Hospital slams prank call radio station over nurse's death
The sun
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live
www.hollywoodnews.com
www.nytimes.com
www.washingtonpost.com
www.foxnews.com
BBC News - UK Uol.com Msn.com
aol.co.uk
.bbc.co.uk/portuguese
Hospital slams prank call radio station over nurse's death
December 11, 2012 -- Updated 1044 GMT (1844 HKT)
Radio station faces criticism
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Hospital chairman slams "truly appalling" decision to air the prank call on 2Day FM
- Australia's media regulator says it is talking to the radio station about the hoax call
- Australian DJs Mel Greig and Michael Christian "mutually decide" to go off air
- Nurse Jacintha Saldanha was found dead after taking the prank call on Catherine
Two DJs from Australian
radio station 2Day FM, impersonating Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles,
called the hospital Tuesday and gained information about the condition
of Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge -- which they subsequently played on
air.
On Friday, the nurse who transferred the call through to the ward, Jacintha Saldanha, was found dead.
"King Edward VII's
Hospital cares for sick people, and it was extremely foolish of your
presenters even to consider trying to lie their way through to one of
our patients, let alone actually make the call," wrote hospital chairman
Lord Glenarthur.
Tragic end for prank call victim
Prank on royal hospital turns tragic
Hospital prank victim found dead
Nurse pranked by DJs found dead
Management's decision
then to broadcast the recorded call "was truly appalling," said Lord
Glenarthur in the letter addressed to Max Moore-Wilton, chairman of
Southern Cross Austereo, which owns the radio station.
"The immediate
consequence of these premeditated and ill-considered actions was the
humiliation of two dedicated and caring nurses who were simply doing
their job tending to their patients.
"The longer term consequence has been reported around the world and is, frankly, tragic beyond words."
Lord Glenarthur called on the radio station to take steps "to ensure that such an incident could never be repeated."
The fallout from
Saldanha's death has stretched from Britain to Australia -- with
questions being raised about how far is too far in the effort to find
out details about Catherine's pregnancy.
The two Australian DJs
behind the practical joke, Mel Greig and Michael Christian, have come
under fire, with some using the phrase "blood on your hands" to condemn
their actions on the Sydney-based radio station.
"Pranksters Face World
Fury," screamed the front-page of the UK's Daily Mirror on Saturday,
while Daily Telegraph columnist Bryony Gordon said it was "not so funny
to hear two grown adults call up a hospital ward full of sick people to
try to scam information about one of them."
The DJs have since
apologized, and "mutually decided" to go off the air for an undetermined
period, Rhys Holleran, CEO of the Southern Cross Austereo media group,
said Saturday during a news conference.
But he defended the legality of the station's action, saying he was "very confident that we haven't done anything illegal."
"This is a tragic event that could not have been reasonably foreseen, and we are deeply saddened by it," he said.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority, the country's media regulator, has not yet commented on the case.
However, it will be
"engaging with the licensee, Today FM Sydney, around the facts and
issues surrounding the prank call," said the regulator's chairman, Chris
Chapman.
News of Saldanha's death broke Friday, with the hospital saying she "was recently the victim of a hoax call."
London's Metropolitan Police said that Saldanha, 46, had living quarters in central London provided by her workplace.
Police said they were
notified Friday morning that a woman was found unconscious at the
address. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Police are treating the
death as "unexplained."
A post-mortem examination will be held next week, police said.
A spokesman for Prime
Minister David Cameron said Saturday that he "thinks this is a very sad
case and his thoughts are with her family and colleagues."
Throughout the
controversy surrounding the hoax, authorities did not identify the
nurse. Her identity was released after her death.
Audio of the call posted
online suggests a woman spoke briefly to the DJs before she put the
call through early Tuesday morning to the ward where the Duchess of
Cambridge was being treated for acute morning sickness.
"They were the world's
worst accents ever. We were sure 100 people at least before us would've
tried the same thing. ... We were expecting to be hung up on. We didn't
even know what to say when we got through," Greig told listeners
Thursday.
Off the air, Greig and
Christian tweeted about the practical joke on Thursday and earlier
Friday, promising "more on the #royalprank." The pair's Twitter accounts
were taken down late Friday.
Some listeners applauded
the prank, like one who identified himself as Guido on the station's
Facebook page and wrote, "It is only a joke people! it was great i love
it!!!"
Others were outraged, with such negative comments outnumbering positive ones on 2DayFM's Facebook page before the nurse's death.
"Your stunt was done at a
time in this country where there is paranoia about the intrusion of the
media into people's lives," Gary Slenders wrote. "I know you will say
it is harmless fun, the management of 2DayFM will say that it won't
happen again, but this is exactly where the phone hacking scandal
started."
The outcry grew
exponentially after the hospital confirmed Saldanha's death, leading the
Coles supermarket chain to remove all its advertising from 2DayFM.
"This death is on your conscience," reads one Facebook post. Several accused the two of having "blood on your hands."
Saldanha's family
released a statement asking for privacy and directing questions to
police. She is survived by her husband and two children.
"We as a family are deeply saddened by the loss of our beloved Jacintha," said the statement, released by police.
Saldanha worked at the
King Edward VII Hospital for more than four years, and she was described
as an "excellent nurse," well-respected by coworkers, the hospital
statement said.
The hospital "had been supporting her throughout this difficult time," it said.
A St. James's Palace spokesman said: "The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are deeply saddened to learn of the death.
"Their Royal Highnesses
were looked after so wonderfully well at all times by everybody at King
Edward VII Hospital, and their thoughts and prayers are with Jacintha
Saldanha's family, friends and colleagues at this very sad time."
Separately, a palace
spokesman told CNN: "At no point did the palace complain to the hospital
about the incident. On the contrary, we offered our full and heartfelt
support to the nurses involved and hospital staff at all times."
The hospital said Wednesday that it deeply regretted the call had been put through.
Resources image Google
Resources http://edition.cnn.com/2012/12/08/world/europe/uk-royal-hospital-death
AJE - Al Jazeera Inglês -
Cbs - Fox News -
CNN - Bbc London -
CNN - Bbc London -
La nacion argentina - Reuters London - El diary -
La time -
La razón (Bolivia)
La time -
La razón (Bolivia)
Last Minute Spain)
20 Minutes (Barcelona)
20 Minutes (Madrid)
Comentários
Postar um comentário