By Greg Hazley
The Australian radio company which owns the station involved in the prank call that preceded a U.K. nurse’s suicide capturing global attention has brought on crisis PR counsel and today outlined measures in response to the incident.
Southern Cross Austereo of Sydney employs two DJs whose “prank” phone call to the hospital where the Duchess of Cambridge was being treated was answered by nurse Jacintha Saldanha, a 46-year-old mother of two who killed herself after the call was aired.
Southern Cross has tapped Australian PR pro and journalist Sandy Kaye for counsel on the fallout. Vicky Health is in-housePR manager for the company.
The company on Dec. 10 expressed “deep regret” and outlined a series of actions taken since Saldanha’s death, including the suspension of ads on the 2Day FM station, termination of the show that aired the call, “Hot 30,” company-wide elimination of prank calls, and a review of company policies.
[Updated 12/11/2012: Souther Cross said Dec. 11 that it would resume advertising on the station on Dec. 13 with plans to donate a minimum contribution of $500K to a relief fund set up by Saldanha's family.]
The show’s hosts, Michael Christian and Mel Greig, appeared contrite in interviews on two Australian morning shows Dec. 10. "There is nothing that can make me feel worse than what I feel right now and for what I feel for the family,” said Greig. “We are so sorry that this has happened to them.” She added: “It doesn't seem real because you just couldn't foresee something like that happening from a prank call.”
Kaye, the PR advisor, told Australia’s The Age, that the U.K. press has fueled a “witch hunt” for the DJs.
“It’s intense, and what’s incredible to me is it’s so much easier for the British media to have us as the target,” she said. “They haven’t once looked at the hospital.”
A letter from King Edward VII Hospital chairman Lord Glenarthur to Southern Cross CEO Rhys Holleran, which was reported in global media, ripped the radio company’s actions.
“The immediate consequence of these premeditated and ill-considered actions was the humiliation of two dedicated and caring nurses who were simply doing their job tending to their patients,” wrote Glenarthur. “The longer term consequence has been reported around the world and is, frankly, tragic beyond words.”
Holleran added in a statement: “We are very sorry for what has happened.” |