Madeleine McCann's Father Calls for Tougher Media Oversight Following Recollections of Press "Monstering".

Gerry McCann, father to Madeleine McCann has urged for greater scrutiny of the UK media, detailing how being "monstered" by the press made him feel that he was being "drowning under the pressure".

A Family Tormented by Media Intrusion

According to Gerry McCann, his family was subjected to press "excesses" and that the media had "repeatedly interfered with" the search for answers regarding his daughter's disappearance in 2007.

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 compelled us to take legal action to stop it," he reportedly said.

"We were fortunate. We survived. We had tremendous support. Yet, I must tell you, there were times where I felt like I was overwhelmed, and it was the media, mainly, not the situation we were in," he reflected.

A Call to Revive Leveson Inquiry

The McCanns are among dozens of individuals who have signed a letter calling on ministers to revive the second phase of the Leveson inquiry, which was due 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 said that his family had been victims of "relentless targeting" by sections of the media and that the press was "camped" outside his home for months after Madeleine went missing.

Recounting the Intrusion

Describing the intrusion, he said: "Reporters arriving at our home, photographers literally ramming their cameras against our car window, when we had two-year-old twins in the back who were terrified, and how traumatic that is for you as a parent."

"It's the inaccuracies. It's the making up of stories to fit the agenda, rather than the facts, which causes immense harm," he emphasized.

The Need for Tougher Regulation and Redress

He said the conduct highlighted why there needed to be stricter press regulation. "At night, as we prepared for bed, we'd put on the news, and there'd be splash stories about ourselves and alleged events," he described.

"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. People deserve recourse. And at the minute, for most of the major publishers, there is no redress," he concluded.

Government Position and Evolving News Environment

A government minister said that a second phase of the inquiry had been discounted 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 recommended: people now are more likely to get their news from the internet, which has created 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".

An Enduring Search for Answers

The child went missing from a family vacation apartment in 2007 as a three-year-old. Her father expressed that it was "profoundly disappointing" how the press had consistently meddled with the investigation.

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

On the prospect of finding Madeleine, he said the hope he would find his daughter was "slim but it's not extinguished". "I'd love to find her alive, but we need to find out what happened and hold the perpetrator, and other children are at risk while whoever is responsible is free," he stated.