Prank call crisis engulfs station

[Joseph27]

http://www.theage.com.au/business/media ... 2b386.html

God our society has become a bunch of soft cocks.... it was a stupid prank call and some mentally unbalanced person killed herself.... here's a clue - if she killed yourself over this incident, she was probably on the verge of doing it anyway.

The notion of prank calls is the source of so much amusement - or those silly shows where people get tricked on the street, these aren't that harsh and nor was this call. The overreaction seems a tad staged...

(edited because I decided to self edit an otherwise asshole of a comment)

[Tas]

You skipped a part of the asshole comments

[Morrolan]

You skipped a part of the asshole comments

[daffodil]

You skipped a part of the asshole comments

[Joseph27]

It's a sad situation but boy the media always likes to go overboard.... the best case scenario for the British media are that one or both of the radio show host kills themselves... a murder/suicide would be the ideal. They hold society up to a standard that no one can meet including themselves to make a buck. So I laugh it off - it's sad that a person killed themselves but it wont stop me enjoying prank calls and practical jokes

[slinky]

.... it was a stupid prank call and some mentally unbalanced person killed herself.... here's a clue - if she killed yourself over this incident, she was probably on the verge of doing it anyway.

So, just because she was 'probably on the verge of doing it anyway' and was 'mentally unbalanced' that makes it ok? That makes for a pretty slippery slope if you ask me.

[baloo]

Unfortunately ultimately suicide by a person is the responsibility only of that person, regardless of what precedes.

[slinky]

Unfortunately ultimately suicide by a person is the responsibility only of that person, regardless of what precedes.

You're right, but I do think this is a decent example of just because you can do something, doesn't always mean you should.

Should they have been able to predict or guess that a suicide would happen because of their prank? No, there wouldn't be a way for them to know that, but, they should have probably spent more time thinking through other possible scenarios/outcomes based on their action. The biggest one I can think of is that they should have at least considered the fact that their prank could easily result in someone losing their job - which you'd have to admit would be a pretty bad outcome for tricking someone into stepping outside of established protocol. (And, yes, I know the hospital didn't take any disciplinary action against the woman, but they easily could have.)

[baloo]

If the first question they asked themselves was "Would anyone really believe the Queen herself would call reception of a hospital and speak in an extremely over the top accent with a fake Charles muttering "mummy" and "Corgis" in the background ?" then they wouldn't ask themselves any other questions because the answer would be obvious.

[Tas]

A lot of commentary about this is answered by the Code of Conduct and some privacy laws I think around recording someone without their knowledge. In the case of pranks etc, Code of Conduct says you then inform the person and seek permission in pre recorded interviews, this is to manage this risk aspect of terrible outcomes.

The woman is minding her own business at 5am in the morning, 4-5am well known/researched as the points of a humans lowest ebb in terms of alertness and a long list of physchological and physical low points. The biggest point is that the woman was recorded without her knowledge and then made the butt of a global joke, around a couple of people whom the hospital held in high regard. She was going to be vulnerable, feel stupid, and various bullys in school no doubt would have let her kids know 'how dumb their mum is'. If she'd given permission to the station to use her as the butt of a global joke then sure go ahead, but the fact the station submitted the recording to the lawyers to check, means they already knew they were on hairy ground so they can't sit there and now say there was some accidental or reasonable errror on the part of the station when they made that recording live. Before getting carried away ask the question if 1) the woman knew she was recordedd 2) did she give permission to use her recording?

Then go on about the rights and wrongs of it all. If they can't follow a basic code of conduct, any wonder the laws get made to enforce subsequently?

[slinky]

I guess my real point was in my first post on this -- I just think taking the attitude of she was 'probably on the verge of doing it anyway' and was 'mentally unbalanced' is crass, heartless and kind of disgusting, really.

And if it ultimately results in changes or enforcement of the codes of conduct in the future, as Tas brought up, I can't get all worked up about the possible loss of such 'humorous pranks' in the future, but that's probably because I don't really think publically making someone the butt of a big joke when they have no idea it's a joke to begin with is high level humor.

[baloo]

I guess my real point was in my first post on this -- I just think taking the attitude of she was 'probably on the verge of doing it anyway' and was 'mentally unbalanced' is crass, heartless and kind of disgusting, really.

aka Trolling

[slinky]

I'm trolling??

[baloo]

no no, not at all. The original post was trolling in it's purest form.

[Aliya]

Kate Middleton must be feeling pretty shite too, goes into hospital with much awaited first baby, someone kills themselves because of some dumb prank - if I was her I would always think of this woman and feel like it was a bad start to my pregnancy.

[Tas]

How would you be feeling right now, sitting on the sofa, knowing you were part of a stunt that lead to a person killing themself and have your name for the foreseeable near future associated with that, and some new couples supposed to be joyous over their first pregnancy will associate this time and you with an awful death just because they are young royal. The kid by the way will be the next in line to a throne, so mate, your name will hang around on file, not in a good way.
Just how good would you be feeling about yourself, you'd have to think pretty sick in the guts surely. All because you thought you were a bit funny, a bit clever in you're own head...

[Kooky]

no no, not at all. The original post was trolling in it's purest form.

I called that one back in August, baloo.

Or get you the title of Troll.

I no longer bother reading.

[Joseph27]

I agree and I apologize - it wasn't a kind post though I do believe that a healthy happy person doesn't go and top themselves because they fell victim to a stupid stunt that was neither funny or cutting edge. I should have articulated that a tad more sensitively. The outpouring of anger seems a bit over the top by so many in the press and I absolutely stunned that this gets all the attention of our media. Meanwhile Egypt borders on erupting back into major violence and lots of people die, and Syria continues in civil way but one girl killing herself (yes it is tragic and I do feel for the family) becomes the story of the day because it is all about selling news today.