Australia’s High Court confirms radio station broke the law with Royal hoax
Australia’s High Court has ruled that the radio station at the heart of a 2012 privacy scandal, 2DayFM, broke the law by its broadcast of a prank call to a hospital in which the Duchess of Cambridge was being treated for morning sickness.
The decision was made on the basis that no permission was sought from hospital staff to broadcast their conversations prior to broadcast, overturning a previous ruling which cleared the broadcaster of any wrongdoing and follows a lengthy legal battle by the station to clear its name.
As a result the radio station now faces a steep fine or even having its license suspended or revoked, a decision blasted by 2DayFM who said this was ‘a serious defect in Australian broadcasting law’.
The incident thrust DJs Mel Greig and Michael Christian into the limelight when the nurse who fielded their prank call, Jacintha Saldana, later committed suicide.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority had initially ruled in November 2013 that the station had broken the law, but this was later successfully overturned – until now.
/news/2012/12/07/radio-station-behind-duchess-cambridge-prank-call-bombarded-angry-tweets-following