had "consistently hampered" the investigation into his daughter's 2007 disappearance.

He noted that the intrusion took a "significant emotional cost" on his family. "We faced constant scrutiny and misleading headlines for 15 months or more that led us to take legal action to stop it," he commented.

"We were fortunate. We survived. We had strong support. However, I assure you, there were times where I felt like I was drowning, and it was the media, mostly, not the situation we were in," he stated.

A Call to Restart Press Regulation Review

McCann and his wife, Kate, are among a group of people who have put their names to a letter calling on the government to reopen the second phase of the Leveson investigation, which was due to examine the dynamic between the media and the police.

McCann said it was not acceptable that more than a year on, press regulation was "off the agenda". He said that his family had been subjected to "monstering" by sections of the media and that the press was "stationed" outside his home for months after the disappearance.

Describing the Harassment

Detailing the events, he said: "Journalists coming to the house, cameras being shoved their cameras against our car window, when we had two-year-old 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 invention of stories to fit the agenda, rather than the truth, which causes immense harm," he emphasized.

The Need for Tougher Oversight and Accountability

He stated these actions demonstrated why there needed to be more robust press regulation. "At night, as we prepared for bed, we'd put on the news, and there'd be splash stories about ourselves and unverified claims," he described.

"That almost pulls you under, and you can see how people give in to it and think they can't get out of it. The impact is devastating, and we need that protection. There has to be redress. And at the minute, for most of these mainstream media, there is no effective recourse," he argued.

Official Position and Evolving Media Landscape

A government minister said that a follow-up part of the inquiry had been ruled out and that the news environment was now very different.

"We agree that the landscape has transformed significantly from the time the second part of Leveson was proposed: people now are more likely to get their news online from a whole variety of sources, which has thrown up new and different challenges," they explained.

The minister further stated that balancing the needs of those affected with the need for a free press was a "really difficult thing to get right," but conceded that "steps must be taken in this area".

A Continued Search for Closure

Madeleine McCann disappeared from a Portuguese holiday resort in 2007 when she was three years old. Gerry McCann said that it was "absolutely dismaying" how the press had consistently meddled with the investigation.

"Leaked information which should have been confidential... Consequently, anyone involved, you knew a lot more than you should have done," he noted.

Regarding the ongoing search, he said the hope he would find his daughter was "faint yet persistent". "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 person is free," he concluded.