2Day FM broadcasters have been told that ‘under no circumstances’ should they report royal baby news.
It’s the announcement that the world is holding its breath for – but if you want to know when the Royal baby is born, you might need to switch radio stations.
A leaked email from Southern Cross Austereo management reveals that broadcasters are prohibited from releasing details about William, Duke and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge’s upcoming baby under any circumstances, according to the Sunday Telegraph.
The ban comes in the wake of a controversial prank in late 2012, when Austereo broadcasters came under fire for calling the hospital where Kate gave birth and asking for confidential information about Prince George. The nurse who answered the phone, Jacintha Saldana, later took her own life in the fallout from the prank call.
Australia’s media watchdog, ACMA, ruled on Thursday that the controversial prank was in breach of three clauses, including clause 6.1, which ‘prohibits the broadcast of statements by identifiable persons without their consent’.
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It’s easy to understand by 2Day FM management deciding to steer clear of royal baby news, particularly given that the ACMA is yet to decide what penalty the station should face for its breaches – including the possibility they might be pulled from their air altogether.
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Is 2Day FM doing the right thing avoiding royal baby news?
Top Comments
Why has it taken ACMA two-and-a-half years to reach a decision on what looked like such an obvious breach, to anyone with a brain, even before Ms Saldana's suicide?
News is news - a little bit ridiculous to ban someone from reporting it.
Read the story again. The station is "banning" itself from reporting the news. So not really a banning at all. More like a boycott, really (and another publicity stunt, for that matter).