The reported suicide of the nurse pranked in a phone call from two 2Day FM radio presenters in Australia has resulted in a backlash against the station where the two DJs work, as angry Facebook users worldwide blame the station for Jacintha Saldanha’s death.
The 2Day FM presenters engaged in a prank with eventually tragic results — a humiliated Saldanha, who had been publicly tricked into believing the presenters calling on the phone for information on Kate Middleton’s condition were in fact Prince Charles and Queen Elizabeth, took her own life shortly after the prank became worldwide news.
While the 2Day FM presenters would have never been able to predict the tragic outcome of the phone hoax, commenters have been posting disgusted, angry and critical remarks to the media brand’s website since news of Saldanha’s suicide became public.
At first glance, it seems every post visible on the 2Day FM page has been overrun by enraged Facebookers, despite the fact nothing on the radio property’s Timeline directly pertains to Jacintha Saldanha’s suicide.
One commenter says:
“[I] hope you realize your actions have consequences. Let’s hope that you never forget that what you did lead this woman to take her life. May she rest in peace.”
Another fumes on an unrelated memorial post added today:
“Your [sic] evil murderers and what’s more evil is that you haven’t even put a tribute page up for the woman your 2 DJs Mel Greig and Michael Christian killed but you’ve got a tribute page up on the same day for someone else. Nobody will say Rest in Peace to anyone else until you put a tribute page up for the nurse.”
Yet another writes:
“Hope you are thoroughly ashamed of yourselves you idiotic morons! How disgusting you are! You should be fired and banned from broadcasting forever. Spend the rest of your shameful lives making things better for those two motherless children.”
And a recent comment reads:
“Where is the R.I.P. tribute to Jacintha Saldanha, a nurse who you bullied and humiliated publicly for kicks. You should be utterly ashamed of yourselves.”
Among the protestations on the 2Day FM Facebook page condemning the station after the nurse’s suicide is a call for the DJs to be fired after the Kate Middleton pregnancy prank, which is supported by a petition at Change.org.
Just one word jerks
Are you laughing now at your stupid prank,get off air and stay off air
Shit bags – like every aussie ive ever met – full of piss and wind – laughing thier own piss poor jokes – disgraceful.
You are nothing but punks, I hope this haunts you for years to come. You don't have to be an idiots every day of your life, take a break you may like it. You should leave radio and look for a better job, I heard they are looking for unconsidered scums, you should apply as you definitely qualified.
Revolting individuals, may they never work in media again, they caused an innocent nurse and her family such pain before Christmas now they have to live with what they felt entitled to do for the rest of their lives.
Google 2day FM rape. Made a 14 year old girl confess live on air she was raped. Disgusting!
ive just awoken to the news of the nurse in the uk I can not believe the mentality of this station ceo has taken them off air out of respect you people don't know the meaning of RESPECT do any of you that work there have any idea of the damage you do to peoples lives! The family of this woman will never ever recover YOUR COMPANY AGAIN have managed to make Australians look like imbeciles. For quite some time I will be ashamed to be an Australian CEO MAN GET RID OF THEM AND CLEAN UP YOUR STATIONS ACT!
SPONSORS INSTEAD OF COLLECTING BUSINESS START COLLECTING PRIDE.
Wow… so victimising a nurse before Christmas is in fact a continuation of their sterling reputation for being thugs/gutter scum then?
hope it was worth your 30seconds of fame (scu
m)
This radio station has breached Australian broadcasting rules and now call for the licence to be cancelled
I certainly hope and wish law enforcement steps in and all people concerned including the RJ's, the radio station heads and their legal team are tried for murder. I would also like to add my condolences to the family of Nurse Jacintha Saldhana's children and immediate family. May God give you courage to face this difficult time.
furious what dumb fucks
did Prince William not suffer enough at the hands of the media, through his mother, now he has the knowledge that his wife is a target and the joy of having their first child will always be marred by the death of the poor nurse who was duped by these idiots…
I agree. Sack them immediately. Wake-up Australia. Until we restore proper discipline and proper education into our schools, we will continue to breed stupid and uncaring individuals like Mel Greig and Michael Christian. These two people are beneath contempt. It's little wonder that many Australians are regarded as a joke in other countries.
