Madeleine McCann's Father Urges Tougher Media Regulation Amid Accounts of Media "Monstering".

The father of Madeleine McCann has issued a call for increased oversight for the UK media, describing how being "monstered" by the press made him feel as if he was being "overwhelmed".

A Family Subjected to Media Intrusion

According to Gerry McCann, his family was deeply affected by press "excesses" and that the media had "consistently hampered" the investigation into his daughter's disappearance in 2007.

He noted that the media attention exacted a "huge toll" on his family. "We endured sustained interest and misleading headlines for 15 months or more that led 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, mostly, not the situation we were in," he reflected.

An Appeal for Restart Press Regulation Review

McCann and his wife, Kate, are among a group of people who have endorsed a letter asking ministers to revive the second part of the Leveson inquiry, which was intended to examine the dynamic 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 endured "monstering" by certain the media and that the press was "stationed" outside his home for months after the disappearance.

Recounting the Harassment

Describing the intrusion, he said: "Journalists coming to the house, photographers pushing their cameras against our car window, when we had two-year-old twins in the back who were scared, and how traumatic that is for you as a parent."

"It's the misleading narratives. It's the making up of stories to fit the agenda, rather than the facts, which destroys people's lives," he added.

The Need for Stronger Oversight and Redress

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 front-page headlines about ourselves and what supposedly happened," he said.

"That feeling is overwhelming, and you can see how people succumb to 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 concluded.

Government Position and Changing Media Landscape

The Culture Secretary commented that a follow-up part of the inquiry had been rejected and that the media landscape was now profoundly changed.

"We agree that the context has evolved dramatically from the time the second part of Leveson was proposed: the public is now more likely to get their news online from a whole variety of sources, which has thrown up new and different challenges," the minister said.

They added that weighing the needs of those affected with the principle of press freedom was a "challenging task 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 at the age of three. It was stated that it was "deeply disturbing" how the press had frequently obstructed with the investigation.

"Leaked information which ought to have remained private... So if you were the perpetrator, you knew much more than you should have done," he explained.

On the prospect of finding Madeleine, he said the chance he would find his daughter was "slim but it's not extinguished". "We hope to find her alive, but we need to establish the facts and see justice served, and people are at risk while that perpetrator is free," he concluded.