While we hesitate to draw a line between the call and the subsequent suicide of the nurse/receptionist who answered it, the station has also agreed to donate all advertising profits from now until the end of the year to the woman’s family (according to a statement, the donation will amount to at least $500,000). While this offer is incredibly generous, we have to say that it all feels like “too little, too late.”

Now Australian PR man Lyall Mercer of Mercer PR weighs in, writing that both the station and the hospital should have been able to foresee the risks of their actions. First, he thinks that the hospital, knowing that any security breach would attract widespread attention, should have developed specific policies “to protect the world’s most famous people”.

We’re not quite sure we agree with that sentiment because the hospital is a public health facility, but we certainly do believe that producers at the station “should have read the future better”, because “even if the prank ‘succeeded’, there was still the real possibility of a nasty public backlash due to the fact that they called a hospital”.

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Unfortunately, shock jock antics sometimes go too far. This week two Australian DJ’s followed up on the “Kate Middleton Is Pregnant” story by prank-calling the hospital that housed the Duchess after she suffered from a spell of nausea. They convinced a nurse/receptionist to put them through to the Duchess’s private nurse, thereby gaining undisclosed personal details about her case. The prank got them plenty of attention.

Today brings news of that first nurse/receptionist’s death by apparent suicide. While media outlets rightly hesitate to draw a direct line between the prank call and the tragic passing of Jacintha Saldanha, longtime hospital employee and mother of two, we think it’s quite fair to say that the DJs made a very bad decision by continuing to hype their #RoyalPrank story after Saldanha died and the radio station issued a public apology.

And now we’re very slightly satisfied to report that the hosts in question appear to have been fired for their bad behavior. Their Twitter accounts are no longer active.

We guess the station made the right move in the end, but the whole incident rightly leaves them looking very bad indeed.

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We’re not going to conduct any in-depth analysis of this crucial world-shattering event, but we do wonder: When she agreed to marry the Prince, did Lady Catherine’s thoughts turn to the day when the Associated Press would announce her pregnancy via Twitter? Did she debate whether such a thing is classier than having one’s pregnancy announced on the cover of Life & Style magazine alongside one or more Kardashians?

…and now we return to your regularly scheduled programming. Please feel free to freak out as you see fit–we will take this Very British moment to hope that the third season of Downton Abbey is better than the second.

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As you’ve certainly heard by now, a photographer recently captured images of the Duchess of Cambridge topless and sold them to the highest bidder (you may have even seen the evidence if you’re a fan of French tabloid magazines or, you know, the Internet). Now Kate Middleton can only go to one of thousands of remote beaches in Europe if she wants to sunbathe nude.

But of course, this story isn’t about the human race’s painful struggle to come to grips with our own nudity. This is about an invasion of privacy, and the Royal Family is pissed. We get it.

See, this “scandal” concerns principle as much as public relations. Anyone who doesn’t want their government or corporations spying on them, invading their privacy and infringing on their freedoms should stand behind the Royal Family.

It’s easy to poke fun at pampered Cambridge folk and mock the hypocrisies of a mid-sized island country that was once an empire, but this PR dilemma has nothing to do with Kate Middleton behaving badly. This is the result of a culture—yes, that means all of us known collectively as “the public”—behaving badly. continued…

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Silvio Berlusconi

Prince William and the legal team behind Britain’s royal family have decided to sue the French magazine Closer, which just happens to be part of Berlusconi’s paper empire. Italian society has responded to the scandal with a shrug–citizens note that local celebrities are simply understood to have less in the way of privacy rights than their American counterparts, and the paparazzi was in a public space when he took the pics (using a hyper-zoom telephoto lens, of course).

But France has stricter privacy laws, and experts state that some have “undoubtedly” been broken. It would seem that Will and Kate have a case there–but we have no doubt that the magazine’s publishers considered the cost of an inevitable lawsuit before running the photos and decided to go with them anyway.

Could this be a PR victory for the royal couple? We doubt it–even if Berlusconi has to pay a fine and recall thousands of magazines, he still got the attention he wanted. He claims ownership of the photos, and in a striking coincidence he happens to be preparing for another political run. Can the royals win a significant victory, or will the publishers go unpunished? What do you think?

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Photo: Mirrorpix, Splash News / Newscom

From fascinators to cowboy hats, Kate Middleton — the Duchess of Cambridge and most-talked-about bride of 2011 — has worn headgear of every shape and size. Which is why she’s The Headwear Association’s “Hat Person of the Year.” Whoopee? That’s almost as great as being the Queen of England.

While we’re not sure the royals are planning to mark the occasion with castle festivities or some sort of Beefeater revelry, this is quite the publicity stunt for the obscure, century-old organization. The announcement has spawned much more coverage than the Headwear Association has had in a while, to judge by the news section of its website. But, this is the third year for the designation.

The Daily Beast gives the voting process the crooked eye, but The Daily Mail takes the honor much more seriously.

