I think that they would have been delighted to get someone into trouble with this prank. After all, if they were just after the laugh and hang up, they had the option of ending the call as soon as they could tell that it was being taken seriously.
I expect that they were going more for this, and indeed, they’ve said they weren’t expecting to get further–they were just stunned and ran with it. I do blame station management for airing the call (and I blame hospital staff for not following obvious protocol) but I don’t blame the DJs for making the call in the first place.
I see no reason not to take the DJs (who, again, were just summer fill-ins and not regulars) at their word.
Gotcha. Being publically humiliated to death is ok if you’re a dodgy tv repairman and you should suffer mental torment every day for the rest of your life if you’re involved in a telephone prank gone wrong. Glad we’ve cleared that up.
It seems to me that the suicide was caused by the British Press blowing the whole incident out of proportion and drawing attention to something that should’ve barely rated a mention on page 17.
Here’s a comment that has been apparently deleted from the Daily Mail website. I think it sums it up pretty well.
The “non-event” as you put it, involved two adult (or at least adult-aged) sentient humans calling a hospital in order to get information on the medical condition of a stranger. The celebrity status of that person is immaterial. They chose to take it as far as it went. They could have put the phone down at any point, The broadcasters had ample time to consider the consequences of airing it and they went ahead anyway.
How is it even a debate as to who is in the wrong here?
Had someone done this to gain info on my recently ill father I’d expect the police to be involved and fully expect the “prankster” to be punished, wouldn’t you?
They may deserve punishment for a prank gone too far, though that is arguable. But they don’t deserve to be held responsible for anybody’s self-inflicted death.
That would be so delicious. The nurse resurfaces, laughing and perfectly well, and the queen says “gotcha, you little prats.”
The reason I have little sympathy for the DJs is because they are pranksters. They do this shit for a living. The radio station they work for is still on probation for other crap they’ve pulled. No, not much sympathy from me. Grow a pair if you’re going to do this stuff for a living.
I don’t buy that they are feeling all “fragile” now anyway. Last I heard they were tweeting about it after the death. They’ll milk this for all the fame and attention they can get. The only reason they are feeling anything in particular at the moment is because the company lawyers are telling them to.
The station was still using the audio tape for on air promotion, even after the nurse suicide was reported. Their press conference was all about, “I don’t think we’ve actually broken any laws here.”
Fragile? Please, they’ve demonstrated hides like elephants to others people’s potential delicacies, like a sick woman in hospital for one.
There was a reality show called Scare Tactics in which people would pay some really scary “pranks” on others, pranks which could certainly (based on the ads I saw because I didn’t watch the show) cause someone with a heart condition to have a heart attack. Or, since people often tried to flee the scary situation, they might easily trip and hurt themselves. :eek:
Another possibility would be that if the victim were armed, the prankster could get shot.
I always assumed that this show would be the basis for an episode of Boston Legal or one of the Law and Order franchises, but it never happened, AFAIK. If someone had gotten killed, exactly how would a producer justify himself or herself?
Yeah, that is funny. They’re not at fault for the nurse being over sensitive.
I can’t believe they got through like that. The number they were given to call, was that the main information number anyone could get off the internet, or was it a more direct internal number?
I heard it described on the news this morning as ‘The prank call that resulted in the death of a nurse’.
The thing that I find odd is that noone has pointed out that giving out personal medical details over the radio is surely illegal. I am not sure how that works with it being different countries.
The call was recorded and then the station’s management decided to let it go to air.
I agree with the linked article; unless the two DJs are psychopaths, I’m sure they feel terrible for playing a part in a woman killing herself. There was no reasonable expectation that a stupid prank would end up in a death.
I can’t believe people are calling this poor lady oversensitive. She was obviously a really shy and sensitive lady, and was unable to deal with the intense focus of the British press. I saw the comment on the Daily Mail referred to earlier, and totally agree. The DJ’s are a pair of idiots, but they can’t be blamed for her death.