Nurse left suicide note, Aussie radio sets up $525,000 fund (+video)
Nurse left suicide note: Jacintha Saldanha, a hospital nurse, left a suicide note, report British media. Will the note clear the Australian DJs of responsibility for her death or reinforce public opinion?
Canberra and Perth
The Australian radio station behind a prank call to a British hospital will donate its advertising revenue until the end of the year to a fund for the family of the nurse who apparently took her own life after the stunt, the company said on Tuesday.
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Meanwhile, British media are reporting the existence of a suicide note left by nurse, Jacintha Saldanha, but the contents have not been made public.
Southern Cross Austereo, parent company of Sydney radio station 2Day FM, said it would donate all advertising revenue, with a minimum contribution of A$500,000 ($525,000), to a memorial fund for nurse Saldanha, who answered the telephone at the hospital treating Prince William's pregnant wife, Kate.
The company has suspended the Sydney-based announcers, Mel Greig and Michael Christian, scrapped their "Hot 30" program and suspended advertising on the station in the wake of the Saldanha's death. Southern Cross said it would resume advertising on its station from Thursday.
"It is a terrible tragedy and our thoughts continue to be with the family," Southern Cross Chief Executive Officer Rhys Holleran said in a statement. "We hope that by contributing to a memorial fund we can help to provide the Saldanha family with the support they need at this very difficult time."But he Australian radio station said on Saturday it had done nothing wrong and no one could have foreseen the tragic outcome.
There has been renewed soul-searching over media ethics after Saldanha, 46, the nurse who was duped by the station's call to the King Edward VII hospital, was found dead on Friday in a suspected suicide.
The hoax, in which the radio hosts - posing as Britain's Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles despite Australian accents - successfully inquired after Kate's medical condition, has made worldwide headlines.
On Saturday, Australians from Prime Minister Julia Gillard to people in the street expressed their sorrow and cringed at how the hoax had crossed the line of acceptability.
Two large companies suspended their advertising from the popular Sydney-based station and a media watchdog said it would speak with 2DayFM's owners. Users of social media sites such as Twitter expressed outrage.
The hoax also raised concerns about the ethical standards of Australian media, as Britain's own media scramble to agree a new system of self regulation and avoid state intervention following a damning inquiry into reporting practices.
Southern Cross Austereo Chief Executive Rhys Holleran told a news conference in Melbourne on Saturday that the company would work with authorities in any investigation, but that it was too early to draw conclusions.
He said he was "very confident" that the radio station had done nothing illegal.
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