Tearful radio hosts say sorry to nurse's family in UK 
 
 SYDNEY — The Australian radio hosts who made a prank call to a London hospital treating Prince William's wife Kate tearfully told of their heartbreak Monday at hearing that a nurse had been found dead. 
 
 Mel Greig and Michael Christian from Sydney station 2Day FM have been in hiding and undergoing counselling since their hoax sparked global outrage following the apparent suicide of Jacintha Saldanha. 
 
 In interviews on Australian television, the pair broke their silence following Saldanha's death last week in London, as 2Day FM's owner said it was cancelling their show and stopping all hoax calls by its broadcasters. 
 
 An emotional Greig said she was devastated on hearing the Indian-born nurse had died. 
 
 "Unfortunately I remember that moment very well because I haven't stopped thinking about it since it happened," she told Australia's Seven Network. 
 
 "And I remember my first question was, was she a mother?" 
 
 In a separate interview with the Nine Network, Greig added: "It came into my head that I just wanted to reach out to them (the family), give them a big hug and say sorry. I hope they're okay, I really do." 
 
 The call, with Greig and Christian posing as Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles, was taken by mother-of-two Saldanha, 46, at London's King Edward VII Hospital. 
 
 With no receptionist on duty in the early morning, she put them through to a colleague who divulged details of the pregnant Kate's recovery from severe morning sickness. 
 
 Saldanha was subsequently found dead, although British police have refused to confirm whether it was suicide pending an inquest. 
 
 Christian said he too was devastated. 
 
 "Shattered, gutted, heartbroken and obviously you know... our deepest sympathies are with the family and the friends," he told Nine. 
 
 He added that it was supposed to be "just a simple, harmless, fun call". 
 
 "Prank calls are made every day... no one could have imagined this to happen," he said. 
 
 "We just hope that her family and friends are as good as they can be and that they are getting the love and support they deserve." 
 
 The death sparked an outpouring of fury against the radio station and the presenters, although the broadcaster Monday said no one could have foreseen the tragic consequences of what the hospital says was an "appalling" stunt. 
 
 Rhys Holleran, chief executive of Southern Cross Austereo, which owns 2Day FM, said the station called the hospital five times to discuss what it had recorded before going to air. 
 
 He said he was satisfied that the appropriate checks were conducted before the pre-recorded segment was broadcast. 
 
 "We attempted to contact them on no less than five occasions," Holleran told Fairfax radio. "We wanted to speak to them about it." 
 
 Holleran did not say whether the broadcaster received any response. The stunt was vetted by lawyers before being aired in Sydney last week, according to the station. 
 
 But a hospital spokesman said: "Following the hoax call, the station did not talk to anyone in hospital senior management or anyone at the company that handles our media inquiries." 
 
 In a statement to the stock exchange, Southern Cross, which has media interests throughout Australia, said that it had decided to halt all prank calls by its broadcasters. 
 
 It also axed the show Greig and Christian presented, Hot 30, and suspended all 2Day FM advertising until further notice. 
 
 The case has triggered demands for tougher regulation of the electronic media although Australia's press regulator, the Australian Communications and Media Authority, has not commented on whether the station broke any rules. 
 
 Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said the ACMA was considering whether to initiate an inquiry beyond its usual process of giving broadcasters 60 days to respond to complaints. 
 
 Copyright © 2012 AFP. All rights reserved. More » ||||| The two DJs at the centre of a prank call to the hospital where the Duchess of Cambridge was staying have spoken for the first time since the death of nurse Jacintha Saldanha. 
 
 Mel Greig and Michael Christian told of their distress upon hearing about Saldanha's death. 
 
 "[It was] the worst phone call I've ever had in my life," Greig told the Nine network's A Current Affair programme. 
 
 "There's not a minute that goes by that I don't think about what that family [of nurse Jacintha Saldanha] is going through and the thought that we may have contributed to it is gut-wrenching," she said. 
 
 Asked if she had a message for Saldanha's family, Greig said she'd thought about it "a million times in my head and have wanted to reach out to them and just give them a big hug. I hope they're OK, I really do". 
 
 "Our deepest sympathies go out to the family," said Michael Christian. "We just hope that her family and friends are being as good as they can be and are giving [them] the love and support they need. We are shattered." 
 
