By Lucy Caulkett-
The parents of Madeleine McCann are among 30 people who have written to the prime minister calling for greater scrutiny of the UK media.
Gerry McCann,(pictured) who is heading the campaign on behalf of his family, said his family were lucky to have survived the monstoring by segments of the Uk press. He also said that parts of the UK media made him feel as though he was being “suffocated and buried” after his daughter disappeared.
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Other signatories of the letter who wrote to Sir Keir Starmer include families of Hillsborough and 7/7 bombing victims and the mother of TV presenter Caroline Flack. They are urging the government to reverse its decision not to hold the second phase of the Leveson Inquiry.
McCann is among over 30 people, including other victims of press intrusion and Prince Harry, who have signed a letter urging the government to resume the second phase of the Leveson Inquiry.
This phase was intended to examine unlawful media actions and relationships between journalists, police, and politicians, and he is disappointed that the government has not made this a priority.
Balancing rights: He emphasizes the need to carefully balance a free press with the rights and needs of victims and survivors who deserve protection from harm.
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The inquiry examined the culture, practices and ethics of the British press following the News International phone-hacking scandal. The abandoned second phase would have looked at unlawful behaviour by parts of the media, as well as the relationships between journalists, politicians and the police.
McCann, 57, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Wednesday that, more than a year after Labour came to power, “press regulation is no longer a priority”.
He expressed disappointment that the party has not committed to implementing some of the recommendations from the first part of the Leveson Inquiry, despite supporting them before the election.
“We’re over a year into the government, and there haven’t been any changes,” he said.
“It’s not acceptable to me now, more than a year on, that Leveson and press regulation is no longer a priority.”
“And what that means is that there isn’t enough protection for individuals who are, like Gerry McCann, suffering from appalling practices and intrusion that can ruin their lives.
“It also means that we’ve got to think carefully about how we balance the rights of victims with the need to have a free press that has always been responsible for regulating itself in order that it can hold the powerful, including people like me, to account.”
In his interview, Mr McCann also said the headlines, hounding and abuse from the media can have a devastating impact on people’s lives, adding that press coverage of Madeleine’s disappearance in 2007 took a “huge toll” on his family.
“Obviously, we had sustained interest and misleading headlines for 15 months or more that forced us, forced us to take legal action to stop it,” he said.
“Published material which should have been confidential, should be passed on to the police, witness statements, many other things that have gone out. So if you were the perpetrator, you knew a lot more than you should have done.”
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 bring whoever’s responsible to justice, and other children and people are at risk while that perpetrator is free,” he said.
He stated that the intense and often misleading press interest took a “huge toll” on his family, making him feel like he was “drowning” and “suffocated and buried”.
McCann believes the media repeatedly interfered with the police investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance by publishing confidential information, such as witness statements. He argues that this likely hindered the search for her and potentially alerted the perpetrator.
He highlighted an unsatisfactory situation where different media types (broadcast, press, online) are held to different standards, resulting in insufficient protection for individuals suffering from appalling intrusion and practices that can ruin lives.
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