To feel sorry for the Australian DJs?

[andapartridgeinaRowantree]

Obviously more sorry for the nurse's family. I wonder how long she was having suicidal thoughts for? I can't think this could have been the only cause,

But these pranks have been going on for such a long time and those DJs could not have predicted such a result and are going to have to live with it for the rest of their lives.

It's such a tragedy and I feel very sad for all concerned.

I think it's a pretty harsh irony here for those 2 DJs who are now in hiding, one close to a break down, both being 'counselled' etc. They brought a massive shit storm to the door of a nurse caught up in their prank, and now that shit storm has landed squarely at their door step as a result of them not really thinking through the potental consquences for the victims of their prank. I wouldn't wish the sort of media intrusion they are experiencing on anyone, but they weren't too fussed about the nurses they 'pranked' and the media intrusion that would bring to them, thinking that the royals were 'fair game'. Unpleasant business all round.

Oh come on! If you've listened to the tape recording you will know that they never for a minute would ever have thought this call would have gone through.

She's a 30 something year old Aussie trying to talk like the Queen and he's pretending to be Charles in the background. The "Queen" is shouting at "Charles" to stop the corgis barking - it's all a complete farce. That this call wasn't hung up on within the first 20 seconds of being received is almost unbelievable.

I guess by looking at their profiles that they are not the type of people I'd like to mix with but really you lot need to stop it. They were being silly. They didn't expect the call to be taken seriously. It has had tragic circumstances - but they could never, ever have foreseen that.

The broadcasting of the event is out of their hands and perhaps a different matter.

I have listened to the call, and it doesn't matter if they never expected to be put through. They could have hung up before it went any further but then, where is the entertainment in that? They never thought past making the actual call yet once they got through, got more than they expected, they courted the media and made as much from the exposure as they could. I think some recognition that when the media focus is on you, and that focus isn't positive, it's can be a deeply distressing experience as they are now experiencing to their cost. It's very ironic that the humiliation of a nurse matters little in the pursuit of entertainment, but when the focus of the media turns, suddenly they now realise just how awful it is to be in the eye of that storm.

I agree that their management are ultimately responsible for the decision to broadcast but the DJs were revelling in their notoriety for a while, enjoying the focus until things they never thought about affected someone else in a very serious way. I don't go along with their public flogging, but some recognition of the effects if their 'silly' behaviour, no matter how innocent their intentions were, is what they should be doing something about. Bringing the focus of the world media is where they went badly wrong, and that was not an 'unexpected twist'. They courted that and sought that out. They are merely reaping what they've sown IMO.

So does everybody calling for their heads on a plate have a clean conscience?

There for the grace of God perhaps?

I'm thinking that none of us, faceless opinion-sharers on MN, NOT ONE OF US can be certain that a flaming, a judgy comment, an attack on someone's child rearing, religion, diet, tunic ffs has not led to a 'victim' feeling desperate and without hope.

I've seen, probably dished out and certainly received comments here that I've found deeply upsetting.

I'm lucky, the sting wears off and I carry on.

There might be people who don't.

So I'm feeling sorry for them today. And everyone else touched by the tragedy.

But we aren't publicly humiliating them are we?

You can't compare calling someone mumsy to what those idiots did.

This is a public forum.

And I've seen a hell if a lot worse than 'mumsy'

And I've seen posters get massively upset over the equivalent if 'mumsy.'

Point is, there's fragility everywhere. And unless you creep on eggshells you simply never know what will push another human over the edge.

OF, dammit

It's two different things.

Whoever answered that call and potentially put those dj's through to the ward was always going to get into some kind of trouble.

They were wrong.

I think the point about there being fragility everywhere is exactly why they should have been more responsible about what they did when they were put through and why the station/producers/DJs should have considered the wider implications of bring international media coverage to the prank. It is a lesson learned for them (I hope) and I'd like to now see their understanding that while they never intended the serious consequences, they now understand that even the most innocent 'prank' can get wildly out if control if they then use it to seek media attention. The prank itself, without any media attention, may have seemed innocent or entertaining on its own, but the minute you drag the media in, there is no telling how that will play out. That's a massive amount of power and needs wiser and calmer heads than those who decided to broadcast it.

farandaway - there's a massive difference between people who are paid to entertain, who are broadcasting a prank call potentially to the whole world, and someone posting on MN. There's also the breach of medical confidentiality to take into account.

