Journal article
Australian Talkback Radio Prank Strategy: A Media-made Crisis
Journal of Communication Management, Vol.20(1), pp.56-74
2016
Abstract
Purpose: This article analyses an Australian commercial radio talkback show that deployed prank as a strategy to scoop royal news to entertain an Australian audience, often commodified for popularity ratings and sponsorship dollars. Design/methodology/approach: Using textual analysis, the study empirically examined the crisis that followed the 2Day FM's prank call to the Duchess of Cambridge at King Edward VII Hospital, London. The article engages with the media-made disaster from the lens of issue and crisis management interrogating social conversations and news stories across three countries, i.e., Australia, Britain and India. Findings: Findings reflect that the media, in this case, radio, far more than any other public entity, is subject to public scrutiny and has a moral obligation to practice with public interest at heart. Both news and social media played crucial roles in the escalation of the crisis that ignited a range of public issues. While social media narratives were abusive, condemning and life-threatening, news stories focused on legality, ethics and privacy. Practical implications: The prank broadcast invited news and social media attention and raised public concern over the ethics of Australian radio entertainment. Crises, whilst often damaging, contribute to the rethinking and rejuvenation of organisational and professional values and practices. Originality/value: This project is significant in that it is the first to use a radio talk show as a case to engage with issue and crisis management literature and interrogate radio practice in Australia. Further, the project identifies this crisis as media-made and develops an innovative crisis lifecycle model.
Details
- Title
- Australian Talkback Radio Prank Strategy: A Media-made Crisis
- Authors
- Saira Ali (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Arts, Business and LawUmi M Khattab (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Arts, Business and Law
- Publication details
- Journal of Communication Management, Vol.20(1), pp.56-74
- Publisher
- Emerald Group Publishing Ltd.
- Date published
- 2016
- DOI
- 10.1108/JCOM-06-2015-0046
- ISSN
- 1363-254X; 1363-254X
- Copyright note
- Copyright © 2016 Emerald Group Publishing Ltd. This article is © Emerald Group Publishing and permission has been granted for this version to appear here. Emerald does not grant permission for this article to be further copied/distributed or hosted elsewhere without the express permission from Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
- Organisation Unit
- University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; School of Creative Industries - Legacy
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99449572602621
- Output Type
- Journal article
- Research Statement
- false
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