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Jokes in Public: the Ethical Implications of Radio Prank Calls

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Jokes in Public: the Ethical Implications of Radio Prank Calls Subin Paul channels and radio stations to make their pro- John C. Carpenter gramming sensational and attention-grabbing (Wang 2012). These factors came to a head in 2012 when two Australian radio hosts prank-called a nurse in a London hospital leading to her suicide. The high-profile case generated a discussion on the ethics of prank calls and suggestions that a more equitable and participatory journalism is necessary when reporting on ‘victims’ and the vulnerable. Jokes in public: The Social media also have had a significant effect on coverage of suicide. The suicide of actor Rob- ethical implications in Williams in August 2014 resulted in coverage of radio prank calls that revealed tensions between control of the media through regulatory systems and profes- Digital communication has made international sional guidelines and the unregulated world of prank calls easier than they have ever been. social media. Here, audiences can access con- This paper examines the ethics behind the tent that the media, when contemplating pub- practice of radio prank calls and their implica- lication, are required to consider with extreme tions for mainstream journalism – applying a caution for fear of inciting copycat behaviour combination of Elliott and Ozar’s ‘systematic amongst vulnerable people. moral analysis’ and Kant’s principles of the cat- egorical imperative and ends as means. This is In prank calls designed to extract classified or done using three transnational cases of prank personal information that cannot be obtained calls emanating from Australia, Spain and Can- through conventional or legitimate routes, a ada with consequences ranging from the death radio host masquerades as someone else while of an innocent, vulnerable nurse working in a tricking informants into revealing the classi- London hospital to the public embarrassment fied information. Our ‘vulnerable’ population, of a vice-presidential candidate in the United in this study, are the victims of prank calls. By States. The study argues that while radio prank being tricked into providing information, they calls can contribute to the public sphere, they are rendered unable to protect themselves can also have unintended negative conse- from harm or exploitation. The prank callers quences that reflect badly not only on radio take this ability away when they trick them. hosts but also on mainstream journalists. Furthermore, as the case of the nurse shows, this population may have additional vulnerabil- Keywords: prank calls, radio hosts, systematic ities that radio hosts should be aware of. moral analysis, Kant, ends as means, categori- cal imperative Pranks have been theorised as the use of humour in media ‘to stage an event that makes The inception of digital media changed the a social or political point, circulating it in the ways radio programmes are produced and public sphere’ (McLeod 2011: 97). Author of received across the world. Not only is access to Gulliver’s Travels, Jonathan Swift (1667-1745), programmes faster today, it has become easier who viewed pranks in this way, believed they for viewers to switch channels given their short- made audiences more thoughtful, reflective er attention spans (Agarwal and Barthel 2015). and humane (McLeod 2011). On the other hand, Radio producers are, therefore, constantly the deception inherent in pranks has been com- seeking innovative ways to package their shows pared to the use of physical force to manipulate (Purdey 2000). The communication revolution someone into doing what the prankster wants has led to a proliferation of media outlets that (Bok 1978). compete for both audiences and advertisers. As a result, radio and television rating points In the past, prank calls and other trick-based have become central in deciding the popular- methods constituted humour or satire on radio ity of media outlets so that the advertisers can and television as distinct from hard news. In conveniently choose their target (Turner 2009). recent decades, however, the genres have Increasing competition, together with the race partially overlapped, leading to a blurring of for rating points, has pushed many television boundaries between news and entertainment PAPER Copyright 2017-2/3. Ethical Space: The International Journal of Communication Ethics. All rights reserved. Vol 14 No 2/3 2017 33 Subin Paul (McBride and Rosenstiel 2013). A 2004 poll old Saldanha worked in the United Kingdom John C. Carpenter showed that growing numbers of 18 to 29-year- for 10 years until her death in December 2012. olds in the United States accessed their presi- The prank call that led to her death was made dential campaign news from sources such as by two Australian radio hosts, Mel Greig and Saturday Night Live and The Daily Show rather Michael Christian, from Sydney’s 2Day FM sta- than from traditional news sources (Williams tion. The two radio jockeys were hosts of the and Delli Carpini 