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Australian Prank Radio Station To Donate At Least $500,000 To Nurse's Grieving Family
By
Jen Chung
Published Dec 11, 2012
Modified Dec 11, 2012
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By
Jen Chung
Published Dec 11, 2012
Modified Dec 11, 2012
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After a victim of two Australian DJs' prank phone call killed herself, the radio station 2DayFM announced it would donate at least $500,000 in advertising profits to her family. The station's chief, Rhys Holleran, said, "We are very sorry for what has happened. It is a terrible tragedy and our thoughts continue to be with the family. We hope that by contributing to a memorial fund we can help to provide the Saldanha family with the support they need at this very difficult time."
Nurse Jacintha Saldanha had been filling in for a receptionist at King Edward VII Hospital when she transferred a call from radio DJs Mel Greig (pretending to be Queen Elizabeth) and Michael Christian (posing as Prince Charles) to Kate Middleton's attending nurse. The attending nurse then revealed details about the condition of the expectant royal (transcript). Saldanha was found dead on Friday (reportedly by hanging in the nurses' quarters) and she had apparently been tormented by her role, no matter how small, in the prank that left the hospital embarrassed.
The DJs, who have been targeted with death threats, were deeply apologetic that their call had such an effect, but added, "You prank someone, you record it, then it goes to the other departments to work out what they want to do with it. It's been done for years. It was routine for us. It wasn't anything different." And Greig said, "It's not up to us to make that decision. We just record it and then it goes to the other departments to work out. I don't know what they then do with it. We just do what we do, which is make those calls." 2DayFM says the call was legal and insists that it had tried to contact the hospital before airing the prank call, which the hospital denies.
Saldanha's husband, Ben Barboza, and their teenaged children, daughter Lisha and son Junal, visited the Houses of Parliament to meet with member Keith Vaz, who said they were in "terrible distress." Vaz also criticized the hospital for not supporting the family with counseling.
Various legal experts think the prank call broke various laws; one British lawyer has suggested the prank call may have violated a UK data protection law: "The two DJs do not appear to have a defence under section 55 as it cannot, credibly, be argued that obtaining private medical information about a pregnant woman by deception is 'in the public interest.'"
Tagged
2dayfm
jacintha saldanha
kate middleton
prank call
radio dj
royals
suicide
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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