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Original poster

To feel sorry for the Australian DJs?

921 replies

andapartridgeinaRowantree · 08/12/2012 00:38

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.

OP posts:
EnjoyResponsibly · 08/12/2012 14:11

They didn't "take part", they instigated and enacted the prank. They hit gold when his poor woman fell for their prank.

HouseOfTinsel · 08/12/2012 14:38

It seems clear to me that the 'prank' wasn't thought through by the DJs because they never thought in a million years that they would get put through.

The fault lies in the decision to broadcast it, BUT I think the hospital is just as much at fault for putting their nurses in the firing line - making them field calls from the media (or any nutter who cares to ring up the hospital) when they should have been allowed to get on with nursing their patients.

wannaBe · 08/12/2012 14:54

So people think they deserve all they get? Death threats etc have apparently been sent to them - justified you think? Hmm two wrongs don't make a right.

What people have to ask themselves is why these prank calls happen in the first place, and the reason is simple - it's because people find them entertaining. It's all about supply and demand.

How many people on this thread who are now frothing at the mouth watch Jeremy Kyle, for instance? The concept is no different, other than the fact that his victims are sometimes willing participants, but many of them clearly do have mental health issues, and yet we are seemingly still content for these individuals to be used for public entertainment fodder...

While people gain entertainment from these types of shows they will continue to be produced...

Totallymum · 08/12/2012 14:54

Pumpkin, maybe I should have worded my thoughts better: death threats and nastiness etc are unacceptable towards the people involved.

I do think that losing their jobs, and the distress they are feeling only scratches the surface of what the nurse would have faced had she lived. I want to get it across that breaching patient confidentiality is a serious and sackable offence and she may have been struck off the nursing register altogether. The fact that she clearly took it so much to heart shows how very seriously it is taken in healthcare.

To echo other posters, it has nothing to do with it whether she had mental health problems or not.

DoesntTurkeyNSproutSoupDragOn · 08/12/2012 15:01

I don't think they deserve death threats but they deserve absolutely no sympathy whatsoever. There is a world of difference between "pranking" an innocent party when, at the very least, it could have lost them their job, and someone choosing to appear on Jeremy bloody Kyle. (not that I've ever watched it)

BegoniaBampot · 08/12/2012 15:12

Yes but the DJ's are getting the brunt of this backlash. The lawyers and station bosses who ok'd it and should have thought it through more are getting nowhere near the same hate. The media and those making a bigger thing of it also have a part to play. It really wasn't that big a story but they ran with it and milked it for all they could get.

wannaBe · 08/12/2012 15:15

of course it's the same. the only difference is that this became an international story not because of the station but because of the media. And there were plenty on mn prepared to talk about it and to call for the sacking of the nurse (and in fact it was the other one people were calling to be sacked).

And the thing is that if someone committed suicide after appearing on Jeremy kyle no-one would actually care because they're just plebs, right?

Whistlingwaves · 08/12/2012 15:24

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

hackmum · 08/12/2012 15:26

HouseofTinsel: "It seems clear to me that the 'prank' wasn't thought through by the DJs because they never thought in a million years that they would get put through.

The fault lies in the decision to broadcast it."

I think that's true. They probably thought they'd have some fun with the receptionist saying something like "Can I check who's calling?" or asking for a password or something, never dreaming they would be put through. And yes, they shouldn't have broadcast it - I imagine it contravenes Australian data protection legislation, for one thing. So the producer is at fault, too.

I dislike pranks and hoaxes intensely. I imagine that people who are brash and in their 20s and work in the media aren't particularly reflective or thoughtful people, so I don't suppose they imagined for one moment that their actions would have the consequences they did. I also think that tabloid papers are very cruel to people on a daily basis and yet have somehow been allowed to get away with it (and look at all the wittering about "freedom of speech" in the wake of Leveson).

Perhaps people will take time to pause and think about the consequences of hurtful words and actions. But given the way these two DJs are now being hounded for what they did, it looks as if that's not going to happen.

hackmum · 08/12/2012 15:27

One more thing. I hesitate to say this because it's speculation, but the nurse hadn't been publicly named, and apparently the hospital management had been supportive (at least that's what they were saying). Is it possible that a media organisation was threatening to name her?

DoesntTurkeyNSproutSoupDragOn · 08/12/2012 15:49

of course it's the same

One: person made to look foolish without any sort of consent or knowledge
Other" person goes onto a show they know will make them look foolish.

