Until they tried to present themselves as victims, I had a scintilla of sympathy for the Australian disc jockeys consumed by the fall-out from their prank phone call to the hospital treating Kate Middleton.They weren’t to know that their crass stunt would end so catastrophically in the death of a dedicated nurse and devoted mother..
But for Michael Christian and Mel Greig to invite the world to share their pain is unforgiveable. I’m sure their remorse was sincere. Turning their public apology into a self-indulgent, self-justifying sobfest was, however, utterly nauseating.
Although they are entitled to enter a plea of mitigation, this wasn’t so much a mea culpa as a reverse-charge call to the Samaritans. I thought the Aussies were made of stronger stuff.
OK, so they’ve been subjected to the usual vile tsunami of Twitter-driven abuse and death threats.
They have been forced into hiding and their broadcasting careers lie in rags at their feet.
Yet unlike the friends and family of nurse Jacintha Saldanha they haven’t endured a genuine human tragedy.
Whatever personal and professional turmoil Christian and Greig are experiencing, it can’t begin to compare with the suffering of those trying to come to terms with the sudden loss of a loved one.
All Mrs Saldanha did was answer the phone and put the call through to an un-named colleague who divulged details of Kate’s condition. When I first heard the tape, I thought the whole thing was an elaborate hoax. It sounded like the hospital had switched its phones through to a Bombay call centre.
That’s before I realised that the woman answering the phone was a nurse who came originally from Mangalore, in south-west India. No wonder she was taken in by the unconvincing comedy royal accents put on by Christian and Greig.
You might have thought that the King Edward VII private hospital in London would employ a trained switchboard operator with English as a first language — even at five in the morning. Why was a nurse having to answer the phone?
Mrs Saldanha had done nothing for which to reproach herself. She didn’t disclose sensitive medical information over the telephone. Her managers insist she was not disciplined or blamed in any way.
Yet she was so overcome with shame that she was driven to take her own life. No one could have seen that coming.
Perspective: Whatever personal and professional
turmoil Christian and Greig are experiencing, it can't begin to compare
with the suffering of those trying to come to terms with the sudden loss
of a loved one
There is no legislating for the law of unintended consequences. This really was a tragedy beyond words.
Apart from the blameless Mrs Saldanha, nobody involved comes out of this well.
Not the mystery colleague who actually divulged the information, nor the hospital management that seems determined to divert attention away from its duty of care towards patient confidentiality and its own staff.
Christian and Greig made the call, but the broadcast was pre-recorded and sanctioned by producers and station managers in Sydney.
Unlikely candidate: Mrs Saldanha was a strong woman, a devout Catholic and regular churchgoer
Even if this tragic tale hadn’t unfolded as it has, the cardinal sin of this stunt is that it wasn’t funny. It wasn’t big, it wasn’t clever and it wasn’t original.
Prank phone calls are the lowest form of so-called ‘comedy’ currency.
I’ve always hated this kind of ritual public humiliation. The late Jeremy Beadle was a dear friend, but we disagreed about his stock-in-trade TV ambushes, no matter how cleverly conceived and expertly executed.
Beadle used to insist that nothing was broadcast without the permission of the ‘victim’. And some of the sketches were hilarious.
I argued that no one was going to refuse permission because they could then be accused of being a ‘bad sport’ and lacking a sense of humour. My real concern, though, was: ‘What if somebody dies?’
There was one sketch where Beadle pushed a white van apparently containing a market trader’s entire stock of goods into a harbour.
The visibly distressed victim looked as if he was going to have a heart attack as his life disappeared under water.
Most of Jeremy’s stunts were harmless and he had genuine affection for the hapless marks drawn into his web of deception. Since then, though, there’s been an escalation in cruelty in the name of entertainment.
Now somebody has died.
Mind you, compared with the revolting Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross ‘prank’ call to actor Andrew Sachs, the Christian and Greig stunt was pretty tame.
Brand’s boasting about having sex with Sachs’ granddaughter was evil. But even that was signed off by BBC producers. Although it cost both Ross and Brand their BBC gigs, neither has suffered much long-term career damage.
Ross bounced back on ITV. Brand went off to make Hollywood movies. And now he’s even helping to frame Britain’s drugs laws.
Bouncing back: Although their prank call to
Andrew Sachs cost both Jonathan Ross (left) and Russell Brand their BBC
gigs, neither has suffered much long-term career damage
He was treated with great respect, despite showing no respect himself by turning up dressed in a torn T-shirt and cowboy hat and proceeding to behave as if he was performing at a comedy club.
Yet still MPs were prepared to overlook his track record and take him seriously.
So when Michael Christian and Mel Greig have stopped feeling sorry for themselves, they can take heart from the example of Russell Brand.
Even if they are dead in the water Down Under, career rehabilitation may yet beckon here in Britain.
Sadly, it’s too late for them to be called by Lord Justice Leveson to give evidence about phone-hacking and invasions of privacy by the Press. But as ‘victims’ of Twitter abuse, they are perfectly placed to advise any future Commons inquiry into social media.
Pass the sick bag, Sheila
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2246112/Do-spare-self-pity-Sheila.html#ixzz2EihhKN3g
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