The McCanns: guilty or not guilty? If ever we needed proof that our culture has blurred the lines between reality and reality TV, this is it.

After a while, it became clear that the local police were feeding the media with their own take on events, despite the fact that this was disallowed under Portugal's tight disclosure laws.

The international media pendulum swung away from empathy for the parents when police released reports that Madeleine's DNA had been found in the rear of a hire car - a car the McCanns collected 25 days after she went missing. Headlines, especially in the tabloid press, screamed 'Murder!'

The authorities apparently believed - and still do - that Kate McCann accidentally killed her child, perhaps with a sedative overdose - this despite the fact that Kate is a practising physician. Madeleine's body was, the story goes, hidden by her parents for several weeks until they had a chance to dispose of it.

We are supposed to believe that the McCanns - who were totally unfamiliar with the region - were able to secrete a body for 25 days or more, then remove it under the white hot glare of 24/7 news coverage.

Besides, forensic experts have repeatedly pointed out that a partial match with Madeleine's DNA could have been provided by almost any member of the McCann family and DNA matching is still often an inexact science.

Meanwhile, the McCanns were forbidden from talking publicly about the police investigation, or their feelings on it.

The police were desperate, stretching credulity to breaking point, partly because the glare of international publicity had made them look incompetent, or worse, corrupt.

It has to be said that something would definitely be wrong in a case like this if, at some stage, the parents were not questioned about their movements. But it is simply unfair to use the media as some of the Portuguese police seem to have done in an apparent attempt to pressure - or bully - the parents into making a confession.

The story took another turn when the Portuguese prosecutor conceded that the police case was not strong enough to warrant further questioning of the McCanns. He added that it is very difficult to build a case for murder when nobody has been produced. That, surely, should have been immediately obvious to everybody concerned.

Now the pendulum of media opinion swung back toward the parents, who by this time must have been totally fed up. Not only were they in turmoil over their missing child; their reputations were being muddied across the world while they were unable, legally, to respond.

Once a story is picked up by the media, it must keep moving forward. Why? Because according to media pundits - and it may be true - we, the public, demand that something is happening all the time to move the plot along.

There just can't be any lull in proceedings. We demand action; twists and turns in the story. In real life there are lulls; some of them long, frustrating and uncomfortable. This is especially true of police investigations. But as I say our culture has blurred the line between reality TV and reality.

Sadly, I am reminded of the story of Lindy Chamberlain, the woman who spent several years in prison in the 70s for the alleged murder of her baby daughter, Azaria.

In the end, it was proven that a dingo, a wild dog, had stolen the child from its bed, just as the mother claimed.