"Since when is Channel 9 in the business of child stealing? Is that what we do now?"

The families of five Australians  – including 60 Minutes journalist Tara Brown – and two British child recovery agency employees are on tenterhooks waiting for news of the fates of their loved ones.

As they desperately seek news of their partners there have been emotional scenes in the offices of the Nine Network where the families have gathered for what has been described as a “desperate and angry” meeting with the mangers responsible for sending the Nine crew to Beirut.

The families await news of their loved ones. Image via Facebook and Nine News.

60 Minutes’ reporter Tara Brown, producer Stephen Rice, cameraman Benjamin Williamson, sound recordist David Ballment, mother of the children Sally Faulkner and two members of a UK-based child recovery agency, face charges relating to kidnapping and will remain in custody after the case was adjourned until Monday.

The group has been charged with conspiracy to commit a crime, kidnapping and physical assault.

The offences carry jail terms of up to 20 years.

The ABC reports that Sally Faulkner has told a judge she regrets her actions, Faulkner's lawyer, Ghassan Moughabghab, has told the ABC that 60 Minutes paid for the botched child recovery attempt - this claim has not been verified by the Nine Network.

The Daily Telegraph reports that yesterday the families of the four 60 Minutes staffers met with the Nine chief executive Hugh Marks.

Ben Williamson, David Ballment and his wife Kelly and Stephen Rice. Source: Facebook.

According to insiders the families emerged unhappy over a distinct lack of information coming from Nine during the meeting.

Ben Williamson’s wife Kasey, Stephen Rice’s wife, Denise and David Ballment’s wife Kelly  along with Tara Brown’s husband, TV producer John McAvoy remain in Australia after being advised not to travel to Lebanon.

It is reported that at one stage the wife of one of the men demanded answers saying “Since when is Channel 9 in the business of child stealing? Is that what we do now?”

Meanwhile Sally Faulkner has spoken to media from her prison cell telling The Australian that she is doing well and that she has asked her partner Brendan Pierce – with whom she has a three-month-old-baby -  not to visit her as “they had priorities and commitments back home’’.

“Please tell my mum and dad how well I am and also Brendan and my in-laws,’’ she said.

“I am fine but my loved ones need to know that.’’

The Daily Telegraph reports that in a company wide memo Mr Marks reassured staff their colleagues were being well looked after:

“I know there are lots of questions about how this happened. Questions we will get to the bottom of when everyone gets back. It is essential that we do whatever we can to help facilitate our crew’s fastest possible return to Australia.

We are highly respectful of the Lebanese legal process and this is well understood and appreciated over there.

“We think it is encouraging that the judge has directed the parents of the two children to reach a mediated agreement on custody.

“It demonstrates sound logic and a rational approach to what has been an intractable issue for that family. I know it’s a testing and frustrating time for us all, especially for those who are close to the 60 crew, colleagues and friends.

“My priority is to get our crew home and every decision is being made through that prism, while providing whatever support we can give to those who are impacted by these events.”

Meanwhile veteran TV journalist Ray Martin has defended the actions of 60 Minutes saying the crew is ““highly ethical.”

“I can’t believe they would do something that’s unethical.”

Ray Martin told ABC radio how in the 80’s he was working for 60 Minutes and he became involved in a child recovery story.

“I thought we were doing the right thing,” he said of his own story.

“Because the courts had judged the case and decided that the mother had custody of the children, and the father had broken Australian laws and taken the children away.”

The father, he said, had “whisked the child off out of Australia, against the law, and taken them to another country ... in this case Spain, where fathers have the right to children ... An old-fashioned law, if you like, in the sense that men have a goods and chattels in their wives and children.”

“I thought we were doing the right thing,” he said of his own story.Image via ACA.

Martin said he believed pursuing it was “the decent thing to do”

“I guess if you’re in the situation of the mother or the family and a child is taken, never to be seen again, that is a huge story that I would find a valid story for a journalist to do.”

He said that while he didn’t want to comment on the case in Beirut for fear of harming the legal case he supported his colleagues.

“As journalists we do stories that we think are right, and are ethical,” he said.

“If you don't take risks in war zones and other areas then you don't do your job as a journalist ... No one’s being marched into these areas, but I suspect that the four people involved, who are highly professional and experienced, thought that it was a valid story and it was an ethical story.”