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Tearful Australian DJs apologize for royal hoax call, nurse's death
Source: Agencies |
December 11, 2012, Tuesday
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THEY expected a hang-up and a few laughs. Instead, the Australian DJs behind a hoax phone call to the United Kingdom hospital where the pregnant Duchess of Cambridge was treated were in tears yesterday as they described how their joke ended up going too far.
The phone call - in which they impersonated Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles - went through, and their station broadcast and even trumpeted the confidential information received. Whatever pride there had been over the hoax was obliterated in a storm of worldwide public outrage after last Friday's death, still unexplained, of the first nurse they talked to.
"There's not a minute that goes by that we don't think about her family and what they must be going through," 2DayFM radio host Mel Greig told Australia's "A Current Affair," her voice shaking. "And the thought that we may have played a part in that is gut-wrenching."
She and co-host Michael Christian spoke publicly about the prank for the first time in the televised interview. A separate interview on rival show "Today Tonight" also aired yesterday.
Both DJs apologized for the hoax and broke down in tears when asked about the moment they learned that the nurse, Jacintha Saldanha, was dead. But neither described having reservations before the hoax tape was broadcast; they said higher-ups had made the decision to air it. "We didn't have that discussion," Greig said.
Southern Cross Austereo, the parent company of 2DayFM, released a statement saying Greig and Christian's show had been terminated and there would be a company-wide suspension of prank calls. The DJs themselves remain suspended.
Saldanha, 46, had transferred their call last week to a fellow nurse caring for the duchess, who was being treated for acute morning sickness. That nurse said the former Kate Middleton "hasn't had any retching with me and she's been sleeping on and off."
Three days later, Saldanha died. Police have not yet determined the cause of death.
Southern Cross Austereo CEO Rhys Holleran has called Saldanha's death a tragedy but defended the prank as a standard part of radio culture.
Yesterday, Holleran told Fairfax Radio the station had tried at least five times to contact the hospital to discuss the prank before it aired, but never succeeded.
In London, officials at King Edward VII Hospital denied that its management had been contacted by the radio station.
"Following the hoax call, the radio station did not speak to anyone in the hospital's senior management or anyone at the company that handles our media inquiries," it said.
The phone call - in which they impersonated Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles - went through, and their station broadcast and even trumpeted the confidential information received. Whatever pride there had been over the hoax was obliterated in a storm of worldwide public outrage after last Friday's death, still unexplained, of the first nurse they talked to.
"There's not a minute that goes by that we don't think about her family and what they must be going through," 2DayFM radio host Mel Greig told Australia's "A Current Affair," her voice shaking. "And the thought that we may have played a part in that is gut-wrenching."
She and co-host Michael Christian spoke publicly about the prank for the first time in the televised interview. A separate interview on rival show "Today Tonight" also aired yesterday.
Both DJs apologized for the hoax and broke down in tears when asked about the moment they learned that the nurse, Jacintha Saldanha, was dead. But neither described having reservations before the hoax tape was broadcast; they said higher-ups had made the decision to air it. "We didn't have that discussion," Greig said.
Southern Cross Austereo, the parent company of 2DayFM, released a statement saying Greig and Christian's show had been terminated and there would be a company-wide suspension of prank calls. The DJs themselves remain suspended.
Saldanha, 46, had transferred their call last week to a fellow nurse caring for the duchess, who was being treated for acute morning sickness. That nurse said the former Kate Middleton "hasn't had any retching with me and she's been sleeping on and off."
Three days later, Saldanha died. Police have not yet determined the cause of death.
Southern Cross Austereo CEO Rhys Holleran has called Saldanha's death a tragedy but defended the prank as a standard part of radio culture.
Yesterday, Holleran told Fairfax Radio the station had tried at least five times to contact the hospital to discuss the prank before it aired, but never succeeded.
In London, officials at King Edward VII Hospital denied that its management had been contacted by the radio station.
"Following the hoax call, the radio station did not speak to anyone in the hospital's senior management or anyone at the company that handles our media inquiries," it said.
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