Did You Miss Last Night’s Media Watch?

Not entirely unexpectedly, Media Watch dedicated a fair chunk of last night’s show to talking about The Kyle and Jackie O Show saga that has dominated the Australian media over the last week. They mentioned a pretty horrifying “prank” performed by the pair that I was not aware of, and it’s worth checking out.

From Media Watch:

And then there’s the program’s routine humiliation and emotional manipulation of its ‘guests’. Tonight, while Austereo reviews its ‘principles and protocols’, we’re going to look at a particularly sickening example. It wasn’t about sex, or juveniles. It was about heartless exploitation:

“Jackie O: Okay we’re doing this competition. It’s called ‘Home or Away’ where we bring out a loved one that you just haven’t seen in a very long time. They live overseas. You haven’t been able to afford to see each other… So, we have Sally in the studio this morning who has a loved one she’s desperate to meet up with. Hi Sally.

Saveth Chorn: Hi Jackie. Hi Kyle.

Kyle Sandilands: Hi darl, how are you?

Saveth Chorn: I’m good.

Jackie O: So who is this family member that you really want to see?

Saveth Chorn: My niece, Dana.

— Radio 2DayFM, The Kyle and Jackie O Show, 17th July, 2009″

Sally’s real name is Saveth Chorn.

2DayFM said that name was too complicated for their listeners, so they foisted the name Sally on her.

Saveth and her parents were refugees from Pol Pot’s vicious regime in Cambodia. Back in 1986 her older, married sister was granted permission to go to the United States.

They haven’t seen each other since.

Desperate to meet her sister’s kids for the first time, Saveth entered the ‘Home or Away’ competition.

2DayFM agreed to fly her 19 year-old niece Dana from California.

But on the day before she was due to board her flight, Dana and Saveth were told, on-air, about the “twist” that Kyle and Jackie O had built into the competition.

“Kyle Sandilands: So, you are going to be flown over Dana. That’s, that’s the good news right?

Jackie O: The twist here is when Dana flies over, Sally, we’re going to put her on Monday morning behind a door but there are going to be two other doors.

— Radio 2DayFM, The Kyle and Jackie O Show, 17th July, 2009″

Behind the second door will be Geoff the newsreader.

Behind the third, Joey – an Amercian actor pretending to be a sex-mad backpacker.

“Jackie O: Now, if you don’t pick the right door, if Dana’s not the door you pick, Dana flies straight home. No meeting.

Kyle Sandilands: So she flies over here, 15 hours. She stands behind the door. If you pick the wrong door Dana gets back on the plane, flies home, 15 hours.

— Radio 2DayFM, The Kyle and Jackie O Show, 17th July, 2009″

I think you should head to the Media Watch site to find out what happened next. Needless to say, it isn’t pretty.

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