The Daily Express and its sister papers this week hit the headlines for an abject apology to Madeleine McCann’s parents for wrongly suggesting in over 100 articles that the McCanns had caused their daughter’s death. The papers have also paid £550,000 to the Find Madeleine fund.

This is a shocking story. The Express long ago lost the right to describe itself as a newspaper. Its front page lead stories are totally contrived: witness its obsession with Princess Diana’s death long after the rest of the country lost interest with its former icon. But the way the Express group knowingly published lies about the McCanns to boost its sales is quite simply wicked.

What I find depressing is that Britain’s press is regulated. yet the regulators are toothless and over-influenced by the papers they regulate. But then what do you expect given that we’re talking about self regulation by the industry? Media commentator Roy Greenslade pointed out in his Media Guardian blog that most of Britain’s press largely ignored the Express apology. To its credit, The Guardian published a leader in which it said "Newspapers should not tell lies about people, and it is good when they are punished for doing so."

The Guardian leader also questioned the role of the rest of the media, including the BBC, which sent Huw Edwards to Portugal to present news bulletins. This is where news collides with celebrity. To be fair, the McCanns themselves contributed to the process by trying to keep Madeleine in the headlines as long as possible. Their motive was understandable but it’s debatable how much their involvement encouraged the media to pursue the story long after the publicity had become a liability rather than a help to the search. That said, there’s absolutely no excuse for the lies that the Express told in its shameless pursuit of sales.