A million people watched Sunday night’s harrowing 60 Minutes episode about the missing boy, William Tyrell.
Top of their mind?
Why couldn’t the people who were interviewed be identified?
For legal reasons.
That’s all anyone is allowed to say.
They can’t be identified for legal reasons.
Hundreds of journalists, hundreds of police, plenty of people in the community know more than that, but it’s against the law for any of them – for any of us – to explain it to you.
It’s frustrating.
It frankly feels wrong.
William was in all likelihood abducted from outside a house in Kendall and police have been quite open about the fact that they think something terrible may have happened to him.
You’d think that the people responsible for putting the media ban in place – and we can’t tell you who they are, either – would be doing everything in their power to help.
A media ban doesn’t help.
It makes people think: hey, there’s something funny going on here. Why can’t we hear the whole story? What’s really going on?
It prevents many of the people who love William – and there are dozens of them – from organizing a proper campaign to bring him home.
Sunday night’s story was seen as something as a breakthrough.
Missing toddler William Tyrell.
The people who spoke on TV Sunday night – two people who clearly love William very much – were flat-out banned from saying anything about William for more than seven months.
They were allowed to speak only on the condition that they didn’t show their faces.
What does the public think about being forced to look upon the back of people’s heads?
Well, compare it to the time Daniel Morcombe went missing. His parents – snowy-haired Bruce and grief-stricken Denise – became his loudest champions, and his most effective advocates.
Who could look into Denise Morcombe’s haunted eyes and not be moved?
There were hundreds of stories of people heading out to personally search for Daniel on the basis of having looked into Denise’s face.
People gave money. They marched in the streets. They lit candles. They wore red ribbons. Bruce and Denise were allowed to keep the story in the news until Daniel’s killer was found.
The people who went on TV have a compelling story to tell. It’s the true story of William.
As things stand, you’ll never get to hear it.
The ban means that the public is hearing only part of the story.
The public isn’t stupid. Plenty of people were moved by 60’s story. The reporter, Michael Usher, did an amazing job of trying to get the story across, while staying within the law. But the public isn’t stupid. They look at this case and they think: hmm, something’s being hidden from us.
And that can’t help in the search for William.
VIDEO: We have to bring William home.
