The tragic death of one of the nurses who took a hoax call from a pair of Australian radio hosts posing as the queen and Prince Charles should be a reminder of the real consequences of publishing.
Volume Two of the Leveson Report into the ethics and practices of the UK media describes some of the personal consequences of the terrible behaviour of the UK newspaper industry, the effects are devastating and real.
At a time when we are all publishers – from newspapers and radio stations through to Facebook posts and blogs like this – we all have to keep in mind the consequences of what happens when we press “post”.
Hopefully the dills at 2Day-FM are reflecting on the consequences of their actions, the rest of us should learn from them before we like a dumb, racist Facebook update, post an abuse tweet or plaster someone’s personal details across the web.
There’s also a management lesson here – the nursing staff at King Edward VII hospital should never have been put in the position of receiving media calls, particularly ones purporting to come from the royal household. One hopes, but isn’t optimistic, that the hospital’s managers are also reflecting on their role in this tragedy.
Every action we take has real world consequences, it’s something that we forget when we’re sitting comfortably at our desks or typing on our smartphones.
