It's probably not fashionable to say it, but I've been appalled by the media reaction to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

Iain Dale has lead the way today by vocalising something that has been bothering me, and probably many others. He rightly points out that splashing the face and name of the suspect all over the papers today, even though no charge has been made, goes right to the heart of everything that's wrong with our national press. Perhaps Robert Murat will turn out to be guilty. But perhaps he won't. The fact is, we don't know. So whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty? Trial by media is no way to decide guilt. Too often it is used in such a manner nowadays.

Then there is the part which has been bugging me since the story broke; the endless parade of celebrities attaching their faces (Ronaldo, Beckham, Gordon Brown, Wayne Rooney) or at least their names to the story. That really does reek to me. No doubt they're saddened by what has happened, but why do they need to say so on television? It has nothing to do with them. Ergo their appearances can be nothing more than self-publicity and I find that sick. By all means, they're welcome to give their money to the campaign, but the moment their goodwill becomes a saintly badge in the public domain, they're not doing it for Madeleine or her family, they're doing it for themselves. That's just plain wrong.

When Gordon Brown went on the news to do his condolence/publicity-stunt for the Madeleine story, my first thought was that there was no way David Cameron would do that. Just like the Big Brother racism debate, Gordon was first to comment and Dave the first to criticise the celebrity scrum for a spot on the news. So far I'm glad to see I'm right about David Cameron in that he has said nothing on this story. He has more sense and principle than many give him credit for.

My point is, we need to examine the reaction of the media to these types of stories. It is always too frenzied, too hysterical and has too much emphasis on the reaction of "those that matter", ie celebrities and politicians. This is not conducive to the campaign to find Madeleine and, as Iain Dale points out, it can lead to the potential ruination of lives, as demonstrated by the Steve Wright incident.