Ben Fordham has slammed Channel 10 for a ‘crass’ act while trying to promote a news segment on the 10-year anniversary of William Tyrrell’s disappearance.
Thursday marks one decade since three-year-old William went missing and sparked one of ‘s most enduring mysteries – with there being no sign of him since and no answers as to what happened, despite years of police investigations.
Channel 10 News on Wednesday featured an image of what William – who would now be just going into high school – would look like as constructed by a US-based expert, but then blurred the image and told viewers to tune in tomorrow night to see it.
Fordham was left outraged over the ‘crass’ attempt to draw in viewers.
‘I’m sorry to say, but someone at Channel 10 has had an absolute shocker,’ the 2GB host said.
‘Whoever is running the newsroom should think long and hard about their way they’re covering a very sensitive story.
‘Ten has done some good work on this case over the years, even producing a podcast a few years back dedicated to trying to find answers but the bosses have let themselves down last night.’
‘They put the image up on the screen, but with the boy’s face blurred and then they used it as a way of plugging what they called their exclusive for the following night.’
Fordham went on: ‘I’m sorry, but that is just crass and that was the reaction in other newsrooms last night when that went to air… we will exclusively reveal 10 years on what a teenage William would look like… it’s not William.’
Fordham said bosses at 10 News should have gone in a different direction.
‘I’m not blaming the reporter or the newsreader,’ he said.
‘This is why you’ve got a news director, they’re supposed to stand back a bit and make judgment calls on how to present stories. This is not a photo of William Tyrrell.
‘It’s a computer generated image that’s been mocked up by someone in America.
‘If you get that done fine, but don’t then put an image up on the screen with the face blurred and say tune in again to see it.
‘Detectives believe that he’s deceased.’
Fordham also added that the former detective who investigated the disappearance said he is ‘haunted’ by the unsolved case.
Gary Jubelin said in the Daily Telegraph that the disappearance involved a three-year-old boy with his life ahead of him and there are still no answers.
He also said he is still of the position that William’s foster mother was not involved on the basis that he conducted both covert and overt operations targeting her and found no evidence.
On the afternoon of September 11, 2014, William – then aged three – and his family made the four-hour drive from Sydney to visit his foster grandmother in Kendall.
The following morning, the foster mother sat outside, watching as William and his sister played a game similar to hide and seek.
At some point around 10.30am, he ducked around a corner, never to be seen again, the foster mother has previously said.
Initially she did not think much of him ducking out of view, but after not hearing him for several minutes, she sensed something was wrong.
‘I’m speechless, I’m walking around in a circle on the spot thinking where is he? Why can’t I see him?’ the foster mother previously told the Where’s William Tyrrell podcast.
‘And I’m yelling out ‘William, where are you? You need to talk to mummy, 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 wasn’t out of her sight for more than five minutes before she started to search.
At 10.56am – half an hour since he was last seen – his foster mother rang triple-0 to report him missing, with police arriving less than 10 minutes later.
‘My son, he’s missing, he’s three-and-a-half,’ the foster mother said on the call, which has previously been played at an inquest.
The family and neighbours had been frantically searching.
William’s foster father had arrived back home after driving into town for a better internet connection while he dialled into a work conference call.
A massive search of nearby homes and bushland was launched.
Police, SES workers, the Rural Fire Service and local residents searched the surrounding area and local forests but found no sign of him.
Over the years various theories have been investigated.
One theory was that he was snatched with a local washing machine repairman who was in the area investigated and cleared.
Another more recent theory was that he died in a fall from his foster parents second storey balcony while playing – but there has been no evidence found to back this up either.
A $1million reward remains in place for information leading to the resolution of the case.