How the tragedy of Lily Hooper unfolded

Ready and good morning, this is the daily hours. This is the daily hours. Oh, now it makes sense Good morning and welcome to the daily hours. It's Monday the 24th of August. I'm Billy for Simon. I'm Sam Coslowski Last week police found the body of missing teen hiker Lily Hooper in the southern Highlands in New South Wales It brought to her close an eight day search involving more than 200 emergency service personnel to find the 18 year old But before her death was confirmed her family was actually first told that she had been found alive and that initial and inaccurate information went from the search area all the way to New South Wales Parliament within minutes We'll explain how it all unfolded on today's podcast Billy before we get into the misinformation angle in this case and what it can teach us about the way that current reporting works and what we as media could do better. I do want to start really clearly with The story of Lily Hooper herself. This is somebody who's lost their life. Tell me what exactly happened here? Yeah, so Lily Hooper She was an experienced hiker and she went missing for just over a week in the southern Highlands in New South Wales She was 18. Yeah, she had just finished school Like I said, she was an experienced hiker. This wasn't her first time hiking and on this particular day I guess just to set the context of what we know happened on the last day that she was seen alive at least by her family It was Wednesday the 12th of August and she had gone on a solo hike Now she left her home in Sydney, South West at about 8 a.m. on that Wednesday morning and she drove to nearby National Park where she went hiking Police said about mid-morning that day that she went missing. She reached the summit of the walking trail that she was on But her family had no contact with her after reaching that summit and it was when she hadn't returned home by 10 p.m That her family contacted police and said that she was missing. So that was at 10 p.m. At 11 p.m. This is still the same day. Her car was found at the bottom of the walking trail that she was at and That is when the search operation for her immediately began and that search operation, which was a large operation that continued right up until Thursday morning when police found her body, right? Yes So a very large widespread search began every time that we hear about police and emergency service personnel Searching for someone in national parks. They always really emphasize the difficult terrain that they are working in often also It's such a large area that they are needing to find someone sure of really dense bushlands. Yes So in this case, there were 200 people searching that involved a hundred defense force personnel And police were regularly keeping the public the media informed. There were a lot of media that were there at the search area And then it was Thursday morning when we started seeing in the media that she had been found alive So take me right inside the TDA newsroom in that moment explain. I was sitting next to you explain The the motions that happened when we first heard other development in this story on Thursday morning Yeah, so we first heard about it at about I think it was 1145 on Thursday morning and it was from other media Now we knew that there were other media at that search area. So We Presumed that that was because the police had told that media I'll get into what our internal processes are, but just focusing on the media We now know that the family was indeed told that Lily had been found alive Right and not just Lily's family, but also the media and that's how the miscommunication with the media happened But I want to focus on Lily's family because of course, I mean we can't not even imagine how tragic it is Knowing what we know now the fact that Lily's family was of course at the national park where the search area was taking place and They were indeed told that she had been found alive Seven news was at the site and they actually spoke to the family Right after they were told that she was found alive and when you say that seven news actually spoke to the parents That was footage that formed part of their coverage, right up until later that date Yeah, they aired it despite knowing right again what we know now the media obviously started reporting on it as well And we know that New South Wales Premier Chris Minnes was in budget estimates when this was all happening and he was handed a note By someone saying that Lily had been found alive as well. Is this is Sakura? So we've got some with respect We've got some fantastic news Mr. Chair Lily Hoopo has been found a lot Found in the bush with half the bottle of oil with her. So that's fantastic news. Yeah, that is great news With the indulgence of the committee. I just want to thank New South Wales police the SES the Australian Defence Forces and literally the hundreds of volunteers who got in there and helped Find what is a wonderful story. I just I can imagine her family. I just over the moon and everybody in New South Wales is is rooting for her So we saw that the New South Wales Premier had said that in budget estimates I guess just to go through what our internal processes are we obviously didn't have someone at the search area So for us as soon as we saw it we reached out to New South Wales police They are the ones who have been keeping the media and the public updated this entire time. So for us Just our internal processes. We don't report anything until we have that primary source. It was that Difficult decision in terms of you've got the premiere of a state confirming something in Estimates which is essentially under oath. Mm-hmm Was that a difficult situation in terms of a confirmation that you were looking for a little bit But I immediately reached out to New South Wales police and they immediately got back to me and Said the outcome is still being confirmed and as soon as I got that message from them It seemed like something was wrong because usually they would just confirm at least on background Whether or not something was true and then they would say a press release is coming or an official statement is coming But the fact that their message was quite ambiguous suggested that something could possibly be wrong here Yeah, and I mean our internal processes are our internal processes and We've been doing this job long enough to know that we should not ever steer away from what our standards are But it was quite an interesting. I mean watching you and the team in this particular situation. We had a moment where there was confirmation by the premiere of the state and Everyone from the ABC to the Sydney Morning heralds to the Broadcasting Channel 7 Channel 9 the Guardian all of those Major news outlets had confirmed that Lily who had been found alive. Yes, and there is an anxiety that creeps into us sitting in the office of Are we a bit slow to this now our audience cares a lot about this story are we behind the April because I mean, you know without it sounding too crass You want to make sure they are not left behind on an important story. Yeah, a hundred percent We just always have this phrase internally that is we would rather be slow and right than fast and wrong Yeah, and we say that every day in the office and we have to stand by that I would say that to be fair to other media again They were there and they were told that information so it's It's a difficult one in terms of did the media do anything wrong I mean if they were told that information by the people that were on the ground there And they were actually there themselves I Think there is possibly some grace there. Yeah, especially if that was their internal process that they were following yes And so what happened next so that was about kind of a 10-minute period, right? So we