[Hotgossip]

Why is this in SHOWBIZ?

There is already a thread on this running under Discussion.
It's certainly not Showbiz.

[Dan Fortesque]

Originally Posted by d'@ve

Jesus wept!

That poor poor girl must have come under some astonishingly severe pressure at work from management and/or police and/or government officials and/or the palace.

Quite a few people (including the stupid Aussie pranksters) are going to have to live with that on their conscience, by the look of things at this early stage.

The odd thing is, I don't think most people (including me) thought the prank was much of a big deal...

If it's a private hospital then I can imagine them being quite harsh as they're probably more reliant on good PR than what an NHS hospital is. Although, I'm still surprised that there wasn't someone connected to Royal security there to screen the calls in the first place. Also, if the woman in question did kill herself then I think it's likely that she had other issues going on too.

[Verence]

Originally Posted by felixrex

It's a desperately, horribly sad story and my thoughts go out to the poor woman, but practically calling for the electric chair for two people whose silly and disrespectful prank came to such a bizarrely unexpected conclusion isn't entirely fair, in my opinion. What they did was utterly reproachable and they should be taken to task for this whole debacle, but you can't condemn them as if you honestly believe anybody could have possibly predicted this thing would take such an unfortunate turn. They'll punish themselves over this for a long time, the guilt will never leave them. Perhaps rightly so. But don't act like you've never done anything silly without thinking about the potential consequences - especially the most wildly unlikely ones.

No "perhaps" about it

[Cryolemon]

Originally Posted by d'@ve

Jesus wept!

That poor poor girl must have come under some astonishingly severe pressure at work from management and/or police and/or government officials and/or the palace.

Quite a few people (including the stupid Aussie pranksters) are going to have to live with that on their conscience, by the look of things at this early stage.

The odd thing is, I don't think most people (including me) thought the prank was much of a big deal...

Why is everyone blaming the police or the palace for putting her under pressure? Are people suggesting she's the victim of some form of conspiracy? The DJ's are as much to blame as anyone.

[d'@ve]

Originally Posted by felixrex

Any action we partake in could, potentially, lead somebody to such drastic action, especially if they are already prone to such behaviour, which I would suspect this poor lady was due to her drastic and tragic actions.

There seems to be no evidence to support such a hypothesis in this case but I'm not sure it's relevant anyway.

The most likely cause is unbearable pressure from employers, police, palace officials in some combination.

But we don't know. However, it IS undeniably another example of irresponsible behaviour from the media, in this case Australian media. That cannot be denied.

[BigBmad]

The poor women. People are saying the DJs aren't to blame but they are the ones who put this women in this position and possibly risked her career and lively hood.

[bookaddict]

It's incredibly sad. I wonder if she was already depressed, and the call was the straw that broke the camels back? Either way it's dreadful. I bet those DJs don't think that it's quite so funny anymore, although I doubt that they could possibly have envisaged such an awful outcome.

[Lilaeth]

Originally Posted by felixrex

While this is a terrible tragedy and I feel terribly sad for the poor woman and her family, I really don't think it's very fair to start dragging the DJs to the gallows over this.

Yes, what they did was stupid and irresponsible, but who could honestly say that they could predict that somebody would commit suicide over a prank phonecall? It's all very easy when you have hindsight on your side, but seriously - who would ever stop and take that in mind as a possible consequence of a prank?

Any action we partake in could, potentially, lead somebody to such drastic action, especially if they are already prone to such behaviour, which I would suspect this poor lady was due to her drastic and tragic actions. You could, theoretically, have inspired somebody to commit suicide this morning by being a bit snappy to the till girl when you were buying your newspaper, or when you cut in front of somebody in the queue in the bank or took the last parking space. It's very easy to get carried away in outrage in the face of grief but who could honestly predict or even imagine that somebody could take their own life as the result of being caught up in a prank phone call?

It's a desperately, horribly sad story and my thoughts go out to the poor woman, but practically calling for the electric chair for two people whose silly and disrespectful prank came to such a bizarrely unexpected conclusion isn't entirely fair, in my opinion. What they did was utterly reproachable and they should be taken to task for this whole, ill-advised debacle, but you can't condemn them as if you honestly believe anybody could have possibly predicted this thing would take such an unfortunate turn. They'll punish themselves over this for a long time, the guilt will never leave them. Perhaps rightly so. But don't act like you've never done anything silly without thinking about the potential consequences - especially the most wildly unlikely ones.

They might at least have thought that someone would lose their livelihood over it, and not done it.

[d'@ve]

Originally Posted by Cryolemon

Why is everyone blaming the police or the palace for putting her under pressure? Are people suggesting she's the victim of some form of conspiracy? The DJ's are as much to blame as anyone.

Because I've seen what excessive and overreactive employer pressure can do to people. A suicide in the case I can recall, that changed my former employers' behaviour for ever. Too late for him and his family, though.

