Media obsession with royals cost nurse's life

By James Palmer Source:Global Times Published: 2012-12-11 20:45:07

The suicide of Jacintha Saldanha, the nurse at London's King Edward VII hospital who initially answered and forwarded a hoax call from two Australian DJs pretending to be the Queen and Prince Charles making inquiries about the Duchess of Cambridge's pregnancy, has caused a wave of anger toward the hoaxers.

It is too soon to attribute clear blame, and the hospital appears to be trying to foist off its own responsibility. Although the hospital's chairman has written a scathing letter to the DJs, stating 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," the institution clearly failed to instruct its staff in the Caldicott confidentiality guidelines, established in the UK in 1997.

And though the hospital has denied chastising or punishing Saldanha, there should be a full investigation to determine exactly what took place, as well as a proper apology from the hospital.

But whatever the hospital's failings, the public is eager to blame the DJs, Mel Grieg and Michael Christian. The two thought they were taking places in a harmless prank, and could barely constrain their giggling.

And the case has brought up the question again of when and where such tricks are acceptable, either as journalism or satire.

Yet the dividing line is relatively clear to most people. As Sarah Sands, editor of the London Evening Standard, put it, "It's one thing bringing down the pompous and the powerful but it's another (to use a hoax call) to contact a hospital." Satire is always at its best when speaking truth to power, even in a silly voice or behind a false beard.

The best satirists have used hoax TV shows or false interviews for real purpose, such as Chris Morris' exposure of anti-drug hysteria in Brass Eye, where he was able to get numerous UK celebrities to sign up for a campaign against the non-existent drug "Cake," and even got a question asked in the House of Commons.

Sacha Baron-Cohen, better known under his alias of Borat, was able to expose the casual racism of parts of the US when he led a chorus in an Arizona bar of "Throw the Jew down the well."

And serious journalism has used fakery for good purposes, from the Guardian's exposure of former Tory politician Jonathan Aitken's ties to Saudi Arabia through a letter on House of Commons-headed notepaper to the hotel where he received a free stay, to the Sunday Times sting that showed several MPs were willing to consider asking questions for money.

But the Australian prank had no serious purpose. It was a simple blag. And while nobody could have expected consequences as tragic as this, the station, and its lawyers, should have been perfectly aware that by playing the tape they were exposing ordinary people, the two nurses involved, to public humiliation for no good reason. 

Yet we can't blame the station alone. It was the rest of the media, in both the UK and elsewhere, that picked up an essentially trivial story and played it over and over again.

Saldanha is said to have been particularly distressed by hearing herself repeatedly humiliated on TV and radio, and seeing it again and again in the papers.

Some commentators have suggested that UK tabloid newspapers personally targeted Saldanha. This normally involves constant calls, door-stopping journalists visiting the house, attempts to get at the target via their friends and family, and other unlovely practices.

The media's wrath is now turned on Grieg and Christian, who have gone into seclusion themselves to avoid a barrage of hate mail and journalistic harassment.

While they're more of a legitimate target than the blameless Saldanha, both are reportedly incredibly distressed by the experience.

And the tabloid media feels no shame in turning its lens on the two while ignoring its own role.

Perhaps the ultimate blame doesn't fall on the two DJs, but on a public and media hungry for royal trivia and the thrill of self-righteousness.

The author is an editor with the Global Times. jamespalmer@globaltimes.com.cn



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