Awkward moment Georgie Gardener is forced to issue a grovelling apology on air after Channel Nine showed photo footy star Latrell Mitchell instead of accused dating app killer
- Nine 6pm bulletin on Wednesday pictures league star with disastrous caption
- A photo of Souths’ Latrell Mitchell cradling a child tagged ‘chilling insight’
- 9News anchor introduced story of accused killer as Mitchell’s image appeared
- Georgie Gardener apologised for the blunder, blaming a technical error
Channel Nine news has been forced into a grovelling mid-bulletin apology after picturing a rugby league superstar while introducing a story about an alleged murderer.
As Nine’s 6pm bulletin began on Wednesday and anchor Georgie Gardener teased the ‘chilling video of accused dating app killer Ashley Gaddie, an image of Latrell Mitchell was the first photo viewers saw.
The image of the league star, cradling a child, was unfortunately captioned ‘chilling insight’.
Channel Nine news has been forced into a grovelling mid-bulletin apology after picturing rugby league superstar Latrell Mitchell while introducing a story about an alleged murderer
Gardener acknowledged the mistake later in the bulletin, saying the channel had spoken with Mitchell’s management and with Souths rugby league club
Mitchell has no connection to the sordid case and his photo appeared with the caption due to a technical error.
Gardener acknowledged the mistake later in the bulletin, saying the channel had spoken with Mitchell’s management and with Souths rugby league club.
‘At the beginning of our bulleting tonight we had a technical issue which led to an image of Latrell Mitchell being shown while we were previewing our lead story,’ Gardener said.
‘We’ve spoken to Souths and Latrell Mitchell’s management and apologised for the error.’
Gaddie, 33, faced Penrith Local Court on Wednesday, charged with murder.
His appearance came hours after a clifftop stand-off with police ended in the Blue Mountains.
Gaddie is accused of murdering Sydney teacher Dannielle Finlay-Jones, 31, after meeting her on a dating app.
Accused killer Ashley Gaddie charged with murder after a 12-hour standoff with police on Wednesday
He then allegedly fled out a window and disappeared until he was cornered by police officers at Fletcher’s Lookout, in the Blue Mountains, on Tuesday afternoon.
Gaddie clung to the side of a cliff before police negotiators managed to talk him into coming down and took him into custody about midnight.
Just after midday on Wednesday, NSW Police announced Gaddie had been charged with murder.
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