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Thousands call for resignation of prank-calling Australian DJs

BY Jillian Raftery  on December 7, 2012 @ 12:09 pm (Updated: 4:20 pm - 12/7/12 )

A prank call Wednesday morning to King Edward VII hospital in the UK went viral when Australian Djs posed as the Queen of England and Prince William in order to gain access to privileged information about Kate Middleton. Many news outlets, including The Dori Monson Show, made light of the incident.

Now British authorities have reported that the nurse who originally took the call and transferred it to a ward nurse caring for the Duchess of Cambridge has now committed suicide.

Jacintha Saldanha, a mother of two in her forties, was found unconscious just a few blocks from the hospital where she worked for over four years.

Shortly after the announcement the radio hosts at 2Day FM, Mel Greig and Michael Christian, were barraged with tens of thousands of Twitter messages from around the world blaming them for the Jacintha's death.

Since then they have deleted their accounts and been taken off-air temporarily by the station.

The station's parent company, Southern Cross Austerereo, released a statement this morning about the nurse's death:

Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) and 2Day FM are deeply saddened by the tragic news of the death of nurse Jacintha Saldanha from King Edward VII's Hospital and we extend our deepest sympathies to her family and all that have been affected by this situation around the world.

Chief Executive Officer Rhys Holleran has spoken with the presenters, they are both deeply shocked and at this time we have agreed that they not comment about the circumstances. SCA and the hosts have decided that they will not return to their radio show until further notice out of respect for what can only be described as a tragedy.

Many people are calling for the DJs' resignations, but Dori doesn't blame them for Jacintha's death even though he found the prank call tasteless.

You decide: are the Australian DJs responsible for nurse Jacintha Saldanha's death? Should they be fired?

Jillian Raftery, Social Media Captain
Jillian Raftery is a social media captain for the Dori Monson Show. She loves the neighborly vibe of the Pacific Northwest and spends as much time as possible outdoors.
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Comments (18)


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  • irony wrote...
    sadly we have to discuss this...
    December 7, 2012 12:37 pm
    i call for the resignaiton of all over sensative people so they won't have this happen to them. now on a serious note, the DJ did not do anything to that person, they just called and were transferred by them. that person over reacted and chose badly. if they had any self worth they would have gone on all the daily shows talking about how they were pranked.
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  • Whidbeyboy wrote...
    In addition
    December 10, 2012 11:50 am
    Everyone who laughed at this prank should be fired as well. They did not kill the nurse, the nurse killed herself.
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  • Ricoli wrote...
    Nurse's suicide
    December 7, 2012 1:34 pm
    Bob Costa would have said," If those DJ's wouldn't have had a phone, that woman would be alive today.
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  • snikkers wrote...
    this is idiotic
    December 7, 2012 4:06 pm
    I'm tired of people's job being on the line when they do something stupid. Every time I turn around someone "should be fired" for having an opinion or saying something without speaking. If this is the standard we'd all be out of work. This was a lousy prank, that wasn't funny, BTW. I'm sorry this woman chose to commit suicide but she's the only one responsible for that.
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  • soo purletiv wrote...
    My therapist tells me
    December 7, 2012 5:59 pm
    Jacintha had other things going on in her head and heart. This was just the last camel that broke the straw... or something like that.

    She also told me this may be a hoax by Jacintha and co. to get back at the DJ's. She says payback is a b****.

    Whatever that means......