2009). Scholars such as Gant Hot30 Countdown show and wanted to get (2007: 201) argued against adopting a narrow information about the health of Kate Middle- definition of journalism. He asserted that ‘there ton, wife of the Duke of Cambridge Prince may be journalists who make it their profession, William, who was admitted for a pregnancy- but one need not be a professional journalist to related fever in the hospital where Saldanha practice journalism’. worked. An examination of radio talk show hosts reveals In particular, the two Australian radio hosts their roles as quasi-journalists. As the cases in wanted details of the Duchess of Cambridge’s this paper show, they adopt a journalistic for- severe morning sickness. They pretended to be mat, using false personages to gain access to Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles. Saldanha, information about prominent people for the who answered the call, fell for the prank and purpose of sharing that information with the transferred them to a duty nurse who divulged wider public. The purpose of radio talk shows is intimate medical details about the Duchess. as often to entertain as to inform, but this tab- Afterwards, Saldanha was highly traumatised loid format parallels that of journalism. There- by the media coverage of the incident (Suroor fore, there is a need to study the growing prac- 2012b). Saldanha was also frightened because tice of prank calls because of its implications for she had violated the hospital rule that ‘when mainstream journalism and ethics. the reception is closed for the night the duty nurse is only supposed to take down phone While there have been sporadic reflections in messages – and not transfer any calls’ (ibid). newspapers and the blogosphere on the prac- Three days later, when it became clear to the tice of prank calls (e.g. Ethics Alarms 2012; public that Saldanha had been pranked, she Guangming 2012; Minnick 2011), the analytical committed suicide. Saldanha’s role in the inci- perspective on the issue has been largely miss- dent, which made headlines around the world, ing. Pearson (2015) adopted a Buddhist ethics was telling the caller: ‘Oh yes, just hold on approach to analyse the Australian prank call ma’am’ (Suroor 2012a). case, concluding that the prank call practice is inherently unethical and should be ‘ruled out’. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge said they ‘were looked after so wonderfully well This study, however, departs from Pearson’s at all times by everybody at the hospital and (ibid) conclusion to consider some unaddressed their thoughts and prayers [were] with Jacin- questions: At what point does the humorous tha Saldanha’s family, friends and colleagues engagement with the public sphere outweigh at this very sad time’ (ibid). Amidst the media the potential harms of deception? What are furore and public demands to sack the two the implications of entertainment-driven prank radio hosts, Greig and Christian were taken off calls for legitimate journalism? While it is hard the air. The station temporarily suspended all to answer these questions definitively, this advertising, as advertisers, including Australia’s study explores them through the analysis of largest supermarket chain, started pulling their three cases of radio prank calls originating in advertisements. In the end, the owner of the Australia, Canada and Spain. All three happen 2Day FM station cancelled the Hot30 Count- to cross national boundaries, adding a global down show and agreed to stop all prank calls. dimension to the phenomenon of pranks. The In an interview just after the call, Greig and study employs systematic moral analysis (SMA) Christian said: ‘We were very surprised that and Kantianism, in particular the concepts of our call was put through. We thought we’d be ends as means and the categorical imperative. hung up on as soon as they heard our terrible accents. We’re very sorry if we’ve caused any Case 1: The royal prank tragedy issues and we’re glad to hear that Kate is doing The first case – which was also used in Pearson’s well’ (Hindu 2012). (2015) study – is of Jacintha Saldanha, a nurse who worked at the King Edward VII’s Hospital Days after the death of Saldanha, the two radio in London. She committed suicide following a hosts were apologetic when in a television call in which she was pranked. Forty-six-year- interview Greig said: ‘It came into my head that 34 Copyright 2017-2/3. Ethical Space: The International Journal of Communication Ethics. All rights reserved. Vol 14 No 2/3 2017 PAPER I just wanted to reach out to them [the family], Canadian radio duo comprising Marc-Antoine give them a big hug and say sorry’ (AFP 2012). Audette and Sébastien Trudel is notorious for The 2Day FM station later claimed that it tried pranking Ban Ki-moon, Britney Spears, Jacques to reach King Edward VII Hospital management Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy. In all these cases, at least five times before airing the prank call the duo put the public figures in an embarrass- – a claim which the hospital officials refuted ing spot.
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