'The worst phone call I've ever had in my life'
2Day FM presenters Mel Greig and Michael Christian break their silence on how they felt hearing of the death of Jacintha Saldanha after their prank phone call.
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THE radio presenters at the centre of the royal prank call have claimed they were not ultimately responsible for a stunt that has caused outrage at a London hospital, provoked fury at Buckingham Palace and been linked to the death of a UK nurse.
Full transcript: hoax call By 2DayFM DJs
Mel Greig and Michael Christian, the presenters of Sydney station 2Day FM's Hot 30 show, came out of hiding to issue tearful apologies last night on not one but two current affairs television programs. But in doing so they sought to distance themselves from responsibility for the prank call to King Edward VII's Hospital on December 4, in which they pretended to be the Queen and Prince Charles and were put through to a nurse who revealed details about the medical condition of the pregnant Duchess of Cambridge.
''You prank someone, you record it, then it goes to the other departments to work out what they want to do with it,'' Greig told Nine's A Current Affair. ''It's been done for years. It was routine for us. It wasn't anything different.''
Asked by host Tracy Grimshaw what guidelines were in place to determine what was acceptable in a prank call, a visibly upset Greig said: ''It's not up to us to make that decision. We just record it and then it goes to the other departments to work out. I don't know what they then do with it. We just do what we do, which is make those calls.''
Her co-host added that ''there's a process in place'' for everything that goes to air, and the royal prank ''was put through every filter that everything is put through''.
''We just made the phone call and that was it. We don't get to make those decisions, we don't get to make those calls, that's done by other people. Our role is just to record and get the audio and wait to be told whether it's OK or not OK.''
Their account tallies with a statement issued by the station's owner, Southern Cross Austereo, late yesterday.
An internal review had found that ''company protocols were adhered to'' in airing the segment. They included ''internal legal review'' and ''authorisation''. Chief executive Rhys Holleran told 3AW's Neil Mitchell that five attempts had been made to contact the hospital before the segment was broadcast, without success.
''We don't claim to be perfect and we always strive to do better. We have initiated a detailed and rigorous review of our policies and procedures to inform any improvements we can make,'' Mr Holleran said.
''We are also providing support to our people who are deeply saddened by this tragic and unforseen event.''
Christian said he and his co-host were ''shattered, gutted, heartbroken''. Greig added ''There's not a minute that goes by that we aren't thinking about her and her family and the thought that we might have
played a part in that is gutwrenching''.
The prank call was lauded as a coup not only by the hosts themselves but by other media last week. Sydney's Daily Telegraph hailed them the day after the call as having ''bagged the best international scoop so far in the unfolding soap opera that is the Kate Middleton pregnancy''.
But following the discovery of the body of nurse Jacintha Saldanha, who is believed to have taken her own life - her brother yesterday claimed she had ''died of shame'' - things have turned very sour for the presenters and the station they represent.
Facing an expected advertiser backlash, all advertising was suspended from 2Day FM on Friday.
The blackout was originally slated to last until Monday, was yesterday extended to Wednesday and was last night described as being in place ''until further notice''.
Although the call was played across the entire Today network, which includes Melbourne's Fox FM, the advertising blackout applies only to the Sydney station. Advertising agency boss and former media buyer Ben Willee estimated it could be costing about $150,000 a day.
The company also announced last night that Hot 30 had been terminated and that prank calls across the company would be suspended pending a review of policies and processes.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority has confirmed that it is not investigating any possible breach at this stage.
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