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  • FormerMarineSgt wrote...
    @soo puletiv
    December 8, 2012 11:46 am
    So far, the investigation has shown that other than being shy, she had no apparent problems that would have her on the edge of suicide. So at this point, the only indication of why she did it is here severe disappointment and embarassment at being tricked by this. And in my mind this kind of 'prank' is no such thing. It's cheap shock jock games played at the expense of others 'for a cheap laugh'. It's violations of the law in getting illegal access to people and information by deception, fraud and deceit. And now one of these instances has caused the death of an innocent person. In any other crime, the perpetrators would be deemed culpable for ALL results of the crime - including deaths. I don't care who was 'pranked' - it's still the same thing if it's royalty, Presidents, Prime Ministers or Joe Diddlywacker from down the street. If you break the law to perform your prank - you should be arrested. If your prank causes injury, death or other problems - you should also be sued in civil court (and I hope these two radio show morons are).
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  • Whidbeyboy wrote...
    Disagree
    December 10, 2012 11:56 am
    I don't care how shy she was, she obviously had other issues. People who kill themselves over being pranked shows that they had no family support or can't handle life. You might as well sue everyone who teases another person. How about the baptist church that holds up signs at funerals saying their child deserved to die? That is much worse, but the courts found it was thier right.
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  • deltta wrote...
    Bring the DJ's here
    December 8, 2012 10:38 am
    And give Ron and Don the boot.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • hedujg26 wrote...
    I am trying to figure out..
    December 8, 2012 1:37 pm
    How someone who calls themselves a former Marine could forget what personal responsibility means. The two DJs didn't make her kill herself. She was on the phone for 3 seconds and transfered a call. If that was enough to make her take her own life, then she was unstable in the first place. It was a prank, could be called stupid, but not of the level that someone would or should kill themselves over it. As sad is it is, she chose her action. She could have pursued legal recourse, used the media to attack back. But she chose poorly, and thats not the fault of the two DJs. It is fair to say that if this set her off, it would not take too much to do it, and was a matter of time. I don't mean that to sound mean, but tell me, was the prank call worth anyone killing themselves over? He77 no.
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  • soo purletiv wrote...
    Hmmmmm....
    December 8, 2012 4:19 pm
    My therapist, or some politically bent poster named FormerMarineSgt...

    So much to ponder............

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  • FormerMarineSgt wrote...
    @hedujg26 & Soo purletiv....
    December 8, 2012 8:14 pm
    Gee guys. You sure don't care much about legal liability then eh? You're right. they didn't 'make' her kill herself. But if you commit a crime and a death occurs BECAUSE of the crime, you are legally culpable for the death as well. It's a simple basic legal standard in this country. Should they be charged with murder or homicide? No. But they are indeed culpable for it because what they did set the wheels in motion. It's asinine to say - 'gee whiz folks, she wouldn'ta done it without this crime happening, so tough SH__ on her. It's her own damm fault.' Hardly guys. You wanna talk personal responsibility? Then tell these idiot DJ's that they are the ones who should step up and take personal responsibility for the death that thier prank caused.
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  • maplefish wrote...
    @sarge
    December 9, 2012 11:07 am
    Your such a typical liberal. Blame everybody else....Whaaaa Whaaaa Whaaaa. It's always somebody else's fault. Hedujg26 is right. You liberals NEVER want to take personal responsibility. The poor lady had issues.
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  • Whidbeyboy wrote...
    But..
    December 10, 2012 12:04 pm
    I was about to kill myself and thier joke made me laugh so much that I found a new reason to live. Your arguement won't fly sarg.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • serzsa wrote...
    Consequences of celebrity worshiping...
    December 8, 2012 5:52 pm
    british royalty included, of course.

    Who would be making such a prankcall if that weren't whoever she was (I really don't know the name)? Millions of women get pregnant every day, some have complications -- normal thing. Unless, of course, it's royalty or celebrity...

    Naturally, having been "pranked" is not worth suicide or anything close to it, but there are some cultures that take it quite personally. She was from India, I believe.

    So, DJ's were just doing their job. The celebrity obsessed mob has to take some responsibility here indeed.

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  • longwayhome wrote...
    She had other issues
    December 8, 2012 8:48 pm
    She may have gotten a call from a bill collector and done the same thing. The DJ's didn't commit any crime other than being creative in their pursuit of news. Not coming onto the dorky commentary very often I've noticed that there are a lot of posters who can't spell and really don't have a lot of input, sort of like their host.
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  • MagneticPatriot wrote...
    People have to take responsibility...
    December 10, 2012 12:34 pm
    Prank or not, someone should take responsibility for this. I’m sure that they had no idea that someone would take their life over this but they did. Criminals think the same thing and a simple robbery that leads to someone getting killed, the criminal goes to jail for murder.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Whidbeyboy wrote...
    magnet
    December 10, 2012 3:47 pm
    Your post really depressed me, I might just kill myself. Please turn yourself in afterwards. I am sure you didn;t mean it, but let us not be hypocritical.
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