I'm a journalist - and irritated by people who call this pair of durr-brain DJs journalists but hey ho - and when I'm at work I think carefully about the likely implications of my actions. Here I'm just nattering.

bunch - they are the media.

Point taken, they aren't what I'd call 'media' in the sense the don't report news but try and court news if that makes sense. I do take your point, but am not expressing myself well here

I feel very sorry for them. The Royals are notorious for lacking in their humour and they have PREVIOUS when it comes to 'getting rid of' people who embarrass them!

It is awful for them too. It is one of those good idea at the time scenarios which could have gone either way. There is huge pressure in that world to get the story and they could have been heros at work under other circumstances. Awful situation all round

"The Royals are notorious for lacking in their humour"

Really? I disagree. And in this case, Charles was joking about the phone call the day after - before it became known about poor Jacintha.

And by the way, Jacintha was not a native English speaker - so was unlikely to have been able to detect a bad Aussie accent impersonating the Queen.

It's tragic and upsetting but you have to question the state of mind of a person who chooses death over her family..esp when it comes to the Royals who often choose quite happily to humiliate themselves! Comeon..Tampax Charlie and 'Slitty eyed, Wog, etc etc'
Philip... no competition which is more humiliating!!!

Aparently Wills was 'livid'..just quoting The Mirror..I don't know them or anything..Just going on past experience..
Doubt he's so livid now! It was just a silly practical joke...that went horribly wrong.

buncha, I think you made a good point about fragility being everywhere and that we could all perhaps be more aware or considerate.
Although, saying that, I'm struggling with feeling sorry for the DJs at the moment because they're still hiding behind the radio station and are more concerned with fudging liability than taking responsibility. If they resigned and apologised, then I'd feel sorry for them (and I realise how conditional that sounds!) until then I'm not sure they're not more concerned with their careers than someone's death.
On the other hand, I do think the whole media circus is awful and the public witchhunt is painful. I just hope the whole tragic episode doesn't end up with any more victims before it's finished.

They're no more journalists than Dom Joly or Jeremy Beadle. They work with managers and producers who make the real editorial decisions.

Panto, agree about the breech of ethics; a riobust organisation-wide security policy regularly practises and thoroughly implemented would have stopped that daft call at 'hellair.'

As for 'nattering I've seen some very sensitive souls take things horribly to heart here, on the most innocuous of subjects as well as all the oldbutton-pushers!

*breach.
*practised
Gah.

I can't sqaure their apologies (before the nurse died) with the fact they continued to promote and boast about the prank. If they were truly sorry about it they wouldn't have continued to promote it.

If she is in the mess the media is saying she is then maybe she isn't the person to do these things. She was happy to make fun of various people and now there has been a backlash (as there was before the nurse's death) she can't hack it.

People have taken their own lives for less than this and sometimes do after one event.

Bottom line there is a good chance two children would have their mum for Christmas if Mel and Michael hasn't picked up the phone.

I think the fact is they just didn't think about the consequences as they didn't expect to get through but when you are doing something as stupid as this you really ought to think it through once, twice, several times.

I do think the whole media circus is awful and the public witchhunt is painful

so very true but as bunchamunchycrunchycarrots said they wanted attention and the media circus for their prank, but at the same time had no consideration for just how awful the negative publicity would be for Jacintha

For me the fact that one of the DJ's is reportedly close to a breakdown because of all the negative publicity is poetic justice, she had a choice in what she participated in and full knowledge of what she was doing, Jacintha did not

and I agree with Feistylass if they came out of hiding and admitted they were wrong and said sorry I would probably have more sympathy and respect for them, at the moment they look like gutless cowards hiding from the storm behind the radio station