Not in the slightest. YABU.
- This breaks all media ethics. In this country the newspapers have agreement over issues regarding the health of the royal family. Its well known. And reporting the medical condition of anyone whether they be a celeb or not, is very shaky ground in any western country and leaves you open to getting your arse sued. To play a prank like this, they must have weighed up the risk of that versus the potential profit from publicity. Or they are incredibly naive and ignorant and frankly if you are in media like that and don't understand basic level media ethics you shouldn't be in the job.
- They ran a hospital and took the value time of busy nurses who should be spending their time caring for patients not dealing with idiots out for a cheap laugh. Calling the emergency services with prank calls is an offense in the UK, and I'm willing to put money on the same in Australia or at least is deeply frowned upon.
- This was always going to cause upset to one party or another. It was completely predictable that it would upset the royal family (and the fact it was the royals is irrelevant - the same would be true of anyone especially in the public eye) and that if they were successful it would lead to disciplinary action or an investigation of staff, and there was a strong chance it would have an adverse effect on someones career and cause them a lot of stress and worry. It was more likely than not to put someone in a position which would be damaging to their mental health. Completely innocent staff who were unlikely to have had media training as they are nurses. This was totally outside any nurse's job description.
- They took great delight in using the clip they had to promote themselves and the radio station as much as possible after the event. Not at one point did they think of anyone else. It was selfish and self serving.
It would have taken about 2 minutes to think this through and consider other people or the potential consequences and risks of the prank (including the risk of a back lash). They didn't. Not for one second. They had chance to prepare for this; it was completely premeditated. Unlike the poor nurse put on the spot having to make a snap decision.
The fact that the outcome is worse than anyone could have imagined is beside the point in my opinion.
We wouldn't have heard the headlines about the nurse who had a breakdown or had quit her job over this. It wouldn't have been important that it had recked her life or career. She'd be forgotten and left to get on with it by the press. There would be no holding the radio station accountable for how much they had destroyed someone's life. And she'd still be painted as "letting down the royals".
Its only disgusting, because the outcome has been so awful and provoked such a backlash.
The DJs need to be held responsible. The radio station needs to be held responsible. It need to be made clear that prank calls hurt people and can have devastating effects. It needs to be made clear that trying to illicit any medical details about anyone using deception is not acceptable in any western media outlet.
They didn't stop to feel sorry for how it might effect someone caught up in their actions. Why should I feel sorry for the DJs, whose professional job includes understanding media ethics?
Why should I feel for a radio station that has previous on breaking media ethics and did nothing to educate their staff. And on this, the DJs would have been fully aware of this previous incident and this should have woken them up about media ethics and consequences even if the radio station didn't take the lead.
Their actions were premeditated, considered and had no regard for anyone else even after the fact. They had plenty of opportunity to stop at various stages but they pushed it to the absolute limit. It was selfish and involved clear deception of others.
There is high possibility they have broken the law during the process of this; they almost certainly have broken Australian broadcast regulations.
I don't get it. They need to take responsibility for their actions just like anyone else would do if they broke other rules/laws. Think drink driving. Think a boss who doesn't follow proper health and safety rules. There are no excuses. And its not beyond the realms of prediction; highly unlikely, but not totally unpredictable.
What you are suddenly saying is that suddenly because someone has died, and they are going to feel guilt over it, we should feel sorry for them despite the fact that at more than one point they could have considered the impact on others? Would they have felt guilty over it wrecking someones life in any other way? I somehow seriously doubt it.
Why on earth should I feel sorry for them? I don't get it. I'm yet to see one good reason.