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'd hate to sound flip but shouldn't these DJ twats be pleased?

No, you don't sound flip. You sound a bit immature and overemotional and bandwagon jumping to a conclusion that neither you, nor any of the rest of this jury thread are in possession of the facts to conclude.

*They played their little joke. Now they can wipe away those crocodile tears and run of high-fiving each other.

Nasty little shits.*

if you cannot help leaping to extreme conclusions, why not try and display some of the dignity being shown by the family most directly affected?

The two DJs may not get back up from this. I don't want them to top themselves. I don't wish them to burn in hell etc etc. Which some people have said. I do think that their careers in media should probably not go forward though as even though they aren't the most senior figures at the radio station in this, they still held quite important positions of power from being the face of the radio station and they didn't act responsibly and in the best interests of the public. Those in the public eye are examples. If they think prank calling a hospital is a smart example to set, then I do despair. There's enough prank calls to emergency services as it is.

Thing is, the radio station are responsible too, but this is also about their own image and what they were prepared to associate themselves with - even if it was stupid and daft and childish.

I simply want them to do the best to move forward from this and properly take responsibility for their role in this and really consider what they did and how there was many occasions through this where they and the other people they made the decision with had ample opportunity to say "hang on a sec, this has gone far enough perhaps we can stop now".

But that didn't happen and they only thought about covering themselves legally at every point and nothing more. And this is still seems to be going on by them and the radio station.

The only glimmer of trying to take responsibility that I've seen from the DJs was Greig saying in answer to if he was willing to testify at the inquest next year: "If that's going to make them (the family) feel better then I'll do what I need to do, absolutely. If that's something that they want to do, to get some closure, then I'll do that."

I hope they both mean that, and not in a self serving way.

I hope they do some reading up on media ethics in the meantime whereever they go (and tbh, even though Leveson doesn't apply to Australia - the fact that at its core was the Murdoch Empire which does have big implications for Australian media, they as professionals in the industry should be paying close attention as a matter of course) .

Natation - I haven't done this type of work myself, but I can tell you from friends who have that the lawyers will have had zero editorial control over this. All they will have been allowed to say is whether any laws were being broken. Even then, they may have said "well, you are on dicey ground". The station will look worse if it didn't follow legal warnings, but the lawyers get no real say. I suspect that they will be asked to give evidence, depending on any issues of legal privilege being resolved

I've had to re-register as I think MN have deleted my last username templerun (as they will probably delete this one)

I find the comment that I made up my suicide attempt in the hope of backing my "vile" comments shocking...

I never came on here to wind people up or upset them, maybe my dyslexia makes it hard for me to write how I think without it sounding heartless (I have to reach for words and "blame" was maybe not the right one). I know it's upsetting but I have lost people and have tried to commit suicide several times (the first being when I was 13) so I know how I feel about it. If you don't feel the same then that's up to you but don't call me "vile" or "heartless" or "a fuckwit". Not once have I called anyone names but have tried to back up what I meant... only to be called a liar or a troll.

I hope that someone in the depths of depression that reads my post thinks twice about what they are going to do. They WILL leave behind friends and family asking questions and blaming themselves. That is the saddest thing about this whole story. Depression is a horrible thing and nothing is bad enough to end your life. Even being humiliated in front of the world.

And the djs were just doing what thousands of djs do every day of the year all over the world. There's a programme called Dead Ringers on radio 4 where an impressionist- might be John Culshaw- rings businesses pretending to be Tom Baker trying to buy parts for his tardis. And there are loads of hoax calls and pranks played on Radio 1. It's just ridiculous to hold them responsible for this awful thing. Is there a legal term to describe a consequence for your actions that you could not possibly have foreseen?

Why have you had your name deleted?

To say you've been suicidal and that you have experienced a friends suicide your lack of empathy and understanding is astonishing. I don't get it. One bit.

Yes, Seeker is right re the failure of the hospital management. They should have trained the receptionists, nurses, etc properly given their high profile clients.
What is even worse is that they likely gave the nurses involved a very hard time when this came out and made them feel like scapegoats when, in actual fact, they should have taken most of the blame themselves.

I don't agree with prank calls in general.

But prank calling a business and prank calling a hospital have very clear differences.

And getting that permission that you've asked for is very important if you do prank call. Not trying not getting a response and still cracking on with it.

Can I just say that the radio station's assertion they haven't done anything illegal sounds very unlikely to me. If a British media outlet did this, they could be prosecuted under section 55 of the Data Protection Act 1998. 2Day are going to get away with it I suspect, because they broadcast in Australia. But any decent legal advice from Oz lawyers would probably have told them that what they were doing was a prosecutable offence in the UK.

I don't think having sympathy for the nurse and for the DJs is mutually exclusive. Nor do I think having sympathy for people is inconsistent with wanting them to be held to account. But only for their fair share of the blame, not that part which ought to be apportioned to the radio station's management, who took the ultimate decision to broadcast.

