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Royal hoax DJ to speak at Radio Festival
By Andy Malt | Published on Tuesday 7 October 2014
Former presenter on Australia’s 2Day FM, Mel Grieg will appear as a speaker at this year’s Radio Festival next week.
Grieg was one of the DJs at the centre of the 2012 royal hoax scandal. She and co-host Michael Christian managed to bluff their way into speaking to a nurse in the ward where the Duchess Of Cambridge was being treated for morning sickness, by pretending to being the Queen and Prince Charles. Following the broadcast of the stunt, one of the nurses involved, Jacintha Saldanha, took her own life.
Since the incident, Grieg has not returned to radio, resigning from 2Day FM completely last December. She has said that she was never comfortable with airing the call, and recently appeared at the inquest into Saldanha’s death.
In a statement then, she said: “There is a lot to learn from this tragic event. I believe that hospitals and media organisations should look into their procedures and policies to ensure a tragedy like this never happens again. To fellow announcers and DJs I urge you to speak up if you don’t feel comfortable and to consider the feelings of others when trying to make a joke. The joke should always be on us the DJs”.
Announcing Grieg’s appearance at the Radio Festival, Chairman Chris Burns said this morning: “The circumstances surrounding this tragedy are terribly sad but they hold important lessons for all of us working in the media. As an industry we need to act responsibly and learn from each other, so I am pleased that Mel has chosen to speak at the Radio Festival, so we can learn from her experience”.
The Radio Festival takes place in Salford on 13-15 Oct. Grieg will be interviewed by Daisy McAndrew on 14 Oct. Find out more here.