 The two DJs were speaking for the first time since they went into hiding on Saturday when news broke of the the death. They gave interviews to both Channel Nine and Channel Seven's main evening current affairs programmes. 
 
 Asked by Channel 9 whose idea the prank call was, the DJs said it had come up at a team meeting before the show, but did not say who suggested it. 
 
 "We had the idea for a simple harmless call. A call that would go for 30 seconds that we thought we would be hung up on," said Christian. Neither expected their call to be put through to the Duchess of Cambridge's room. 
 
 Christian and Greig said they thought the joke was on them and their poor accents rather than on the nurses. 
 
 "Every other media outlet wanted to touch on it. Our angle was having those silly accents," said Grieg. 
 
 They reiterated that no one could have expected or foreseen what happened after the call. "At every single point it was innocent on our behalf. It was something that was funny and lighthearted and a tragic turn of events that I don't think could have predicted," said Christian. 
 
 Both DJs said they had not participated in the vetting of the interview. They said it was standard practice for them to record an item then hand it over to be assessed by others. Both said they did not know what the vetting process included. 
 
 The segment was subject to an internal review, including with 2Day FM's lawyers, before it went to air. 
 
 The DJs pulled out of a third interview they were scheduled to do for The Project, on the Ten network, because they were unwell, according to a spokesman for the TV channel. 
 
 The host of the Nine programme, Tracey Grimshaw, earlier tweeted that the interview had not been paid for. It was "neither asked nor offered", she said. 
 
 Grimshaw told Fairfax Media the prerecorded interview was "very intense" with a lot of people in the room including radio station staff and supporters. She said she felt sympathy for the DJs. 
 
 "They're at a certain point on the food chain. There are other people who made the decision to put it to air. It wasn't live to air. There was a decision made after that prank call was recorded to put it to air, and virtually all the focus has been on them," Grimshaw said. 
 
 Rhys Holleran, CEO of Southern Cross Austereo, which owns 2Day FM, said the station attempted to contact King Edward VII hospital "no less than five times" before broadcasting the pre-recorded material. 
 
 "It is absolutely true to say that we actually did attempt to contact those people on multiple occasions," Holleran told Fairfax Media. "We rang them to discuss what we had recorded," he said, adding that this was done before the recorded prank went to air. "Absolutely. We attempted to contact them on no less than five occasions. We wanted to speak to them about it." 
 
 Holleran reiterated that he was "deeply saddened" by the tragic events that had unfolded since the call but again said no one could have reasonably foreseen the circumstances. He said the station was happy to co-operate with any investigation into the incident. 
 
 In a statement, the radio station's owner, Southern Cross Austero Media, said it had suspended advertising on 2Day FM until further notice, ended Greig and Christian's Hot 30 show and suspended prank calls across the company. 
 
 "The company does not consider that the broadcast of the segment has breached any relevant law, regulation or code. The company will fully co-operate with any investigations," the statement said. 
 
 The industry-drawn-up Commercial Radio Codes of Practice and Guidelines state that a station must not broadcast the words of an identifiable person unless they have been informed in advance that the recording may go to air. If someone is unaware they are being recorded, the interviewee must grant consent for it to be played, prior to anything being broadcast. 
 
 This is not the first time the radio station 2Day FM has been in trouble. It has had two licence conditions imposed on it in the past three years by the statutory regulator, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA). 
 
 The first followed an on-air incident in 2009 in which a 14-year-old girl was strapped to a lie detector, and was questioned by her mother about whether she was sexually active. The mother volunteered to quiz her daughter despite apparently already knowing she had been sexually assaulted. 
 
 When she said that she had been raped at age 12, 2Day FM's 'shock jock', Kyle Sandilands, who presented the show with DJ Jackie O'Neil, then asked: "Right, and is that the only sexual experience you've had?" The interview ended after O'Neil stepped in and she and Sandilands apologised. 
 
 ACMA found that the station had breached standards of decency and ordered the it to implement staff training programmes. 
 
 In 2012 another licence condition was imposed after Sandilands insulted a female journalist for reporting the low ratings of a TV show that he and O'Neil had presented. 
 
