A 46-year-old nurse is dead; presumed suicide.

Two children are orphans.

A husband is now a widower.

A family is shattered.

This in a nutshell is the tragedy of the Saldanha family.  Jacintha Saldanha, till recently unknown except to her family, friends, neighbours and colleagues at her place of work, the King Edward VII Hospital in London, is dead. The British media described her death as a suicide.

A  few days ago, Jacintha answered the phone like she so often does at the hospital where she used to work as a nurse. This time it was not a run of the mill call. It was the call that possibly led to her death.  Presenters from Sydney’s 2Day FM called the Hospital pretending to be Queen Elizabeth II and William’s father, Prince Charles. She was duped and passed the call onto a colleague who divulged details of Kate’s condition.

The rest, as they say, is history.

The reaction of Jacintha’s death shocked all. Thousands protested with the Australian radio station as soon as the tape of the telephone call was broadcast. More protested after her death. Tears have been shed. Some were sincere others were of the crocodile type.

The reaction of the British press was strong. Undoubtedly this savage invasion of privacy – the Royal Couple’s and the nurse in particular -– came at a time when the British press is still coming to terms with the damning result of the Leveson Inquiry.

The Sun did not mince its words, and I borrowed the title of this piece from phrases used in its editorial.  The death of Jacintha was described as  “heart-breaking and bewildering.” As the Sun said this was really and truly a “needless tragedy”

The popular tabloid tried to describe the state of mind of  Jacintha.

“No doubt she was distraught at unwittingly embarrassing the royals and her employers. …

 We can only guess at the inner torment of Jacintha, who after years of loyal professionalism suddenly found herself in trouble for something that was not her fault.”

Chris Blackhurst, editor of The Independent, was similarly shocked.

“It was an awful moment, one in which the at-times detached cynicism of some sections of the media — so central to Lord Justice Leveson’s inquiry — was laid bare.  In fact, even some of our more hard-bitten reporters were desperately saddened.”

The editor posed an interesting question.

“Has anyone from The Independent ever posed as someone else to obtain information to pursue a story?

Blackhurst answered in the affirmative but tried to justify his paper’s action by saying that  “we were acting in the public interest — not to provide mere comic entertainment.”

He then mellowed his condemnation of the action of the Australian presenters.

“People play jokes all the time, in all walks of life. Sometimes they backfire. Now and again, the consequences are out of all proportion to the original jape. Likewise, accidents occur every day because of an unforeseen danger. I can’t excuse them (the presenters). But a little perspective is required.”

I beg to differ.

This was not a just a joke that turned sour. Phoning a hospital to ask about the medical condition of a person can never qualify as a joke; at least not in my dictionary. It is, as I wrote earlier, a grave abuse of people’s privacy. The abuse is made worse as it was made when the people concerned were vulnerable.

This was not just a prank by two DJs. Before the recorded telephone call was broadcast it was cleared by the lawyers of the station and by its management. They should have known better. Today the management of Sydney’s 2Day FM has egg all over its face. It is making all sorts of noises trying to convince people that they are contrite but they are still excusing themselves by saying that they are certain that they did nothing illegal. That very well may be the case. But human actions are not covered only by laws. Legislation takes care of the minimum. A responsible media person sees to it that his or her actions are also ethical besides being legal.

The line of action taken by the presenters, the lawyers and the management of 2Day FM certainly were not.

A person is dead and a family is devastated because of their actions.

Even if this were not the case, the action of the Australian radio station is nothing but reprehensible.