When a London nurse committed suicide following a prank broadcast on 2Day FM, Southern Cross Austereo asked The Ethics Centre to provide specialist support. We designed a program to help staff recognise ethical issues in their work, develop skills to navigate difficult decisions and recognise the importance of values and principles.
THE CHALLENGE
After experiencing a tragic outcome from a poor ethical decision, SCA needed to implement immediate strategies to equip their staff to make better choices especially in the pressure cooker of live programming.
Live radio is a demanding medium, especially when you throw in complicating factors such as developing news stories, talkback callers and the constant pressure to provide entertainment and amusement. Critical decisions must be made in a matter of seconds, and when a London nurse committed suicide following a prank broadcast segment, Southern Cross Austereo were left reeling from the consequences of a catastrophic wrong decision.
As proprietors of leading radio stations such as Triple M, 2DayFM and Fox FM, a solution was needed to ensure presenters, producers and executives made ethical decisions guided by Southern Cross Austereo’s values and principles.
THE OUTCOME
The Ethics Centre implemented a custom ethics training program nationwide to all SCA producers, senior staff and presenters that instilled a decision making framework for on air programming.
The Ethics Centre developed a bespoke training program to guide staff in ethical decision making, bringing values and principles to the heart of live broadcasts and segment programming.
The training program was implemented nationwide and delivered to some of the networks’ biggest stars including Hamish & Andy, Dave Hughes and Kate Langbroek, with overwhelmingly positive feedback.
Initially designed as a one-off intervention, the training has now been extended indefinitely to assist new recruits and other managers across all major capital cities.
Ethics training for leading broadcast network
When a London nurse committed suicide following a prank broadcast by a leading Sydney radio station, The Ethics Centre was asked to provide specialist support.
In December, 2012, 2Day FM broadcast a prank call made to London’s King Edward VII Hospital where the Duchess of Cambridge was being treated for morning sickness.
Three days later, the UK nurse who received and transferred the called committed suicide. This royal prank was not an isolated incident of ethical failure for the network, it followed a number of previous on-air scandals including a lie-detector stunt that lead to a rape allegation.
This incident tipped the scales, and Southern Cross Austereo (SCA), the network proprietor for 2Day FM were put under investigation by the Australian Communications and Media Authority for licensing breaches, and were battling with a host of negative publicity.
Following the inquiry, SCA agreed to undertake ethics training and to broadcast a three hour segments on mental health and media ethics, raising awareness of the signs and the risks of bullying, anxiety and depression.
Having worked with the Ethics Centre previously, the network sought our specialist services for assistance, and engaged The Ethics Centre to design a bespoke training program for their staff, addressing ethical decision making and dilemmas in broadcasting.
Although the inquiry required only staff of the station at fault to undertake the training, SCA opted to roll it out across their network, extending the training to 240 staff nationwide.
Discussing the roll-out, Jill Johnson, Head of People and Culture at SCA said
“Everyone has gained value from the program, from the senior leadership team to on-air talent, to producers and journalists.”
The training program was designed to help staff recognise ethical issues in their work, develop the skills to better navigate decisions and recognise the role of values and principles in guiding these choices, individually and across the organisation.
Participants included senior managers, on-air talent and production staff across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and the Gold Coast. It was delivered to some of the networks’ biggest stars including Hamish & Andy, Dave Hughes and Kate Langbroek, with overwhelmingly positive feedback.
Initially instigated as a one-off intervention, SCA has extended the program indefinitely for the induction of new starters and managers across the network.
“This is ongoing work for us – reinforcing good decision making with current staff, and training new people coming into the organisation” Johnston said.