If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
Think about how much judgement new moms feel over things like natural childbirth vs. c-sections. Can you imagine having your birth plan come up for conversation on Good Morning America?
I wish Kate Middleton improved symptoms and an easier, safe pregnancy for her and her family. I also hope that someday all expecting women will experience the skilled care and concern that a duchess deserves.
It was global news because a future queen was involved, but it received scorn because it was essentially a crap stunt. Before the tragic aspect of this story emerged, the newly crowned king of comedy Jack Whitehall tweeted "I mean sachsgate prank was crude but at least it was quite funny. That Australian Radio hoax call was rubbish. Hope those DJs get sacked".
They say Christmas is about giving, about sharing and about being with the ones you love, which is a load of sentimental old tosh. It's about getting drunk, receiving underwear you wouldn't be caught dead in and tolerating behavior from people you normally wouldn't be seen dead with.
As we are due to endure incessant royal baby chatter and HG sympathy over the coming months, I thought I'd sneak in quickly with an important lesson that HG and pregnancy sickness illustrates about evolution.
Kate is Duchess of Cambridge, but is it then a given that she should have to share with the world every spit and cough, medical issue and scan 3D picture with the world?
Medical experts say that an extreme bout of morning sickness usually indicates twins or even triplets! It means the royal stork will have to carry a heavy load. Except for Buckingham Palace the rest of Britain is worrying itself grey or bald over the complications a twin arrival would create.
Why have pranks always been such a big part of morning radio? Because people like them. Research and ratings both show it, undeniably. When people hear a prank being played on the radio they rarely tune out, assuming it's a good one.
What makes prank humor not very clever, and not funny, is that one of the easiest things in the world is to take advantage of another person's trust.
Rest assured that this is a very early present for the PR industry. PRs will be peddling their wares and attaching products and brand events onto the media charabang at every opportunity. Sales speak stronger than sentiment, and the baby care PR pixies have been stat-spinning like a tribal dervish overcome by super-strength hallucinogenic cacti.
To lay the blame entirely at the feet and Michael Christian and Mel Greig is to overlook a far greater contingent. It's to overlook the fact that the radio culture actively encourages the pushing of boundaries, that it clearly considers the feelings of the victims secondary to global stature and revenue.
What started out as a silly prank by radio hosts to try and call the Duchess of Cambridge's hospital room has unexpectedly become a moment of truth for a media that cares only about ratings and rides roughshod over feelings.
If the announcement of the royal baby has ignited this much of a frenzy, one can only imagine what the birth itself will be like. We may not yet know the due date, but whenever their first child arrives, the event will make royal history.
Yet even as the world remains stunned by the lethal prank and a family grieves the loss of a beloved member, we're now being told by Australian media that the shock jocks involved are in a "fragile state" and in intensive therapy. Do we care about them at this point?
What were those two DJs thinking? Answer: Only themselves. My heart sank when I read the news that the nurse tragically died after being a victim of...
To those calling for the heads of two young Aussie DJs, who they believe are responsible for the death of a London hospital worker... time to take a pill, people! When MC and Mel, of Sydney's 2Day FM, placed a crank call to London's King Edward VII Hospital, there's no way on earth they could have foreseen, that it might play a part in a tragic event like this. What are these two actually guilty of?