Congratulations 2 day fm you've actually done it with your STUPID PRANK. How low are you people prepared to go for ratings and to be the number one show. The things you discuss on your show are disgusting especially when you know children listen to this show also. Have you all forgotten about morals, standards and a bit of self respect, these have all been sold for the mighty dollar and 15 minutes of fame. Your show was actually worth listening to today with almost non stop music and non of that mindless crap you try to come up with every day. Don't you get that people just want some good music on their way to work and light hearted listening. Who the hell wants to know that Jackie O"s husband wees on her in the shower, seriously you have all lost the plot. Your show is always scraping the bottom of the barrel but this time you have definitely gone too far.
Unbelievable. They're saddened and deeply shocked but not sorry? I hope Australians will rise up and boycott this stupid radio station and their 'hosts'.
What Mel Greig and Michael Christian probably have not understood, during their short time on the planet, is that the world is NOT one great big "theme park" and that there are always consequences for everything that a person does. This incident has caused outrage and anger all over the world, and rightly so. Quite a few people, [especially on the 2-Day FM website] haved used the excuse that there must have been something wrong with the nurse, or she must have had problems or issues in her life to have committed suicide over a "harmless prank", but the truth of the matter is that Mel Greig, Michael Christian and the station's management are the people who have something wrong with them. None of them understand the meaning of the words "respect" or "empathy". I will say it again: they should be dismissed immediately, and never again be allowed to work in an industry where their immaturity and stupidity has any influence over anyone or any thing.
those two morons will have 2 face the outraged public.I suggest they leave this country.don't want them here….
I'd never even heard of 2Day FM until all this news hit. I have to say that this has little to do with respect, education or anything like that. It's just slighty edgy humour which many people enjoy. This is the same as every major popular radio station I've come across. In Northern Ireland, it's CoolFM. In UK in general, Radio 1, in America, there are dozens of stations doing it.
Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand famously did it a few years ago, gaining much notoriety. And has it really affect opinion of them, their earnings, or the popularity of their radio shows/tv shows? No – because the end result wasn't as tragic.
However, that highlights an important point. As people, we judge by the consequences of their actions. not the actions themselves. Their actions are as childish and pointless (and yet as popular) as the actions taken by many other radio presenters. However, because the outcome is usually mundane, these other presenters are ignored.
As a former teacher, I would always say to judge people consistently by their actions, not by the outcome of the case. For that reason, treat the presenters as you would do without knowing the outcome. By all means sanction them, possibly even sack them if it fits the ethos of the station with regards to prank calls.
However, I cannot abide by the comments labelling them as murderers, tyrants or thugs. They played a childish prank which has had tragic consequences. However, they had no intention to kill ("mens rea" in law), and they certainly did not taken any direct actions to kill ("actus rea" in law). For that reason, the sheer tragedy of their consequences is what will haunt them. I believe that is enough.
Treat people by their actions, not their consequences. All just my opinion obviously.
Superb.
Christian&Greig = Thugs in a rotten radio station.
Mel Grieg and Michael Christian and the management of the radio station have blood on their hands and should remember always the consewuences of their actions.
If you're really a former teacher, and you think judging people by their actions is the way to go, do you honestly think that it's okay for a prank call to be made to a hospital? How about prank calls to Police Stations, Fire Stations or Ambulance Stations? With teachers like you, it's little wonder our schools are in a mess.
Australians will most definitely boycott this station, and if the management of the station has any backbone, it will dismiss Mel Greig and Michael Christian immediately.
THATS A STUPID RESPONSE..!!!!
my comment is to the " TEACHER" …andrew martin…… those 2 people and the lawyers who ok'd the taped prank call to be made,ALL NEED TO B MADE ACCOUNTABLE FOR THE WOMANS DEATH…..
If the pranksters are going through a bad time it is nothing compared to the anguish caused to their innocent victims.
They and their paymasters should be ashamed of themselves – good job for them that treason is no longer a hanging offence!
This is awful! Not a prank! They lied on air to get information they would otherwise not be privy too! How can they say they've done nothing wrong?
Hi to all of you: Firstly, Grant: I said in my post that they should be sanctioned whatever way their station would usually treat this kind of prank. Similarly, if a law exists in Australia with regards to prank calls, they should be sanctioned according to it.
