Thousands call for resignation of prank-calling Australian DJs

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?