Are we being too tough on the prank-calling Australian radio DJs?

>>> there's not a minute that goes by we don't think of that family and what they must be going through and the thought we may have played a part in that is -- it's gut wrenching. if we played any involvement in -- in her death then we're very sorry for that.

>> those are the two australian deejays in tears speaking for the first time in a series of tv interviews and apologizing for prank calling the hospital where kate middleton was recovering from morning sickness. the nurse that answered that call was found dead days later and the show has been canceled. prank calls of any kind suspended company wide. the deejays say they have received death threats since the incident and explain they didn't make the final call in airing the prank.

>> 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.

>> our role is just to record and get the audio and then, you know, wait to be told whether it's okay or not okay and act upon as we're told.

>> the hospital in the middle of the scandal today said it will launch a memorial fund for the nurse an demanding action against the deejays. british police contacted australian counterparts and may insist on an investigation. the death of the nurse is certainly a tragedy. are we being too tough on the deejays? let's back spin on it. that's kind of a loaded question there. look. there's obviously plenty of responsibility here in terms of the deejays. they made a prank call . you never know when you make a prank call how someone will react to it. it would appear here -- i should say nbc news right now all nbc news is characterizing the nurse's death is as a death. that's lots of speculation out there that this was a suicide but right now nbc news is just calling this a death. that's all we can say at this point. the implication is that this was a suicide. and i look at this and i'm of two minds here because, you know, these sort of a.m. drive, you know, pranks by disk jockey teams, australia, great britain or here in the united states , they happen all the time. i've seen some cruel ones. i remember one when i was in boston as a freshman in college, two deejays in boston did a whole elaborate news report that the saying that the may why are of boston was killed in a car accident and before verifying it instantly and half of boston it seemed for a few hours they believed that the mayor died and the mayor filed a complaint with the fcc. my point is looking at this what was involved with this one, say you shouldn't be doing that no matter what but looking at this and compare it to the other prank calls , two deejays calling the hospital with crude british accidents and, you know, i don't -- i have trouble coming down so hard on them because how could you have thought it would lead to something like this?

>> pranks are playing with fire . whatever you do, whatever happens from it, you're responsible. you have to control the situation of the prank. that's why i look back at "punk'd" so genius and controlled so you couldn't hurt yourself or image too much or somebody else too much. these people put somebody in peril, didn't let them know like we're kidding. and i think that they have to deal with the responsibility for what happened.

>> yeah, but when you talk about they put them in peril, compared to all of the dozens upon dozens of other shock jocks we hear out there, the question is was it because it's the royal family the reaction as such or how to punish them. we hear the people saying, oh, they should be jailed. we should take them off the air. i think it's actually a societial punishment coming down to this issue because it's what we dictate. it's the outcome, this tragic outcome that makes it so much horerible. what happens if nothing happened? would you care so much?

>> i don't think they should be jailed. you know? i think clearly they're very distraug distraught. they have lost their show. their lives are not good but i also don't think you can abdicate any personal responsibility for them and sort of reminds me of cases of bullying and one in particular came to mind and again i should say we don't know that it's a suicide, we don't know that it was connected to the prank. but i recall that student at rutgers who was secretly recorded by his roommates kissing another man. it was live streamed and he committed suicide . did the kids who were recording him think that he would commit suicide ? of course not. but are they completely off the hook in terms of personal responsibility ? also of course not. now, they're not exactly parallel but there's a similarity here in that you're -- they humiliated the woman. they didn't think through what the implications for her and her family would be and responsibility to bear for that.

>> all right. well, if this conversation got you a little down, never fear. deepak is here. to talk about happiness at the holidays and beyond. that is next. [ female