Newspaper industry 'failed self-regulation test' in Madeleine case

Inaccurate reporting about the Madeleine McCann case was an important test of the newspaper industry's ability to regulate itself - and it failed, a report by British MPs found. The Culture, Media and Sport Committee singled out the coverage of the little girl's disappearance in Portugal in May 2007 as an example of the Press Complaints Commission's "lack of teeth".

The MPs criticised the PCC's silence over the publication of "hundreds of false and damaging articles" until after the Express Group settled a libel case with Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, in March 2008.

"It was an important test of the industry's ability to regulate itself, and it failed in that test," they said.

The report pointed to the PCC's Code of Conduct, which says the press must take care not to publish inaccurate, misleading or distorted information, including pictures, and must distinguish between comment, conjecture and fact.

It is impossible to say for certain that untrue articles were written in the Madeleine case as a result of pressure from editors and news desks, the MPs concluded.

But they said: "It is, however, clear that the press acted as a pack, ceaselessly hunting out fresh angles where new information was scarce.

"Portugal was also a foreign jurisdiction, where contempt of court laws were unclear, and no consideration was given to how reporting might prejudice any future trial. It is our belief that competitive and commercial factors contributed to abysmal standards in the gathering and the publishing of news about the McCann case."

The report said that the "exceptionally high" public appetite for such news was "no excuse for such a lowering of standards". It said the McCanns' efforts to attract publicity for their search for Madeleine could not conceivably justify or excuse the publication of inaccurate articles about them.

Giving evidence to the committee in March last year, Mr McCann described how he and his wife resorted to suing British newspapers for libel because they felt negative stories about them were distracting from efforts to find their daughter.

He said the couple's lawyers advised them against going through the PCC to address their concerns about the reporting of the case.

Mr McCann spoke of how he and his wife struggled to cope with the intense media attention after their daughter went missing from Praia da Luz in Portugal on May 3, 2007.

He said: "Our family have been the focus of some of the most sensationalist, untruthful, irresponsible and damaging reporting in the history of the press."

Mr McCann said he hoped the Express Group libel payout had righted the wrong, but added: "I can't say that the damage that's been done has been reversed."

The MPs said a lack of a formal complaint to the PCC by the McCanns did not justify its "failure to take more forceful action".

Their report said: "The news-paper industry's assertion that the McCann case is a one-off event shows that it is in denial about the scale and gravity of what went wrong, and about the need to learn from those mistakes."

"The press, indeed, would have been clamouring for it to do so. It is an indictment on the PCC's record, that it signally failed to do so.

"The industry's words and actions suggest a desire to bury the affair without confronting its serious implications - a kind of avoidance which newspapers would criticise mercilessly, and rightly, if it occurred in any other part of society.

"The PCC, by failing to take firm action, let slip an opportunity to prevent or at least mitigate some of the most damaging aspects of this episode, and in doing so lent credence to the view that it lacks teeth and is slow to challenge the newspaper industry."