When a prank goes too far

This week I have seen the moral compass shift....

Personally as a mother who luckily did not have to go to hospital for acute morning sickness I was appalled to see what is considered as entertainment now a days. Recently two DJs on 2DayFM thought it would be funny to ring the hospital where Princess Kate was staying while receiving treatment for acute morning sickness. If I had to go to the hospital for issues during my pregnancy the last thing I would think of as funny would be a prank call.

Who in their right mind would think it is funny to call up pretending they are the QUEEN and PRINCE CHARLES to get information on a woman in their most fragile time of a pregnancy? 

Which upper management and lawyers thought it would be fine legally, ethically and morally???

Luckily they did not get to talk to Princess Kate, because despite the fact that the host did not want to cause her further stress this early in her pregnancy, they were still hoping to speak to her during the prank call.

"Christian: Here's the thing. We've been handed a phone number and we have been told that this phone number is the hospital where Kate Middleton is currently staying. We thought we'd give it a call. We don't want to cause any trouble, we don't want to stress her out because she is doing it tough. But I reckon we could maybe get her on the radio tonight."

Which upper management and lawyers thought it would be fine legally, ethically and morally???

Luckily they did not get to talk to Princess Kate, because despite the fact that the host did not want to cause her further stress this early in her pregnancy, they were still hoping to speak to her during the prank call. If they did, and then then trumpeted their interview over and over again, I'm sure it would have caused STRESS on the pregnancy.

With just the above stunt I already condemned them for what they've done and should have been taking off air or at least reprimanded.

But as most things no one thought about the bigger picture of the prank.

A few days later, the nurse who initially took the call and put the call through to another nurse took her own life. A 46yr old mother of two children took her own life. No one can say what her mental state was at when she took her own life or when she took that call, but I personally believe it is the straw that broke the camel's back.

After days of being the butt of a joke that went world-wide, my emotional state would have been crushing. We also don't know if her Indian cultural background also meant that she felt this was a more honourable thing to do than to bring shame upon herself or her family.

What I find rather sad is the fact that after it happened 2DayFM was still replaying the prank on line. No doubt they took it down after numerous hate message they finally took it down.

Here are some of my issues with the whole thing:

1. Don't call a hospital asking about a sick patient... we don't prank call Police, Ambulance, Fire Departments, and anyone with a brain would have classed hospitals in the same category.
2. Properly apologise to the hospital and to the family... stop hiding behind the words "it was unforeseeable". 
3. The consequence may have been unforeseeable, but the DJs, management, producers, lawyers, you all have a brain... it wouldn't hurt to use it! Apart from a brain, you all have a moral compass, USE THAT TOO!
4. Stop blaming the nurse and say that the accent was soo bad she should have picked it up... she was born and raised in India, lived and worked in the Middle East and then to England. For those who didn't grow up using English as their first language, it is hard to pick up a false accent...
5. If I was the nurse on a 5:30am shift, and the "Queen and Prince Charles" called, I probably would have been scared out of my wits and would have put them through as well.
6. Yes the hospital should have set up a better fail safe system, but you know what when my grandmother was in hospital for the last month in Taiwan, we rang and just said we were family calling from Australia, and they put us through to the room... Once again, hospital shouldn't have to field prank calls, they have far more important jobs to deal with.
7. If in Australia, after you do a prank you have to call the person back to confirm whether it is ok, why wasn't the same courtesy extended in this instance.
8. If the DJs can go into hiding and be cared for, for their emotionally fragile state, why didn't they do the same for the nurse?
9. Is it now ok for us to prank the DJs doctors to "get information" about their mental state and broadcast it to the world as a PRANK?
10. APOLOGISE, it really isn't that hard, say sorry... it does more good than harm.
11. Why do people think it is ok to say well it's the nurse's fault for taking her own life... Is it ok for us to say to a child, it's your own fault for taking your own life because you were bullied???
12. If I prank called you to say your child has been in an accident and is in hospital, and never told you it was a prank but broadcasted, would you see it as funny???

I could go on and on about this.... I personally have pretty strong feelings about this.

But I think Mike Carlton is right when he said
"Of course the call was a stupid stunt. That's what 2Day FM does. It makes money, lots of it, by entertaining simple minds. Most of them are young, kids who are endlessly fascinated by the doings of trash celebrities, real or imagined. These so-called prank calls have been part of the station's act for years, copied from the United States like most Australian FM radio formats. They are funny if your sense of humour thrills to banana skin pratfalls and whoopee cushions."

And Katharine Murphy also right
"The media needs to look unflinchingly into the heart of our most difficult year in living memory. We need to wake up. We need to start making connections again. We need to start acting like we are accountable, even if no one actually enforces the accountability. We need to engage, and to prioritise substance over notoriety"

(Ohhh which is why The Newsroom is soo entertaining, I wish we have a show like News Night)

Anyway I think this video from Anonymous is pretty interesting ... watch out sponsors of 2DayFM