But really, the irony of those people who were decrying the awful, cruel, prank, culture that led to this broadcast and the knee-jerk blaming of the nurses that followed it, engaging in overstated, cruel attacks on the DJs. They are getting death threats. Have people lost all ability to react in an adult manner?

No, the radio station shouldn't have set this prank up. Then none of this would have happened. Stop blaming the hospital.

So they have deleted your username thus trying to prevent you from posting?

I wonder why that is?

The fact that the segment was produced clinched it for me. Management and legal teams took the decision to publish and the production team jointly brainstormed the prank in the first instance. The radio station needs to be held accountable for the questionable decision to go with the segment.

The nurses and DJs just played a bit part in this horrendously tragic situation. That poor woman ended her life over this public humiliation. Blaming the DJs for this is misconceived. Blaming the station - who has form is entirely appropriate. I hope they shut the station!!

I answered because unlike Jacintha's children nobody in the dj's lives have just committed suicide.

Because your post seems to imply that only having someone in your life die/commit suicide would be reason enough to kill yourself. That clearly isn't the case. You cannot know that the DJs will get back up from this, any more than you can know that her kids won't. In their shoes, I'm pretty sure I would feel suicidal so have no difficulty in believing others might too.

What they did (the DJs) was irresponsible but I am sure they would take it back immediately if it would change what happened.

They couldn't possibly have known the tragic consequences. And really this poor nurse must have already been unwell.

It is a very sad and tragic turn of events. Just awful.

If they don't get back up from this who have they to blame?

The management and legal teams of the station they worked for??

Having huge sympathy for Jacintha's family does not preclude having sympathy for the djs as well. It's not a black and white issue. The DJs did a stupid irresponsible thing and deserved to be penalised in some way. But unwittingly becoming involved in someone's death and finding yourself villified all over the internet and being accused of murder etc must be horrific and so, while I think what they did was despicable, I do feel some sympathy for them. And it is sympathy not empathy. They are two different things, but some posters seem to be using them interchangeably.

Seeker - i don't like prank calls at all. But pretending to be Tom Baker buying tardis parts is not the same as deciding that a potentially very sick woman is an appropriate hook on which to hang a prank. There was an underlying element of 'non personing' to it which made it particularly cruel from the outset. Also, someone in that situation ends the call knowing that there was a prank. These nurses probably had no idea until it hit the news (assuming it is correct that the station say they didn't manage to contact the hospital pre transmission).

Yes partly, nobody held a gun to their head though.

jumpingjane: "What is even worse is that they likely gave the nurses involved a very hard time when this came out and made them feel like scapegoats when, in actual fact, they should have taken most of the blame themselves. "
You see, you are speculating there. You don't know how the hospital management have behaved. It's quite possible that the managment behaved in supportive way and did take it on themselves to improved training etc.

"No, the radio station shouldn't have set this prank up. Then none of this would have happened. Stop blaming the hospital."

I agree that if the radio station hadn't set it up it wouldn't have happened. And the manqgement decision to broadcast the call without proper consent was utterly, utterly shameful. But the hospital needs to take responsibility for not protecting their staff. The fact that 2 nurses in quick succession handled this call really badly says that there are not proper procedures in place. Which is pretty shocking.

time and time and time again it is being reiterated on this thread that you are only deserving of sympathy once you are dead. As long as you're still alive you're fair game, apparently.

Make a comment that there must have been previous mental health issues at play and that is wrong. Because we are apparently all prone to being able to snap at a moment's notice and kill ourselves. Except that's rubbish. There have been enough experts commenting publically on this case that have stated the fact that this nurse wasn't already seriously mentally ill is extremely unlikely. Yes of course people commit suicide unexpectedly, and sometimes we never find out why. And sometimes we never even know there were issues, because someone determined to kill themselves is also determined not to be prevented from doing so. But once they're dead you can't ask them, so anything is speculation, which is wrong. apparently.

Yet there are plenty of people here prepared to state that the DJ's will just "get over it" that they will be ok. How do you know that? When this prank was aired would anyone have speculated that this could lead to suicide? anyone? No of course not. Everyone would have said that the nurses would "get over it," would have acknowledged that the prank was stupid and that it shouldn't be allowed to happen, but that would have been it. To suggest otherwise is disingenuous. But as soon as someone dies everything that went previously is forgotten and people develop a whole new agenda...

The double standards are shocking.

I think a lot of people on this thread are doing exactly what was done to poor Jacintha. Blindly throwing out blame here, there and everywhere without stopping to think of the consequences for the people they are naming and blaming.

The DJs were part of the brainstorming and they agreed to it.

It was their reputation on the line and its them that agreed to be associated with a prank call on a hospital.

They had the opportunity and ability to say "This isn't right to prank call a hospital, I'm not willing to do this".

It was a group decision, but they took a lead role in it as the ones carrying it out and as being the face of the radio station.

Ultimately very private in the army has the moral responsibility not to shoot unarmed civilians even if their superior orders it.

*every