Last week 2 radio hosts impersonated the Queen to gain information about her grandaughter-in law. Their opinion was that it was a great prank and congratulated them selves for pulling it off. Oh, they apologized but were still laughing and joking about it after that, so the apology was not sincere. They viewed themselves as being very clever.

I am of the opinion that impersonating someone, for gain, is against the law. The gain here is publicity for their 3rd rate radio show. If so they should lose their jobs and be prosecuted.

The tradegity is that the person duped took her job seriously and was so humiliated that she took her own life. The pranksters have been suspended now, but I reckon that is only to save the radio station further embarrassment. These idiots do not have enough brains to have any remorse.

I agree Banjo, hope these two never work in radio again.
Oh many will say it has been done for years, and it has, but for what reason?
A girl is dead, because two fools wanted publicity.
I can never forgive that.

I guess the Palace could sue them for defamation, it'd be hard, if not impossible to prove that the sole cause of the lady's suicide was due to the shame of being tricked into breaching hospital protocol. I've lived with depression and anxiety for thirty years, the suicidal urge is always at the back of one's mind but, in my case at least it's not usually made worse by a single incident or shock. Things can build up over time to a point where I have to say something to my wife so she knows I'm not coping but, again, in my case a personal drama can sometimes work in the opposite way, giving me something else to focus on since the way I deal with the illness is to set myself tasks and short term goals and I keep to a very strict routine.
I know, I know, it's easy for someone who has learned to manage his illness to speculate on another's state of mind, she may not have even known how close to the edge she was and she may not have had someone to talk to, the prank really could have been the last straw.

I'm inclined to agree with Jay on this one. My first thought was that this incident had tipped the lady over the edge...a very sad outcome.

Just wanted to mention that I've noted that there are shows on telly directed at young people where the whole premise of the show is to "prank" people. My son doesn't appear to seek them out, but he happened across one recently, and I waffled on to him that I couldn't understand how anyone could be entertained by someones else's discomfort. He said, "But they're always so happy when they find out the truth." I replied that the reason they're so happy is "relief".

So yes it's all very ha, ha, ha, in our fortunate first world paradigm where networks make prank shows for the entertainment of young people. The radio jocks carry on in the same tradition...apparently causing people grief is the new entertainment.

Radio announcers could not possibly have seen the outcome of this. Would people feel the same if one of our pollies topped themselves as a result of the Chasers or other ABC humour? Very sad outcome indeed but people are being a bit hard on the announcers. Surely Kylie and co have reached much lower without the tragic outcomes that we know of.

Well I'm sorry but I think these poor radio hosts are going to have to live with this unfortunate tragedy for the rest of their lives. The prank was not done with malice and while it was pretty inane it should have been harmless enough.

One of the great tragedies of any suicide are the bewildered and distraught family members who often blame themselves for what has happened.

“No one should feel responsible for someone else making the choice to take their own life. Even if you really feel that you could have been of more help, you will never know whether anything you might have done or not done would really have saved the person's life”
http://www.suicidecallbackservice.org.au/Common-experiences-associated-with-suicide-bereavement.html

I do not see these two as heartless radio shock jocks rather pranksters, typical of many Australians. If someone had been shot because of the Chaser Bin Laden prank it again would have been a tragedy but I for one would not want to suppress this style of humour.

They have a rough time ahead of them. Besides this unfortunate woman's friends and family my thoughts are also with them both.

Dear runner,

I had prepared the above and went to post it and saw your contribution. I will say I shows an insight that was unexpected from you. Thank you.