Royal hoax DJ's show cancelled in wake of nurse suicide

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Guardian

Royal hoax DJ's show cancelled in wake of nurse suicide

2Day FM say DJs Michael Christian and Mel Grieg remain employed at the radio station but their show has been replaced

Alison Rourke in Sydney
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 27 January 2013 23.51 EST

The Australian radio show behind the prank call to the Duchess of Cambridge's hospital last December has been replaced on air by its Sydney-based broadcaster, 2Day FM. A new programme, hosted by a different DJ, will fill its nightly slot.

The Hot 30 programme, hosted by DJs Michael Christian and Mel Grieg, was taken off air following the death of the nurse Jacintha Saldana, who had forwarded the pair's prank call to the Duchess's room at the King Edward VII hospital in central London early last month. Three days later, Saldanha, 46, was found hanged in her apartment in the nurse's quarters.

During the call, in which the DJs pretended to be the Queen and Prince Charles, the nurse caring for Kate Middleton revealed personal information about the Duchess's condition relating to a severe form of morning sickness.

The prank call sparked international outrage against the radio station, which had not gained consent from the nurses involved for their voices to be broadcast before putting the prank call to air.


Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2013/jan/28/royal-hoax-djs-show-cancelled

[FarPoint]

1. Good!

These folks need a new line of employment....

[snooper2]

3. I hope not, we need more good comedy..

They should have zero blame for the nurse killing herself...As the World gets more uptight we need more of this---

[magical thyme]

4. so you think good comedy consists of tricking a nurse

in one of the most stressful and demanding jobs, in a horrific working environment, into making a mistake that could lead to her losing her career and definitely would lead to her being castigated and ostracized by her co-workers...and then publishing her mistake for all the world to hear and see, ensuring her life is no longer private, her humiliation worldwide and career ruined?

Nice sense of humor you've got there.

Pranking a public figure into public humiliation is one thing. Sarah Palin chose to be out there.

Pranking a private person working in an exhausting job where mistakes can lead to lost lives and ruined careers... into a mistake that certainly would cost her career -- I don't care that the hospital released a statement after the fact saying the nurses involved wouldn't be punished; that clearly was pr and cya. There are forms of punishment that can't be measured the way firing can.

That is not humor.
That is vicious, mean-spirited and cruel.

[snooper2]

5. Jeez you stretch that drama much?

"the most stressful and demanding jobs, in a horrific working environment, into making a mistake that could lead to her losing her career and definitely would lead to her being castigated and ostracized by her co-workers...and then publishing her mistake for all the world to hear and see, ensuring her life is no longer private, her humiliation worldwide and career ruined?"

[Sheldon Cooper]

6. Do you dispute any of those statements?

Can you say that any or all of them are false? Or is making an unsuspecting civilian the butt of a cruel hoax just so damned higher on the priority list? What some people find funny just baffles me.

[LanternWaste]

15. No more and no less a stretch to say

"Jeez you stretch that drama much?"

No more and no less a stretch to say "we need more comedy like this..."

I imagine many people get defensive when a clear line is drawn between idiotic radio humor and "less stress in the world", and they simply can't comprehend that.

[magical thyme]

17. if you actually worked in health care delivery, you'd know it's not a stretch

Behind the scenes is a war with ever changing factions. Administration versus delivery professionals. Doctors versus nurses. Everybody versus lab workers. Lab techs versus phlebotomists. Lab techs against lab techs. Pretty much everybody who makes a mistake -- and we are human and do make mistakes -- immediately starts setting somebody else up to blame. And the shit falls down. And that nurse knew now that she was down, the shit would always be landing on her.

That is why I am leaving the field with $30K in student loans to pay off, just 18 months after graduating summa cum laude from a grueling MLT program. In my 1st year, I was on a daily basis verbally abused, threatened, coerced and even deliberately set up by some co-walkers to be stalked by the brain-damaged, alcoholic, divorced janitor with a history of sexual harassment that used to work there. (He was fired after 9 months of harassing me, which peaked when he shoved me around the lab while one night while I was alone trying to result 3 critical patients.)

[cosmicone]

11. +1,000,000 very well said n/t

[progressoid]

8. Yeah, it was hilarious when they got a 14 yr old to talk about her rape on the radio

not

The broadcaster was handed the first reprimand in 2009 after a 14-year-old girl was attached to a lie detector and then said live on air that she had been raped.

... “Have you ever had sex?” The 14-year-old replied: “I've already told you the story about this ... and don't look at me and smile because it’s not funny.”

After a pause, she raised her voice with frustration and said: “Oh OK, I got raped when I was 12 years old.”

...

Regulars again ruled against the station when it found that 2DayFM's "Kyle & Jackie O Show" breached decency codes when broadcaster Kyle Sandilands called a female journalist a "fat slag" in November.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority said the comments were "deeply derogatory and offensive"

He was reported as saying: "What a fat bitter thing you are, you deputy editor of an online thing. You've got a nothing job anyway. You're a piece of s**t. You’re a bulls**t artist, girl. That's what you are. You should be fired from your job."

The station apologised but did not fire the presenter.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/12/07/tragedy-as-receptionist-who-connected-kate-middleton-prank-callers-commits-suicide.html

[Judi Lynn]

9. "Good comedy" never pushes someone to suicide. It takes a lot, apparently, to amuse you.

That reflects upon YOU, and doesn't reflect well at all.

There's nothing funny whatsoever about lying to an innocent nurse in a hospital about your identity, and tricking her into revealing personal information she has been forbidden to discuss with anyone other than authorized family members.

Cheap, stupid, destructive tricks at the expense of innocent people are never funny.

[snooper2]

10. you think if they had an inkling that she would kill herself they would have done it?

What's the chances of those sequence of events happening?

[cosmicone]

12. Oh come on ....

They should have known that it will cause a deep hurt if not outright suicide.

Your defense of the horrible pranksters out to increase ratings and line their pockets at the expense of others is appalling.

[Judi Lynn]

13. They were obligated to seek permission from the hospital, which they blew off.

Common sense, respect for other people would have guided them, had they been conscientious people.

[Franker65]

2. The right thing to do

These people proved they're inept when it comes to radio. Absolutely the right thing to do.

[sofa king]

7. I hope it gives Aussies some solace in these dark days.

They are having a very bad month.

[TXDemoGal]

14. The show is cancelled, but the 2 DJs remained employed by the station.

I'd say the station didn't go far enough. The DJs certainly don't seem blameless in this tragedy.

[Hekate]

16. Heinlein had it right when it comes to practical jokes, I think...

A "practical joker" deserves applause for his wit according to its quality. Bastinado is about right. For exceptional wit one might grant keelhauling. But staking him out on an anthill should be reserved for the very wittiest. ~Lazarus Long~

These "jokers" need another line of work, like waiting tables.

[MrSlayer]

18. That just sucks.

Censorship and scapegoating. Bleh.