The Jacintha Saldanha case: Media needs to introspect

BY IMPACT Staff

Jacintha Saldanha has been laid to rest. The nurse, who committed suicide after becoming the victim of a prank call made by Australian radio DJs, was buried with her face concealed as per her last wish at her husband’s hometown in Shirva near Mangalore, in accordance with Christian tradition last Monday afternoon.

Jacintha had transferred a prank call from two DJs of an Australian radio station, believing they were the Queen and Prince of Wales, to a colleague who described in detail the condition of the Prince’s wife Kate during her hospital stay for severe pregnancy sickness. Later, she was found hanging in her nurses’ quarters at King Edward VII’s Hospital by a colleague and a security guard on December 7.

Now, she lies buried. One wonders if controversies over ethics in the media will ever get a decent burial or would it always rear its ugly head every time journalists and media personalities go too far for the sake of sensationalism and ratings. One wonders when journalists would stop flirting with people’s lives, privacy and property, with scant regard for decency and decorum.

Although the radio disc jockeys, Mel Greig and Michael Christian, have apologized tearfully for their hoax phone call to Kate’s hospital ward that led to the mother-of-two taking her life, and they have subsequently been yanked off the air – and rightly so - preliminary inquiries have found that Jacintha, in one of the three notes she left behind, criticized the hospital staff for the treatment after the hoax. No amount of regret can repair the damage done, and no amount of apologies undo the high-handedness the two DJs of 2Day FM – members of the media - who have displayed great callousness in engineering the prank call. Did they not for once think what would happen if their lie went wrong – which it did? Did they not think beforehand that their action involved a possible heir to the British throne? Australian media critic Andy Ruddock says: “From the outside, it’s hard to see why no one paused to think about a prank that could only work if someone was duped into making a mistake, which could clearly have consequences for their career.”

This will not be the first time that the media stands accused of having gone too far. This time around it is yet to be  established that it was or was not done wilfully. For, according to the blog yadnarie48. wordpress.com, the Jacintha Saldanha incident is not one of its kind with the radio station 2Day FM. It has committed such errors of judgement in the past too. yadnarie48.wordpress.com says that 2Day FM was ‘pinged’ by the Australian media watchdog Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) for broadcasting a recorded interview in which a 14-year-old, i.e., a minor, was interviewed about her sex life. “That may have made for great ratings as every depraved sicko and paedophile in Sydney tuned in to listen to that broadcast, but it clearly demonstrated a total lack of regard for the welfare of the child being interviewed. When it came to the issue of “Care for Kids”, i.e. the Duty of Care that every adult in society owes to every child, that obligation simply was not on the Austereo (or Southern Cross Austereo, 2Day FM’s parent company) management’s radar. Rating yes, but the welfare of the child? Definitely no!”

There are other instances where journalists have twisted and turned news to their benefit. According to the Center for Media and Public Affairs report, during the 1990s the homicide rate in the US dropped 50%, yet homicide news coverage increased by an incredible 700%. That was plain exaggeration of risks and dangers in the news media. In India, we have had our own versions of bleed-and-lead news in the media, which, thankfully have stopped to a large extent. A few years ago, some Indian channels revelled in airing footage of smalltime thieves, even children, caught in the act being beaten up or lynched.

There is also another issue to be raised, better now than never, when reality shows in India – an aping-the-West syndrome – are fast catching up. It is important for media lawyers to take stock of whether promotions and stunts are legal or not, and whether they might encourage recklessness among people. The Saldanha issue also reveals how the media often abuses its power in spite of laid down rules preventing it from doing so. For, the Australian DJs and 2Day FM clearly breached a code which specifies that no person can be recorded in conversation, and on air, without his or her knowledge.

Section 6.1 of the Australian Radio Broadcasting code states that “a licensee must not broadcast the words of an identifiable person unless that person has been informed in advance or a reasonable person would be aware that the words may be broadcast”. Austereo has said it attempted to contact King Edward VII’s Hospital five times following the hoax call to discuss it, and the claim is being investigated. To be fair to one and all, it’s not for me to judge a seemingly harmless call. I am also not supporting the fact that the very same media outlets that had fallen off their chair over the Kate prank were the first to condemn when the news of nurse Saldanha was beamed across the world.

At the same time there has to be a rationale behind a prank, particularly when it involves putting common people under the arch lights of publicity. I am worried that even on Indian radio, some kind of measured discretion and forethought is required lest those ridiculed take the same route as Saldanha. We have to stop even one case like that from happening.

Feedback: abatra@exchange4media.com

Tags : Media Mantras