Wiston Papers

Who's to blame for the deaths in London and New York City?

Two events last week resulted in avoidable deaths and have revived the debate over media ethics, security and personal responsibility.  

PRANK HOSPITAL CALL

Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton, the pregnant wife of  British Prince William, was admitted to Edward VII hospital in London December 03 with severe morning sickness.

During her stay, two Australia radio disc jockeys pretending to be Queen Elizabeth and her son Prince Charles, called the hospital asking about the condition of the Duchess.  

An unsuspecting nurse, Jacintha Saldanha, transferred the prank call to a second nurse, who in turn revealed information about Middleton’s health.  Both phone calls were recorded and broadcast.

Only hours after the hoax was uncovered, Ms. Saldanha committed suicide.  

The fallout has resulted in public outrage and condemnation.  The Australia radio personalities have apologized and been taken off the air.  Spokespersons for the hospital, the Duchess and Prince, as well as Queen Elizabeth herself have all expressed sadness over the death of Ms. Saldanha.

SUBWAY FATALITY

In New York City December 03, a man was pushed off a subway platform following an argument and was killed by an oncoming train.  A freelance photographer, R. Umar Abbasi, at the scene snapped pictures of the victim, Ki-Suck Han,  clinging helplessly to the platform edge only seconds before the train struck and killed him.

The photograph subsequently appeared on the front page of the New York Post.  Ensuing news coverage has focused the debate on the role of Mr. Abbasi and why nobody tried to save Mr. Han.

REACTION AND QUESTIONS:

There is little doubt that Australia radio personalities Mel Greig and Michael Christian exhibited poor taste and judgment in perpetrating the telephone hoax.  Given the nature of contemporary broadcast media, however, their actions--no matter how repugnant--are not surprising.

There seems little restraint by many stations and their on-air personalities today in their pursuit of ratings.  As more stations compete for the ever dwindling share of listeners and viewers, broadcast operations have become increasingly more aggressive in ways to attract an audience.

Their actions have consequences and in this instance they were tragic.

However, the prank telephone call and aftermath raise additional questions.  First, it’s curious why Ms. Saldanha would have committed suicide following the telephone call.  She spoke for only a few seconds with the Australians before she transferred the call to a second nurse who actually was more of a victim that Saldanha.  The second nurse had a longer conversation.

There have to be additional reasons for her death than  the brief bogus call.  However, we can't get inside her mind so we'll never know.

Second, didn’t  Edward VII hospital have in place security precautions to avoid just such a possible hoax?  The presence of such a high-profile patient as the Duchess of Cambridge and assorted royalty certainly is cause for extraordinary measures to assure their treatment and security.

A simple verification code agreed upon by the Royal Family and the hospital would have been sufficient to avoid unwanted intrusion from outsiders.  Why wasn’t that in place?  If such procedures had been established, why weren’t the nurses aware of it?  If the nurses did know of such protocol, did Ms. Saldanha ignore it?  

Furthermore, in this day of ubiquitous cell phones, does anyone seriously believe that Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles would have called the hospital main switchboard?  Wouldn’t St. James Palace have a direct line available to the cell phone of a key hospital administrator or head of nursing?  

How about just calling the Duchess or Prince Williams directly?  Surely Elizabeth and Charles have their phone numbers on speed dial.

None of this mitigates the tragedy of Saldanha’s death or the role of the two radio DJs.  But Edward VII hospital administrators must assume some responsibility for the errors leading to her death.

The New York City subway fatality is the most recent iteration of two common scenarios:

First is the journalist at the scene of a news story faced with the decision whether to grab the story or save a life.  This has happened so frequently over the decades that it is now a basic question in every journalism ethics class.

Second is the “bystander effect.”  This is a psychologial phenomenon that became the focus of much academic research following the death of Kitty Genovese in 1964.

More than 30 persons watched as Miss Genovese was stabbed to death.  None of the bystanders tried to save her.  Why?

Subsequent studies have shown that witnesses to violence are less likely to lend aid if they are surrounded by others than if they are alone.  We take our cues from people around us.  The more persons the less likely anyone is to act.  Someone else surely will step forward.  

This apparently was the case in the seconds before Mr. Han died.  Several bystanders saw the argument and push that resulted in his death.  Photographer Abbasi was not alone on the platform.  He was one of several witnesses.  The “bystander effect” helps to partially explain why--surrounded by other people--he was inclined to shoot pictures and expect that other witnesses would save Mr. Han.

It is unclear whether there was time or space for anyone on the platform to grab Mr. Han and pull him to safety before he was hit.  But the “bystander effect” helps us understand how it happened and how the photograph made front page news.

The incidents in London and New York City are different case studies of human behavior and illustrate their potential consequences.  In one case a woman died allegedly because of the irresponsible actions of two media personalities.  In the second instance a man died because persons failed  their responsibility to act.  

The explanations above help us understand what happened.  But they do not excuse the actions or inactions of the participants.  Although the media were involved in both stories, they alone are not to blame.

Steve Coon

December 08, 2012