Ben Fordham has criticised Channel 10 for acting “rudely” in trying to promote a news segment on the 10th anniversary of William Tyrrell’s disappearance.
Thursday marks a decade since three-year-old William vanished, sparking one of Australia’s most enduring mysteries: there has been no sign of him and no answers about what happened, despite years of police investigations.
On Wednesday, Channel 10 News featured an image of what William, who would now be starting high school, would look like, constructed by a U.S.-based expert, but then blurred the image and told viewers to tune in tomorrow night to see it.
Fordham was outraged by the “crass” attempt to attract viewers.
“I’m sorry to say, but someone at Channel 10 got a total surprise,” said the 2GB presenter.
‘Whoever is in charge of the newsroom should think carefully about how they cover a very sensitive story.
‘Ten has done a good job on this case over the years, even producing a podcast a few years ago dedicated to trying to find answers, but bosses were let down last night.’
‘They put the image on the screen, but with the boy’s face blurred out, and then used it as a way to promote what they called their exclusive for the following night.’
William Tyrrell disappeared off the central north coast of New South Wales in September 2014.
Ten had a US-based expert create a computer image of what William would look like now, but blurred the image and promoted its news by telling viewers to tune in the following night 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 aired… we’ll exclusively reveal 10 years later what a teenage William would look like… “It’s not William.”
Fordham said 10 News bosses should have taken a different direction.
“I don’t blame the journalist or the news anchor,” he said.
‘That’s why there’s a news director: he’s supposed to stand back and make decisions about how to present stories. This isn’t a photo of William Tyrrell.
‘It’s a computer-generated image that was simulated by someone in the United States.
‘If you manage to do it right, just don’t put a picture on the screen with a blurry face and say “tune back in to see it.”
‘Detectives believe he is dead.’
Fordham also added that The former detective who investigated the disappearance said he is “haunted” by the unsolved case.
Gary Jubelin told the Daily Telegraph that the disappearance involved a three-year-old boy with his whole life ahead of him and still no answers.
Jubelin also said he continues to maintain that William’s adoptive mother was not involved, on the grounds that he conducted both covert and overt operations against her and found no evidence.
On the evening of September 11, 2014, William – then three years old – and his family made the four-hour drive from Sydney to visit his adoptive grandmother in Kendall.
The next morning, the foster mother was sitting outside, watching William and his sister playing a game similar to hide-and-seek.
Sometime around 10.30am, he hid in a corner and was never seen again, the foster mother previously said.
At first she didn’t give much importance to the fact that he was hiding from her sight, but after not hearing from him for several minutes, she felt that something was wrong.
“I’m speechless, I’m just walking around in the same place thinking: where is he? Why can’t I see him?” the adoptive mother previously said on the podcast Where is William Tyrrell?
“And I yell at him: ‘William, where are you? You have to talk to Mom, tell me where you are. I can’t see you, I can’t hear you. Where are you?’
William Tyrrell’s adoptive parents, who cannot be identified for legal reasons
“And he was nowhere to be found. I remember thinking, how could he just disappear like that?”
She estimates he was not out of her sight for more than five minutes before she began searching for him.
At 10.56am, half an hour since he was last seen, his adoptive mother called 9-0 to report him missing, and police arrived less than 10 minutes later.
“My son is missing, he is three and a half years old,” said the adoptive mother in the call, which has already been reproduced in an investigation.
Family and neighbors had been frantically searching for him.
William’s adoptive father had returned home after driving into the city to get a better Internet connection while dialing into a work conference call.
A massive search was launched in nearby houses and bushes.
Police, SES workers, the Rural Fire Service and local residents searched the surrounding area and local woods but found no sign of him.
Various theories have been investigated over the years.
One theory was that he was kidnapped by a local washing machine repairman who was in the area investigated and cleared.
Another more recent theory was that she died after falling from her adoptive parents’ second-floor balcony while playing and that the body was hidden, but no evidence has been found to support this either.
A $1 million reward remains in effect for information leading to a resolution of the case.