Special news bulletin tonight at 9:15pm branded as The Latest,
Be watching 7NEWS live from 6pm
The Latest: Finding Cleo from 9.15pm
7NEWS will continue to break into programming with special coverage live from Western Australia and every detail you need to know in 7NEWS live at 6.00 following the extraordinary conclusion in the case of missing four-year-old Cleo Smith, found alive and well after a dramatic raid on a Carnarvon house in the early hours of this morning.
Then join Michael Usher from 9.15pm AEDT for a special one-hour edition of The Latestfrom 7NEWS on Channel 7 and 7plus, live to a team of reporters at key locations with up-to-the-minute developments and analysis of what really happened and the moment that turned the case.
Rick compared today’s news to a story he covered in 2007. Two toddlers wandered off in the middle of winter and disappeared for 25 hours before they were found. I remember that day clearly and it was big news in WA at the time.
Obviously different circumstances to what happened with Cleo but any time missing kids are found alive and well will always be good news.
Seven Melbourne ran five minutes over last night. Even with all the news from WA that shouldn’t be necessary. Just drop some other stories along the way. There’s always plenty of fluff.
They likely ripped this off Facebook. I moderate elsewhere and we had to remove several attempts to dox this guy yesterday morning, well before Seven used the same social media imagery.
I read about this last night. I knew something was up when I saw the article posted and then removed shortly afterwards from both the website and Facebook. One of the photos even aired on Sydney’s afternoon news which now explains why that bulletin never made it to 7plus.
These kind of mistakes can ruin a person. The media need to make sure they have the right person before rushing to publish names or photos. Not just for cases like this but especially ones like this where people will be all over it.
Unsurprisingly, Terry Flowers (the man who was wrongly identified by Seven) is planning to sue the network for the error they made. Considering it caused Flowers to have a panic attack to the point where he had to attend hospital, I don’t blame him for taking legal action.
It was a massive error on Seven’s part and they need to to be penalised for it. This will have long lasting effects on the poor guy.
Seven should know better. Stop rushing to be first when it comes to something this serious. Check, double check and then check again and make sure they have it right before publishing anything.
Especially in a case like this where wrongful identification could have significant and lasting ramifications/consequences for the wrongly identified individual.