Personally, no I do not think prank calls are acceptable, but what I think is irrelevant – what the law thinks and says is what matters. If there is no law regarding this, and only a rule internally within 2Day FM stating that the punishment should be a suspension, that is what their punishment should be.
Additionally, I was a teacher in Northern Ireland, so I'm not sure which schools in a mess you are referring to. Our schools are doing pretty well over here.
Secondly: Katerina: I disagree entirely with your response that they need to be made accountable for their death. They need to be made responsible for their actions. If the law of Australia states that their sanction for a pointless prank call is prison, I would be extremely surprised.
We cannot judge or sanction people by laws created after the fact.
An important factor in this case is the issue of direct and indirect consequences. If I punch someone on the street and break their nose, I may be charged with battery. If I punch someone and they fall down and break their arm, I may be charged with ABH (actual bodily harm). If I punsh someone and they fall down and break their neck, I may be charged with GBH (grievous bodily harm). However, if I punch said person, they go home and they shoot their partner in frustration – I cannot be held accountable. If I punch said person, they go home and take their own life – I cannot be held accountable. Imagine I cut in front of someone whilst driving and they bump into the back of me. I'm at fault and can be held accountable for poor driving. But again, if they go home and tragically take their own life, it is a stretch to blame me for it.
That's not to say that you are not entitled to your opinion, or that the presenters shouldn't (and won't) feel immensely guilty. However, unless there is some law stating that this prank, which led INdirectly to this poor nurse's death, should result in imprisonment, then it is entirely up to the station what their end punishment should be. Obviously, again, in my opinion.
Andrew Martin, I completely agree with your interpretation of the law, which is very intelligent, it demonstrates you are able to offer a complex argument going beyond the overly simplistic argument of 'hold them accountable for what they did'. Katerina Stepovikov, you clearly don't know what they should and can be held accountable for. You and Grant Curry are acting like some sort of a moral police and I think it's really inappropriate and rude to presume people in general are not saddened by the death of Ms Saldanha or appaled by the inappropriateness of a prank because they know the law better than most and because they are trying to form a fair opinion of a desperately unfortunate situation. As they say down here in Northern Ireland, 'wise up' and get down from your bloody high horses!!
This is indeed a tragic story. But to those of you who are busy condemning the Australian DJs, let's stop and think for a minute at what really is the problem here. If 'prank calls' are so 'bad', why do they continue to do them? It's because the listening public WANT to hear them. Or, it's because those who DON'T want them don't protest loudly enough. It's the same as the gutter press continually poking their noses into the private lives of public people – if no-one read the stuff, they wouldn't do it. So society has to take a LOT of the blame for allowing this type of gutter press and continual harassment of public figures. Many prank calls are really funny, some are just stupid and some are pathetic. But in general, prank calls are harmless.
To many of you who are now finger-pointing at the Australian DJs, you can point that finger back at yourself because we as a society ALLOW gutter press and stupid, invasive pranks.
But none of this is to stay that what the DJs did caused this terrible tragedy. We are all responsible for our own actions but society (especially the UK, USA and Australia) is brainwashing its citizens to depend upon the state and to basically stop thinking for themselves. The words 'nanny state' very aptly describe these societies.
Whatever was going on in this nurse's life, it was she who decided to end her life – if that is what happened. It is very strange to me that the police were quick to judge what occurred when normally they reserve comment. I do believe that there is more to this story than we have been told.
Sadly, there are many people who take their own lives and whilst some leave an explanatory letter, many do not. I have tried to imagine my own situation where I felt so desperate that I no longer wanted to live and I cannot. Those who get into that position must surely be so sad, lonely, desperate and feel so hopeless that they cannot envisage a way out. How quickly does this happen? I find it hard to accept that it would take merely a few days.
There must also be many catalysts that trigger someone to take their own life. Is society responsible for those triggers? Or are we again looking for reasons to blame anything else but the individual?
Rather than be quick to jump to blame the easiest target, one should think a bit deeper about how people are educated, manipulated, brainwashed and controlled.
IT was NOT an innocent prank call…..my god ..2 think that they can say on tv they r "guttered" AND NOT AT ALL CONVINCINGLY !!!!! ..is mind-numbing !!! the female punk is not sorry at all…her body language is very telling…she is ONLY thinking about herself… as 4 the idiot guy…it looks 2 me like as soon as they were off camera …he'd b looking around 2 check if his insincerity was noticed