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McCanns criticise press reform

The parents of missing Madeleine McCann have criticised reforms to the regulation of the press in the wake of the Leveson Inquiry as "a compromise of a compromise".

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The McCanns are wrong say newspaper chiefs

Bob Satchwell, executive director of the Society of Editors, says the McCanns are wrong to think that the tough new self regulatory regime requires a statute.

No-one – including politicians of all parties, really wants to see that with the inherent long terms dangers, so long as another form of guarantee about the independence of the system is put in place.

"The Leveson principles are not being undermined and the provisions of the strict new system, with fines of up to £1m, demonstrate that the press has not been let off any hooks."

– Bob Satchwell, Society of Editors

He added that Lord Justice Leveson recognised that the "vast majority" of journalists were "blameless", adding: "There are complex practical and legal issues in implementing the new system, but the Leveson pathway will be closely followed.

The McCanns say they don't think new plans to regulate the press suggested by the Leveson Inquiry are tough enough.

Kate McCann: the proposals are a 'compromise of a compromise'

While giving evidence at the Leveson inquiry into press standards last year, Kate McCann said she felt like "climbing into a hole and not coming out", after the News of the World printed her personal diary which she started writing after her daughter disappeared.

Speaking on the Andrew Marr show in BBC Ones this morning, Mrs McCann said:

"What the Government is proposing with this Charter - the charter body is overseen by ministers for a start which again takes away the independence - it is basically a compromise of a compromise.

"Why do the press, the Government, not want to be accountable like everybody else? The press are the first to hold people in authority to account."

– Kate McCann, speaking on the Andrew Marr show in BBC One

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Gerry McCann: Leveson's proposals 'not tough enough'

The parent's of Madeleine McCann say they don't think new plans to regulate the press suggested by the Leveson Inquiry are tough enough.

The couple have criticised the Government's plans, saying the Newspapers are getting a last chance at regulating themselves, instead of being held to account by an independent body

Mr McCann told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show:

"I think Leveson has been quite generous to the press and more than the behaviour of some sections of the media deserve really.

"They are getting a last chance at self-regulation which for me was actually a step too far."

He added: "I feel that the press has lost its entitlement to self-regulation over many, many years and I would have liked to have seen statutory regulation, not self-regulation."

– Gerry McCann

McCann's criticise proposed changes to press regulation

Kate & Gerry McCann, whose daughter Madeleine disappeared in Portugal in 2007 Credit: PA

Kate & Gerry McCann, whose daughter Madeleine went missing from a holiday apartment in Portugal in 2007, have criticised proposed reforms in the regulation of the press in the wake of the Leveson Inquiry.

The coverage in the newspapers of the four-year-old's disappearance was given by Lord Justice Leveson's inquiry into press standards as an example of how stories ran "totally out of control".

Speaking on the Andrew Marr show on BBC One this morning, Mr and Mrs McCann said plans for a new press regulator backed by a Royal Charter do not do enough to hold the press to account, describing it as "a compromise of a compromise".

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