The Australian radio station which made a prank call to a UK hospital
that apparently resulted in the death of a nurse said Tuesday that it
would donate at least 500,000 Australian dollars (US$524,000) to a fund
for the nurse's family.Jacintha Saldanha
apparently committed suicide after being duped by the prank call from
two DJs seeking information on Prince William's pregnant wife,
Catherine.
The Sydney-based 2DayFM radio station has come under heavy fire over the hoax call.
The media group which
owns 2DayFM said it would resume advertising on the station -- halted in
the wake of the tragedy -- beginning Thursday, with all profits until
the end of the year going to "an appropriate fund" that would directly
benefit Saldanha's family and a minimum contribution of 500,000
Australian dollars.
"We are very sorry for what has happened," said Rhys
Holleran, chief executive of Southern Cross Austereo.
"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."
Saldanha put through a
call from the DJs to a nurse on the ward at King Edward VII's Hospital,
where the Duchess of Cambridge was being treated for acute morning
sickness early last Tuesday.
The 46-year-old nurse
was found dead three days later in living quarters in central London
provided by her workplace. She left a husband and two children.
An autopsy will be carried out Tuesday in Westminster, London's Metropolitan Police said.
The hospital has said
that it is also collecting donations from the public for the family and
asked that checks be made out to King Edward VII's Hospital -- Jacintha
Saldanha Memorial Fund and mailed to Finance, King Edward VII's
Hospital, 10 Beaumont Street, London. W1G 6AA.
"She was an outstanding
nurse whose loss has shocked and saddened everyone at the hospital,"
said chairman Lord Glenarthur. "Following discussions with her family,
we have now established the Jacintha Saldanha Memorial Fund in her
memory."
Many donations have
already been made from around the world, he said, and the hospital would
"certainly welcome" a contribution from Southern Cross Austereo.
There has been a fierce
public backlash against the radio station, both within Australia and
worldwide, since its decision to broadcast the pre-recorded prank call.
The two DJs, who
impersonated Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles in the call, made
tearful apologies on Monday for what had happened.
Mel Greig and Michael
Christian, both crying at times, told two Australian television shows
that their thoughts were with Saldanha's family.
"I'm very sorry and
saddened for the family, and I can't imagine what they've been going
through," Greig said on the program "Today Tonight."
Christian described himself as "gutted, shattered and heartbroken."
"For the part we played, we're incredibly sorry," Christian said on "Today Tonight."
Both have said that they never expected the call to go through.
They also stressed
Monday that while they made the call to the hospital, they did not have a
say on whether it went to air. The call was recorded and then went
through a vetting process at their network before it was broadcast, they
said.
Share prices for
Southern Cross Media Group dropped by as much as 8% Monday following the
controversy, according to Australian media reports.
A number of big advertisers pulled their spots from 2DayFM before it took the decision temporarily not to run ads.
Profits for the media
group as a whole were 95 million Australian dollars in the year to June
2012, up from 64.1 million a year earlier, according to the company's
2012 annual report. It was the first full-year earnings report since
Southern Cross Media and Austereo Group merged in May 2011.
Holleran last week said
he was "deeply saddened" by the nurse's death but defended the legality
of the station's action, saying he was "very confident that we haven't
done anything illegal."
The Australian
Communications and Media Authority, the country's media regulator, has
said it will be "engaging with" the network "around the facts and issues
surrounding the prank call."
London's Metropolitan
Police have contacted Australian authorities in relation to the call,
but "are not discussing about what or with who" they're talking, a
spokesman told CNN.
A spokeswoman for New
South Wales Police in Australia told CNN: "As the investigation into the
death of London nurse Jacintha Saldhana continues, New South Wales
Police will be providing London's Metropolitan Police with whatever
assistance they require."
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