#1 An Australian Prank Gone Wrong: Who Is To Blame?

After a prank phone call from Australian radio station 2Day FM, the victim of the call, Jacintha Saldanha, was found dead in her apartment after committing suicide. The prank in itself was relatively harmless; DJs Christian and Grieg called the hospital where Duchess Kate Middleton was residing in hopes of getting a humorous reaction from a nurse. Instead, Saldanha, the nurse who took the call, believed their claims of being Middleton's grandmother and transferred the call to another nurse who divulged information about Middleton's condition. The story of the prank call became widely known in Australia and in other countries as well, and after the news of Saldanha's suicide went public, 2Day FM's show "Hot 30" was suspended and Christian and Grieg are rumored to no longer be employed.
The fact that the station aired Saldanha's reaction to the call without acquiring permission is the issue at hand, for if that call had been made in America, the FCC would have never allowed it to air without written consent of all who were involved. Another question is raised over whether or not Christian and Grieg are the cause of the woman's suicide. Suicide does not just happen. The fact of the matter is that the call itself did not "cause" Saldanha, wife and mother of two, to end her life. Though every bit of information has not been divulged about the case, it is safe to say that if Saldanha committed suicide, it most likely had to do with her personal issues at the time. That's not to say that the public and her family aren't completely within their right to be mad at the station, though. In America, the reason why the FCC exists is so that people are protected. Though people are allowed to video tape and take pictures of strangers, major consequences would come to them if they were ever to broadcast anything without a person's written consent. Privacy of an individual is important, it is something that every human should be entitled to, and Australia either has to construct better laws in order to restrict to broadcasting of certain content, or they need to monitor it better.
Christian and Grieg themselves appear to be very distraught over what has happened. In numerous interviews they have shrugged off questions over whether or not they will continue their career or if they have any future in radio, stating that the only thing that should be discussed is the well being of Saldanha's family. When asked why they aired the call, they brought up an interesting point. Apparently, it was the station, not Christian and Grieg, who aired the phone call. Christian declared that "There are people that make those decisions for us." The DJs are not the ones at fault. They were merely actors who performed what the script made them do. At no point did they ever intend to hurt or humiliate anyone, and they even said that they assumed that they would be hung up on immediately. Some claim that had they not called, Saldanha would still be alive today, but in the case of someone who is suicidal (and Saldanha was most likely suicidal), all it can take is for something to push them off the edge. Maybe the phone call and the publicity was that thing that sent her off, but it could have been anything. She could have committed suicide over any stressful point in her life, and the fact that it was her who was called and not some other nurse is purely coincidental. It is tragic, yes, and the phone call was ridiculous, but two DJs who were doing what many on the radio do-making prank calls- are not "murderers" and did not "kill" Saldanha.
The one point that can be made for the opposing side is that the promise of privacy should always be upheld. Taking away someone's right to themselves is essentially taking away their freedom, and maybe awareness of that fact could potentially alert other countries and stations that protecting the rights of their individuals is one of the most beneficial things you can do for them.

Fickling, David. Sedgman, Phoebe. "Suicide Of Hoaxed Nurse Prompts Cancellation Of Radio Show." Business Insider. Business Insider. 10 December 2012. Web. 12 December 2012.

Grubel, James. MacKinnon, Morag. "Nurse left suicide note, Aussie radio sets up $525,000 fund (+video)." The Christian Science Monitor. The Christian Science Monitor. 12 December 2012. Web. 12 December 2012.

Patterson, Thom. "Aussie DJ scandal: Does radio share the blame?" CNN. CNN Cable News Network. 11 December 2012. Web. 12 December 2012. 

n.p. "Aussia hospital hoax death DJs interview: full transcript" The Sun. News Group Newspapers Limited. 10 December 2012. Web. 12 December 2012.