immediately tuned into Chris Minnes' budget estimates and as soon as we tuned in we heard this I've got some Terrible news and I apologize to the committee, but it seems as if the earlier boss was wrong and Lily's body's been found and she she's been found deceased and I only raised that because I only raised that because I made the early advice and I'm very sorry for that But this is obviously devastating and I'm just profoundly Sad for a family and and for all those concerned and I apologize to the committee. This is terrible news - All right. - Terrible news, and yeah, I'll come down. to the family and to all those people impacted and affected and yeah, that's devastating news. It is just tragic to think through what that 10 minutes brought to the family of Lily Hooba and for it to play out in such a public way was I don't think I've seen anything like it to be honest. I mean, just unbelievably tragic that she had died and then the added layer of the family being told that she was alive and then finding out the information that she in fact had died. You just, again, you can't imagine and it was initially unclear what had happened with the family or what had happened with the communication from police and how this had all unfolded. Police, New South Wales Police held a press conference Thursday afternoon and they confirmed that the family had initially been told the wrong information. Oh, listen, I think it would be fair to say that they were informed that initial, the initial information that the search has believed that she was alive and that's what was communicated. But like I said, within eight to ten minutes we were able to give him an update which was a more accurate account of the discovery of the person we believed to be Lily. The family was told incorrectly that she was alive. How has this commissed communication happened? The area is thick dense terrain. We've got hundreds of searches out there. They're carrying handheld communication devices and as you can appreciate we've all experienced it. Sometimes the communication is a challenge. Now part of the investigation or part of this search process, or I say, is to keep Lily's mum and dad well informed of the progress. After that initial report is made, we of course get further information over time and it has been a very, very short period of time and in fact between eight and ten minutes that we're able to provide Lily's parents with the updated status. So essentially reading between the lines there, it sounds like a communication error between those who are searching and actually on the ground back to some sort of central command who then informs Lily's family is what according to the police spokesperson seems to have occurred. But what happens now? Because that is a, that is a serious error in the way that the policing was administered. Yeah. He also, we didn't hear it in that clip, but the New South Wales police were saying that that initial communication was born out of elation and that is why they told the family but then they said their words it very quickly turned to deflation when they realized the grave error and what they now had to communicate to the family. In terms of what happens now, we heard from the police there, there will be obviously a lot of investigation into not just Lily's death but also how the error occurred and there are all sorts of questions that they still need to answer, including when did she die? They don't know that yet when in the eight day period that she was missing did she die. So there are a lot of questions that need to be answered and we will be keeping everyone updated as we have them. I want to ask you one question that we haven't even talked about yet off mic and I want to ask you it on mic but you lead a newsroom. Let's say that TDA had taken the that first primary bit of information that she was alive and ran with it. How do you think news organisations should be responding when there's such a major pivot to the information that they've put out there? Yeah. What do you do in that situation? I mean, I can say what we do at TDA. I don't want this to be a criticism on any other media but I know for us we try to do things differently and I think that if we had done that, we have to immediately acknowledge that we had initially reported something different. I think that transparency is something that audiences really appreciate and putting this case aside when obviously have made mistakes and all media they're going to be mistakes that we all make at different times. I think you have to acknowledge it and I think audiences appreciate it when you acknowledge it and especially if you're a go-to news source for certain people, they might have seen on your website that something had happened and then they see something completely opposite again on your website and if you don't acknowledge the earlier reporting, I think it can be quite confusing. A really complex story here at the heart of this story is the loss of life for an 18-year-old hiker. That's the most important part of this story but I also think there are indeed some media lessons to learn for all of us in this as well. Billy, thank you for taking us through that. Thank you. I think we would love a tip bit to send us on our Monday mornings with a happy thought in our minds. Do you have anything for us? I do. Belgium's Royal Family. Are you familiar with them? We spoke about the Belgians last week and you put us to Miss Alainia Superfund that was buying Australian government bonds but I'm happy to talk about them again. I was going to say Belgium is getting a lot of airtime on our podcast recently. So they have a royal family and at the centre of that royal family is a man named Prince Laurent. And last week he legally recognised that he has a 26-year-old son who was born out of marriage and that 26-year-old son is a car salesman who now has become Prince. In Belgium? In Belgium. Yes. So you might be thinking, wow, this plot sounds so familiar. It's Princess Diaries. Yeah. You're stumped. Well, that was a princess, right? Oh, sorry, yes. Where's the Princess Diaries? You haven't seen Princess Diaries? No, I have Anne Hathaway headphones on in the movie poster. Yes. Yes. That was incredible. I mean, you are going from trying to get the best deal over a 2004 Toyota camera to being part of royalty. Yes. Amazing. So he was born to the Prince prior to the Princess marriage. It had been a secret for a long time and he hadn't legally recognised the fact that he had this son. I believe that the son didn't know until a few years ago and he has now formally become a Prince of Belgium. Unfortunately, he won't be doing any royal duties or maybe fortunately. He also won't be getting any. What do they call, like, not the pension? What do they call it? Well, he's getting no benefits. He won't be getting a royal allowance. He'll be getting no money, no benefits, but he will be recognised as a Prince. Wait, sir, if he doesn't get the royal allowance, he has to keep working as a car salesman, right? He will. Yes, I imagine that business will be very good. Business will be good, he'll be giving out royal deals, left-right and so. Yes. Thank you for that, Billy, and thank you for the discussion today. Really appreciate it. And thank you for joining us on The Daily Oz this morning. It's going to be another big week of news where you suspect and we'll be here every step of the way. We'll be back with the evening headlines until then have a great start to your week. My name is Lily Madden and I'm a proud Arranda Bungalung Calcutune woman from Gadigal Country. The Daily Oz acknowledges that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the Gadigal people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nations. We pay our respects to the first peoples of these countries, both past and present.