Yes, I can see that they are exactly the same thing Hmm

laptopdancer · 08/12/2012 16:03

Nice to see the headline in my local paper back home
"We didnt break rules: says radio boss".

They are reporting the station is confident they didnt do anything wrong.

VicarInaTutuDrankSantasSherry · 08/12/2012 16:45

arse covering will be the name of the game now then. whose rules did they think they havent broken?
so someone died and they are worried about whether they broke any rules?
jesus.

Whistlingwaves · 08/12/2012 16:51

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

flippinada · 08/12/2012 16:51

Yes, it says much for the station involved that their main concern at the moment seems to be covering their arses.

Ameybee · 08/12/2012 16:51

I feel sorry for them because they obviously never intended anyone to get Hurt & its a lot to live with on your conscience.

However I think we live in a world now where people think its ok to do what they like without thinking of possible consequences and that is not right! They invaded Kate's privacy on a basic level by gaining access to confidential information and that in itself is wrong - not a prank IMO.

My thoughts are mainly with the nurses family but I do feel for Kate and wills and the DJ's on some level.

VicarInaTutuDrankSantasSherry · 08/12/2012 17:01

whistling really? peaked too soon then i hope and now facing obscurity. I hope they absorb some of what their prank has caused.

the radio station are obviously devoid of conscience to put out a statement saying they didnt break any rules. what about common decency and morality?

they have certainly breached patient confidentiality.

flippinada · 08/12/2012 17:03

Yep he posted that on Facebook.

That will haunt him for the rest of his life - at least, it should do if he has a conscience.

aladdinsane · 08/12/2012 17:05

Don't feel sorry for them at all
I think the royal part is irrelevant I hate all the prank stuff including knob Jonathan Ross and his stupid mate
The poor nurse was thrust into the public domain and these idiots were bragging about it on twitter
Its time idiots like this realised there are real people on the receiving end of their 'pranks'
Not all these people can cope with international notoriety

Narked · 08/12/2012 17:15

The radio station do this kind of stuff all the time. The DJs concerned have done it time and again. If you keep doing this - publically humiliating people - you're going to cause great emotional distress to some of them. It's not a leap. If you phone a hospital to try to get confidential patient information you are quite likely to cause someone to lose their job or, at the least, feel humiliated at work. Again, not a leap.

The station has been reprimanded before. They don't care. It brings in good ratings.

Saying it was unforseeable is totally disingenous. The suicide probably was, but they didn't think about any possible consequences to the individuals they were calling, because it wasn't relevant to them.

Whistlingwaves · 08/12/2012 17:19

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

SetPhasersTaeMalkie · 08/12/2012 17:25

The boss of the radio station expressed his 'deep sorrow' over the death and said that was his main concern.

The 'not having done anything illegal' was part of a statement and quite a long one at that. If you watch it you can see that he is not dismissing the seriousness of what happened.

Catsdontcare · 08/12/2012 17:35

Not one ounce of sympathy for them. There were so many opportunities for them to have stopped this. It could possibly have been described as a prank if they had stopped at fooling the first nurse, the moment their call was put through they should have hung up like a bunch a giggling kids. BUT they chose to take it further and further.

The problem is when lawyers checked it over before it was aired they considered only the possible implications for the radio station NOT those on the receiving end.

PumpkinPositive · 08/12/2012 17:40

If you watch it you can see that he is not dismissing the seriousness of what happened.

I actually thought he was having difficulty getting through his statement. But of course, the Daily Mail would prefer to run with the far more sensationalist "It's my staff wot are the victims here" headline (something he never said!)

All this rabid foaming at the mouth with respect to the DJs will help no-one. There has already been one needless death too many associated with this prank. I only hope there are no more deaths to come.

It would be nice to think the radio station will at the very least meet the costs of this woman's funeral and make a hefty contribution towards the upkeep/education of her two orphaned children.

TandB · 08/12/2012 17:41

I have no sympathy for them.

As I said on the first thread, they decided that a woman ill in hospital, worried aout her baby and dealing with media intrusion, was funny. That was an utterly cuntish thing to do. When they decided to broadcast it, they must have been aware that they could get someone into serious trouble. No, they could not have foreseen the nurse's death, but I don't think they can realistically defend their actions by saying 'well we only intended to intrude on a sick woman's privacy and we only thought someone might be disciplined. We didn't think any one would die."

If you pushed someone over as a joke, and they hit their head and died, the law wouldn't accept 'well, I realised they might break an arm, but I didn't think they would actually die' as a defence.