The McCann family Father Calls for Stronger Press Regulation Following Recollections of Press "Hounding".

The father of Madeleine McCann has urged for greater oversight for the UK media, detailing how intense press coverage made him feel as if he was being "suffocated and buried".

The McCanns Subjected to Press "Abuses"

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

He emphasized that the media attention exacted a "heavy burden" on his family. "We faced sustained interest and sensationalized stories for 15 months or more that forced us to take legal action to stop it," he reportedly said.

"We are lucky. We survived. We had incredible backing. But I can promise you, there were times where I felt like I was drowning, and it was the media, mostly, not the situation we were in," he recounted.

A Call to Revive Press Regulation Review

McCann and his wife, Kate, are among dozens of individuals who have signed a letter urging the government to revive the second part of the Leveson inquiry, which was set up to look into the dynamic between the media and the police.

McCann said it was unacceptable that over a year later, press regulation was "off the agenda". He described how his family had been endured "monstering" by sections of the media and that the press was "posted" outside his home for months after the disappearance.

Recounting the Intrusion

Describing the intrusion, he said: "Journalists coming to the house, photographers pushing their cameras against our car window, when we had our toddler 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 suit a narrative, rather than reality, which ruins lives," he stated.

A Demand for Stronger Regulation and Accountability

He argued this behavior showed why there needed to be more robust press regulation. "In the evenings, we'd put on the news, and there'd be splash stories about ourselves and what supposedly happened," 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. People deserve recourse. And at the minute, for most of these mainstream media, there is no effective recourse," he asserted.

Government Response and Evolving Media Landscape

The Culture Secretary stated that a second phase of the inquiry had been discounted and that the news environment was now profoundly changed.

"Our position aligns that the situation has changed dramatically since the Leveson's second phase 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," they stated.

It was also noted that weighing the rights of victims with the principle of press freedom was a "complex balance to get right," but conceded that "steps must be taken in this area".

A Continued Hope for Closure

Madeleine McCann disappeared from a Portuguese holiday resort in 2007 as a three-year-old. Gerry McCann said that it was "absolutely dismaying" how the press had frequently obstructed with the investigation.

"Confidential details which ought to have remained private... So if you were the perpetrator, you knew a lot more than you should have done," he said.

Speaking about hope, he said the hope he would find his daughter was "small but still alive". "We hope to find her alive, but we need to find out what happened and hold the perpetrator, and others are at risk while that person is free," he stated.