MISTAKEN IDENTITY

Australian Media Mistakenly Identifies Indigenous Man as Cleo Smith’s Kidnapper

Australia’s Channel 7 news issued an apology for wrongly identifying an Indigenous man with an avid social media following as the person who kidnapped the 4-year-old.

An Australian news channel has issued an apology after mistaking an Indigenous man for the person police say kidnapped 4-year-old Cleo Smith, who was found safe Wednesday locked in a house in Carnarvon on the western edge of Australia. Channel 7 News shared photos of the man—who is not being named by this publication—that were picked up and widely published. The real suspect in Smith’s kidnapping, who has also not been named by police, will be arraigned Thursday in the disappearance of the child on Oct. 16. “Earlier on Wednesday, 7News wrongly showed images of a man that were incorrectly labeled as the person under arrest over the disappearance of Cleo Smith,” Channel 7 News said. “These were removed promptly, but 7News apologizes for the error.”