“She has raised the profile, not only of established names like Philip Treacy and Sylvia Fletcher of Lock & Co, but also little-known designers such as Rose Cory and Vivien Sheriff,” the paper writes.

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In this week’s episode of “5 Things You Need to Know This Week,” Herman Cain sings about sexual harassment, Justin Bieber has a baby with Kate Middleton (I think I have that right), and nobody seems to know the whereabouts of Matt Lauer. Plus, we debut the 1st annual “Where in the World is ‘Five Things You Need to Know This Week?’”

For more videos, check out Mediabistro.tv, and be sure to follow us on Twitter: @mediabistroTV

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Nonetheless, Tina Brown stands by the cover and the story, calling it “intriguing” and “very effective.” In an appearance on Morning Joe, she focused on the debate that the image (and others that were featured, including Di holding an iPhone) touched off rather than the ultimate appropriateness of the feature.

Mediaite interprets it as: “Sure, some people are saying they hate it but, hey, at least they’re saying the name Newsweek, right?”

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Photo: Toby Melville, AFP/Getty Images

The Obamas’ trip to the U.K. has been one great photo op after another. First, there were pints of Guinness in Ireland, which the Irish Independent says could generate millions for the company. Then there’s this meeting happening at left at Buckingham Palace between the Obamas and the recently wed Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Needless to say, there were fashion fireworks.

Kate Middleton’s dress cost a mere $340 at the retailer Reiss. Requests for the dress jumped 300 percent after the photo was taken, reports say. Michelle Obama’s dress is by a California designer, Barbara Tfank. Media coverage of every outfit FLOTUS wore available here.

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Following McQueen’s suicide last year (and the death of his good friend Isabella Blow), Guinness purchased Blow’s collection of fashion pieces, which included a number of McQueen articles.

The McQueen label also received some big-time publicity last week from the Royal Wedding. Kate Middleton‘s gown, which largely received rave reviews, was designed by McQueen’s Sarah Burton.

[Image via]

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The Duchess of Cambridge’s, née Kate Middleton’s, choice of an Alexander McQueen wedding gown (and post-wedding dress and maid of honor dress for sister Pippa) has delivered what the Wall Street Journal calls “a coup” for the fashion house and its designer Sarah Burton. (Sadly, Alexander McQueen committed suicide last year.)

Alistair O’Neill, a senior research fellow at the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London told the paper, “For the bride to be wearing McQueen at this moment in time—obviously with the passing of the designer last year, but also with the Savage Beauty show being opening in New York—will set the McQueen name in much greater international terms in last 20th and early 21st century fashion history.”

In addition to providing some exposure for the label, its designer, and the upcoming exhibit at the Met, The Telegraph says it incorporated “‘best of British’ materials,” speaking to British culture, history, and style.

“The dress epitomises timeless British craftsmanship by drawing together talented and skilled workmanship from across the United Kingdom,” the Royal Wedding blog reads.

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Photo: Chris Jackson/Getty Images

I have to admit — I’m pretty caught up in the Royal Wedding. And there are some among the PR industry who are as well. Who says T-Mobile gets to have all the fun.

Euro RSCG Worldwide is hosting an international Royal Wedding Tweetup. Anyone using the #EuroTwedding hashtag can participate. And there will be a microsite with curated coverage.

Waggener Edstrom has also plugged a few numbers into its Influence Toolkit to come up with the reception seating chart based on a social media hierarchy. Click here to find out what that would look like. Go Mr. Bean!

Omnicom firm Hall & Partners also did a little research into the digital buzz that was generated by the wedding.

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This week, Time magazine revealed its choices for the 100 most influential people in the world, which was really only as interesting as these countdowns tend to be. The usual suspects (politicians like Germany’s Angela Merkel, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, cultural icons like Justin Bieber and the royals Prince William and Kate Middleton) were on the list along with a couple of curve balls thrown in to make you go hmm… (tennis star Kim Clijsters and actress Mia Wasikowska).

Most interesting perhaps is the reader’s choice selection — Rain, the South Korean pop star and actor who is best known here in the U.S. as the star of the film Ninja Assassin for which he won an MTV award. This is his third year atop this chart.

Above, Rain shows his acting chops and after the jump, a Rain music video. If you’re looking for a spokesperson, maybe you should give him another look.

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T-Mobile is capitalizing on the hoopla surrounding this week’s royal nuptials with a viral video that takes off on another wedding march that caught fire on YouTube. The spot was filmed in London with lots of great lookalikes (check out Camilla!). The message of the video is lost on no one. The Guardian says it’s “The latest bit of shameless Wills’n'Kate band wagon jumping.” The clip was released on Friday and has nearly five million views.

[via CNN.com]

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The Telegraph listed its choices for best and worst press releases. Included: a free ferry ride to Dublin for the happy couple (?), an offer for free afternoon tea with a bottle of champagne for all couples named William and Kate, and a free night at a hotel and spa in Cornwall for couples that become engaged this week.

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