 "Some fat slag on [the media website] news.com.au has already branded it a disaster," he said. "You can tell by reading the article that she just hates us and has always hated us. What a fat, bitter thing you are. You're deputy editor of an online thing. You've got a nothing job anyway. You're a piece of shit." 
 
 ACMA made the Code's decency requirement (which says "programme content must not offend generally accepted standards of decency") a condition of the 2Day FM's licence for a period of five years 
 
 Shares in Southern Cross Austereo fell 7.7% in early trading on the Australian stock market before recovering slightly. 
 
 • For confidential support call the Samaritans on 08457 90 90 90 ||||| Story highlights The Australian radio network suspends all prank calls 
 
 A review of relevant policies and processes is being conducted, the company says 
 
 Nurse Jacintha Saldanha was found dead after taking the prank call on Catherine 
 
 An Australian radio network at the heart of a hoax targeting Prince William's pregnant wife canceled the show responsible for the prank on Monday, expressing deep regret for the death of a nurse who took a call from the DJs involved. 
 
 The two DJs "will not return to the airwaves until further notice," the statement from the network, Southern Cross Austereo, said. The company also suspended all prank calls, pulled advertising and ordered a comprehensive review of relevant policies and processes. 
 
 The DJs, Mel Greig and Michael Christian, who were impersonating Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles, called the hospital Tuesday and gained some information about the condition of Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge -- which they subsequently played on air. 
 
 On Friday, the nurse who transferred the call through to the ward, Jacintha Saldanha, was found dead after apparently committing suicide. 
 
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 "First and foremost we would like to express our deep and sincere condolences to the family ... for their loss. We are very sorry for what has happened," Rhys Holleran, the network's chief executive officer, said in Monday's statement. 
 
 "We don't claim to be perfect and we always strive to do better. We have initiated a detailed and rigorous review of our policies and procedures to inform any improvements we can make." 
 
 Greig and Christian also apologized in interviews with the Australian TV shows "A Current Affair" and "Today Tonight" on Monday. 
 
 "There is nothing that can make me feel worse than what I feel right now," Greig said on "Today Tonight." 
 
 Christian told "A Current Affair" the prank had become "a tragic turn of events that I don't think anyone could have predicted or expected." 
 
 "I'm still trying to make sense of it all," he said, offering "our deepest sympathies" to Saldanha's family. 
 
 Opinion: Why airing the prank call was wrong 
 
 London's Metropolitan Police have contacted Australian authorities in relation to the call, but "are not discussing about what or with who" they're talking, a spokesman told CNN. 
 
 A spokeswoman for New South Wales Police in Australia told CNN: "As the investigation into the death of London nurse Jacintha Saldhana continues, New South Wales Police will be providing London's Metropolitan Police with whatever assistance they require." 
 
 Ben Barboza, Saldanha's husband, expressed grief over his wife's death in a post on Facebook: "I am devastated with the tragic loss of my beloved wife Jacintha in tragic circumstances, She will be laid to rest in Shirva, India." 
 
 Saldanha's daughter posted a photo of herself with her mother and wrote: "I miss you, I loveeee you. Jacintha saldanha." 
 
 The chairman of the hospital where the pregnant Duchess of Cambridge was a patient slammed the Australian radio station's decision to broadcast the recorded prank call as "truly appalling" on Saturday, 
 
 "King Edward VII's Hospital cares for sick people, and it was extremely foolish of your presenters even to consider trying to lie their way through to one of our patients, let alone actually make the call," wrote the chairman, Simon Glenarthur. 
 
 "The immediate consequence of these premeditated and ill-considered actions was the humiliation of two dedicated and caring nurses who were simply doing their job tending to their patients. 
 
 "The longer term consequence has been reported around the world and is, frankly, tragic beyond words." 
 
 Glenarthur called on the radio station to take steps "to ensure that such an incident could never be repeated." 
 
 Read more: Nurse's death casts glare on 'shock jocks' 
 
 The Australian Communications and Media Authority, the country's media regulator, has not yet commented on the case. 
 
 However, it will be "engaging with the licensee, Today FM Sydney, around the facts and issues surrounding the prank call," said the regulator's chairman, Chris Chapman. 
 
