Kyle and Jackie O radio stunt backfires
Posted Wed Jul 29, 2009 3:08pm AEST
Updated Wed Jul 29, 2009 7:12pm AEST
The NSW Department of Community Services is investigating a commercial radio stunt this morning, which ended in a 14-year-old girl admitting she had been raped.
The incident occurred on 2DayFM's Kyle and Jackie O show, when a mother rang in to get her daughter to take part in a lie detector test about her experiences with sex and drugs.
After initially sounding uncomfortable with the questioning, the girl started crying and said she had been raped when she was 12.
Then Kyle Sandilands replied: "Right ... is that the only experience you've had?"
The girl's mother then said she had known about the rape. Jackie O then cut off the segment, saying the station had not known about the rape, and offered free counselling to the family.
Community Services Minister Linda Burney says she is
ed, and has taken a personal interest in the case."The Department of Community Services is in touch with the radio station and the producers, and I have to say that they are cooperating fully with our enquiries, particularly in terms of being able to contact the family and in particular this 14-year-old girl," Ms Burney said.
NSW Rape Crisis Centre manager Karen Willis says the incident was managed appallingly by radio host Sandilands.
"Firstly he's ignoring that there's been a crime, but then calling it a sexual experience and then going 'oh have you had any others?'," Ms Willis said.
"Goodness gracious it's a terrible crime, it's actually the second worst crime that you can commit next to murder, and to equate that with something that should be in the 'fun, safety, pleasure' type category, and to be talking about those issues with a 14-year-old."
2DayFM general manager Jenny Parkes issued a statement saying: "All due care and consideration was given to the family and clearly we didn't know anything about the incident.
"The moment we became aware of it was live on air and we shut it down as soon as we possibly could.
"As is only appropriate, we are offering all the assistance we can to the family, including counselling, in what is of course an extraordinarily difficult situation."
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) says it is not yet investigating the segment, and upset listeners should contact Austereo directly to complain.