I'm sure police involvement could have a similar effect - and of course the palace might have brought pressure to bear too but again, guesswork.

The DJs were indeed irresponsible, but would not have expected the end result - which does not excuse their irresponsibility..

[hicken]

Originally Posted by Sloopy

I'd be feeling very sick right now if I was one of those DJs.

Nobody could have anticipated this happening but that's the risk of making a stupid prank - if you start playing games at the expense of others then sometimes it can escalate very quickly beyond your control.
.

This ^^^^.

They gave zero thought to other people's feelings and now they'll have to live with the consequences. I hope they're harsh.

[felixrex]

Originally Posted by d'@ve

There seems to be no evidence to support such a hypothesis in this case but I'm not sure it's relevant anyway.

The most likely cause is unbearable pressure from employers, police, palace officials in some combination.

But we don't know. However, it IS undeniably another example of irresponsible behaviour from the media, in this case Australian media. That cannot be denied.

Who's denying it? I'm certainly not. What they did was utterly idiotic and beyond irresponsible, but can anybody in the lynch mob baying for the DJs' blood honestly say they'd ever have anticipated that something like this could happen as the result of a prank phone call?

[21stCenturyBoy]

The nurse has been named as Jacintha Saldanha

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012...n_2257637.html

[Cryolemon]

Originally Posted by d'@ve

The most likely cause is unbearable pressure from employers, police, palace officials in some combination.

Employers I get, but there's no evidence at all that police or palace officials were involved in any way.

[lexi22]

Originally Posted by bookaddict

It's incredibly sad. I wonder if she was already depressed, and the call was the straw that broke the camels back? Either way it's dreadful. I bet those DJs don't think that it's quite so funny anymore, although I doubt that they could possibly have envisaged such an awful outcome.

I doubt that anyone could have envisaged such an awful outcome.

According to a news report on the radio, her employers were very supportive following the call, as were her colleagues...

[jude007]

Looks like the Djs have deleted their Twitters account!!!

[Daisy Bennyboots]

Obviously I don't know for certain...but I think some are being a bit quick to jump to the conclusion that she had something 'else' wrong with her. Global humiliation must be antagonising, especially if it breached patient confidentiality of the most famous family in the world. All the respect and hard work she's ever earned disolved in an instant - it' not just the gut-twisting humiliation, it's her career and reputation gone in a flash and it wasn't even her fault.

I don't think I could cope with that kind of s**tstorm.

[Verence]

Originally Posted by felixrex

Who's denying it? I'm certainly not. What they did was utterly idiotic and beyond irresponsible, but can anybody in the lynch mob baying for the DJs' blood honestly say they'd ever have anticipated that something like this could happen as the result of a prank phone call?

Well I would imagine most people would have the good sense not to make a prank call

[Verence]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20645838

[Abraca]

Originally Posted by jude007

Looks like the Djs have deleted their Twitters account!!!

Really? I can still see them.

How do you see the tweets people send to them?

[UnlikelyHeroine]

Originally Posted by Daisy Bennyboots

Obviously I don't know for certain...but I think some are being a bit quick to jump to the conclusion that she had something 'else' wrong with her. Global humiliation must be antagonising, especially if it breached patient confidentiality of the most famous family in the world. All the respect and hard work she's ever earned disolved in an instant - it' not just the gut-twisting humiliation, it's her career and reputation gone in a flash and it wasn't even her fault.

I don't think I could cope with that kind of s**tstorm.

Yes. There is speculation both ways. Whilst it is wrong to immediately assume the cause and effect here it is also wrong to declare that something else MUST have been going on. We have no idea. This has happened just a couple of days after the prank call, not a year later etc, so of course the connection is going to be seen as relevant.

There are a lot of people who like to reserve judgment or say "we shouldn't jump to conclusions" who do so in an effort to suggest they are more sensible than others when sometimes the simplest solution is the right one.

In addition to that I think a lot of people who take a relaxed view of life can't imagine that someone would take their life over something like this and they don't appreciate how badly-affected some people are by things that other people would take in their stride. For some people the loss of their professional reputation or self-confidence would be utterly devastating.

[d'@ve]

Originally Posted by Cryolemon

Employers I get, but there's no evidence at all that police or palace officials were involved in any way.

I agree, that bit is just speculation but it would explain why the management might take a very tough line even if they didn't want to. Let's wait and see (though of course everyone will deny everything now).

[jude007]

Originally Posted by Abraca

Really? I can still see them.

How do you see the tweets people send to them?

The male dj had the #royalplank and if you click on it you can see all of the comments that have been made.

[robertaloud30]

pranks with illness aren't a good mix

[lym]

Originally Posted by jude007

Looks like the Djs have deleted their Twitters account!!!

They still work fine for me.

[Abraca]

Originally Posted by jude007

The male dj had the #royalplank and if you click on it you can see all of the comments that have been made.

Thank you