Australian media called for a halt to the blame game Sunday after a wave of global outrage over the death of a nurse who took a prank call at the hospital where Prince William’s wife Kate was being treated.
Britain has reacted with horror to the death of mother-of-two Jacintha Saldanha, 46, who is believed to have taken her own life after she was duped by two Australian radio presenters seeking news on Kate’s pregnancy.
She was found dead on Friday, days after she answered a call at the hospital from hosts at Sydney’s 2Day FM radio posing as Queen Elizabeth II and William’s father Prince Charles.
Saldanha put them through to a colleague who divulged details of Kate’s recovery from severe morning sickness.
The private King Edward VII’s Hospital blasted the stunt as “appalling”, with the death unleashing a torrent of online anger directed at presenters Mel Greig and Michael Christian, who have been taken off air and are in hiding.
While acknowledging the death was a terrible tragedy, Australian media said Sunday “this is not a time for hysterical finger-pointing”.
In an editorial, Sydney’s Daily Telegraph said: “A time to grieve, not to lay blame,” while hitting out at the “predictable British media frenzy”.
“Radio hosts Mel Greig and Michael Christian did not kill British nurse Jacintha Saldanha,” it said.
“Suicide always leaves us looking for answers — and for someone to blame.
“Suicide is a complex act and can rarely be entirely blamed on a lone event, however distressing.”
While reports referred to suicide, British police said the death remained unexplained ahead of a post-mortem examination.
The Telegraph went on to say: “It is also worth underlining that the UK media is responsible for whipping up the radio prank into an international incident, increasing the pressure on the hospital and its employees.
“This is not a time for hysterical finger-pointing. It is a time for mourning.”
Sydney’s Sun-Herald took a similar tack, with columnist Peter FitzSimons calling it “a tragedy of unspeakable proportions”.
“But to all those — particularly the British media — who are firing vicious epithets at the two radio DJs who are the public face of that prank call, blaming them for the tragedy, please get a grip,” he wrote.
“Was there malice in this call? Please point it out. Please show us a shred of evidence that anywhere in the process of putting the call through, there might have been a mite of malice that it would genuinely hurt someone.”
Greig and Christian have both apologised, while Rhys Holleran, chief executive of Southern Cross Austereo, which owns 2Day FM, said the pair were “shattered” and undergoing counselling.
The prank call was pre-recorded and vetted by lawyers before being broadcast to listeners in Sydney.
Australian media urge end to blame game in nurse tragedy
