2DAY FM Jocks Accused of ‘Playing Dumb”

The radio DJs linked to the death of the British nurse Jacintha Saldanha had been trained "not to air any prank calls without permission" and are now "playing dumb", a source from besieged Sydney station 2Day FM claims.

“These two presenters are broadcast professionals. They can't play dumb now.”

According to a story at theage.com, the claim appears to contradict interviews given by DJs Michael Christian and Mel Greig where they said they were not aware of the approval process for prank calls.

The source said all 2Day FM presenters, producers and content managers were compelled to undergo "decency and standards" training every six months, in compliance with a ruling from the industry watchdog.

The training sessions, run by 2Day FM's in-house lawyer Tania Petsinis, include the specific instruction "not to air prank calls unless they get the subject's permission ... if there is doubt about a prank call, there is a clear chain of command in management that we have to escalate the call through".

The training sessions also advised on "how to not cause distress to callers ... there is a lot of stuff about taste and decency."

The claims about the training sessions – particularly the advice not to air prank calls without the subject's consent – appear to conflict with Christian's claim on A Current Affair that "[we were] not privy to what happens with this call ... I'm certainly not aware of what filters it needs to pass through. All we know is that it's passed on and then we're told either yay or nay."

Greig added, "It's not up to us to make that decision. We just record it and then it goes to the other departments to work it out. I don't know what they then do with it. We just do what we do which is make those calls."

The source said, "I find it hard to believe that if you scored the scoop of the year in entertainment radio, you'd be so flippant as to not be aware of the approval process.

Read More Now