Ben Fordham has criticised Channel 10 for a “crass” action during an attempt to promote a news item marking the 10th anniversary of the disappearance of William Tyrrell.
Thursday marks the tenth anniversary of the disappearance of three-year-old William, creating one of Australia’s most enduring mysteries. There has been no trace of him since, and there are still no answers to the question of what happened, despite years of police investigation.
Channel 10 News on Wednesday aired an image of what William, who would have just started high school, would look like, as constructed by an American expert. The image was then blurred and viewers were asked to tune in tomorrow night.
Fordham was furious about the “basic” attempt to attract viewers.
“I’m sorry to say this but someone at Channel 10 has had a huge shock,” the 2GB presenter said.
‘Whoever heads the editorial team should think carefully about how he or she reports on a very sensitive subject.
“Ten has done a good job on this case over the years. They even did a podcast a few years ago trying to find some answers, but last night the bosses let themselves down.”
“They put the image on the screen, but with the boy’s face blurred out. Then they used it as a promotional tool for what they called their exclusive movie for the following evening.”
William Tyrrell disappeared in September 2014 off the north coast of New South Wales.
Ten had an American expert create a computer image of what William would look like at that moment, but blurred the image and promoted their news by telling viewers to tune in the following evening to see it.
Fordham continued: “I’m sorry, but that’s just rude and that was the reaction in other newsrooms last night.When it hit TV… we exclusively reveal what a teenage William would look like in 10 years… “It’s not Willem.”
Fordham said executives at 10 News should have taken a different direction.
“I don’t blame the reporter or the newsreader,” he said.
‘That’s why you have a news director, who has to step back a little bit and make judgments about how stories should be presented. This is not a picture of William Tyrrell.
It’s a computer-generated image that was recreated by someone in America.
“If you can do that, fine, but don’t immediately put an image on the screen where the face is blurred and then look again to see it.”
‘Detectives believe he is deceased.’
Fordham also added that The former detective who investigated the disappearance said he is “haunted” by the unsolved case.
Gary Jubelin wrote in the Daily Telegraph that the disappearance involved a three-year-old boy who had his whole life ahead of him and that there are still no answers.
Jubelin also said he still believes that William’s foster mother was not involved, as he conducted both covert and overt operations targeting her and found no evidence of this.
On the afternoon of September 11, 2014, William, then three years old, and his family drove four hours from Sydney to visit his foster mother in Kendall.
The next morning, the foster mother sat outside and watched William and his sister play a game similar to hide and seek.
Sometime around 10:30 a.m., he ducked around a corner and was never seen again, the foster mother previously said.
At first she didn’t mind him disappearing from sight, but after not hearing him for a few minutes, she sensed something was wrong.
“I’m speechless, I’m walking around the place thinking, where is he? Why can’t I see him?” the foster mother previously said on the Where’s William Tyrrell podcast.
William Tyrrell’s foster parents, who cannot be named for legal reasons
She said she was screaming, ‘William, where are you? You need to talk to Mom, tell me where you are. I can’t see you, I can’t hear you. Where are you?’
“And he was nowhere. And I remember thinking, how could he just disappear?”
She estimates he was out of her sight for no more than five minutes before she began searching.
At 10:56, half an hour after he was last seen, his foster mother called three times to report him missing. Less than 10 minutes later, the police arrived.
“My son is missing, he is three and a half,” the foster mother said during the phone call, which was previously played during a criminal investigation.
The family and neighbors were frantically searching.
Williams’ foster father had just returned home after driving into town to find a better Internet connection while dialing into a work conference call.
A large-scale search was launched in nearby homes and wooded areas.
Police, SES personnel, the Rural Fire Service and local residents searched the area and local woodland but found no trace of him.
Over the years, various theories have been explored.
One theory was that he was taken by a local washing machine repairman who was in the area and was being examined.
Another, more recent theory holds that he died from a fall from his foster parents’ second-floor balcony while they were playing and that the body was hidden. Again, no evidence has been found for this.
A $1 million reward is still open for information leading to the solving of the case.