 News of Saldanha's death broke Friday, with the hospital saying she "was recently the victim of a hoax call." 
 
 London's Metropolitan Police said that Saldanha, 46, had living quarters in central London provided by her workplace. 
 
 Police said they were notified Friday morning that a woman was found unconscious at the address. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Police are treating the death as "unexplained." 
 
 A postmortem examination will take place on Tuesday, police said Monday. 
 
 A spokesman for Prime Minister David Cameron said Saturday that he "thinks this is a very sad case and his thoughts are with her family and colleagues." 
 
 Throughout the controversy surrounding the hoax, authorities did not identify the nurse. Her identity was released after her death. 
 
 Audio of the call posted online suggests a woman spoke briefly to the DJs before she put the call through early Tuesday morning to the ward where the Duchess of Cambridge was being treated for acute morning sickness. 
 
 "They were the world's worst accents ever," Greig told listeners Thursday. "We were sure 100 people at least before us would've tried the same thing. ... We were expecting to be hung up on. We didn't even know what to say when we got through." 
 
 A tweet from 2Day FM last week after the incident described it as a "hilarious prank." 
 
 Read more: Radio pair apologizes for duchess prank call 
 
 Off the air, Greig and Christian tweeted about the practical joke on Thursday and earlier Friday, promising "more on the #royalprank." The pair's Twitter accounts were taken down late Friday. 
 
 Some listeners applauded the prank, like one who identified himself as Guido on the station's Facebook page and wrote, "It is only a joke people! it was great i love it!!!" 
 
 Others were outraged, with negative comments outnumbering positive ones on 2DayFM's Facebook page even before the nurse's death. 
 
 "Your stunt was done at a time in this country where there is paranoia about the intrusion of the media into people's lives," Gary Slenders wrote. "I know you will say it is harmless fun, the management of 2DayFM will say that it won't happen again, but this is exactly where the phone hacking scandal started." 
 
 The outcry grew exponentially after the hospital confirmed Saldanha's death, leading the Coles supermarket chain to remove all its advertising from 2DayFM. 
 
 "This death is on your conscience," reads one Facebook post. Several accused the two DJs of having "blood on your hands." 
 
 Saldanha's family released a statement asking for privacy and directing questions to police. She is survived by her husband and two children. 
 
 "We as a family are deeply saddened by the loss of our beloved Jacintha," said the statement, released by police. 
 
 Saldanha worked at King Edward VII's Hospital for more than four years, and she was described as an "excellent nurse," well-respected by co-workers, the hospital statement said. 
 
 The hospital "had been supporting her throughout this difficult time," it said. 
 
 A St. James's Palace spokesman said: "The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are deeply saddened to learn of the death. 
 
 "Their Royal Highnesses were looked after so wonderfully well at all times by everybody at King Edward VII Hospital, and their thoughts and prayers are with Jacintha Saldanha's family, friends and colleagues at this very sad time." 
 
 Separately, a palace spokesman told CNN: "At no point did the palace complain to the hospital about the incident. On the contrary, we offered our full and heartfelt support to the nurses involved and hospital staff at all times."
– Australian DJs Michael Christian and Mel Greig have broken their silence on their royal prank call gone horribly wrong, reports the Guardian, tearfully telling an interviewer that they're "shattered, gutted, heartbroken" over the death of nurse Jacintha Saldanha. "No one could've imagined this to happen," Christian said. "Naturally, we're shattered. We're people, too." "There's not a minute that goes by that I don't think about what (Saldanha's) family is going through, and the thought that we may have contributed to it is gut-wrenching," says Greig. The DJs meant no harm, adds Christian: "At every single point it was innocent on our behalf." Innocent or not, Greig and Christian "will not return to the airwaves until further notice," says parent company Southern Cross Austereo, which has also axed their show, halted all prank calls, and nixed ads amid an internal review, CNN reports. But the station is doubling down on its decision to air the prank, saying that it had tried to contact King Edward VII's Hospital no fewer than five times to talk about the recording before airing it. "It is absolutely true to say that we actually did attempt to contact those people on multiple occasions," says Southern Cross' CEO. It's not clear if the hospital responded, notes the AFP, but it has mounted a withering assault against the station in the aftermath of Saldanha's death.