Nearly three years after it began, the saga of Jennifer Strange is over. A jury has awarded her family nearly $16.6 million as a result of her death in a water-drinking contest held in January 2007 by a local radio station.

It sounds understated to say that this story is saddening and troubling, but it is because it says so much about so many, including us.

It's not just the death of a mother of three children.

I'm saddened that we even had to go to court.

I'm saddened that Entercom Communications, the parent company of KDND, The End (107.9 FM) chose to fight this matter in court rather than admit its degree of culpability and immediately make significant financial amends to the family, which might've been, in the minds of some, far more equitable than the almost $16.6 million awarded in the lawsuit.

I'm saddened that lawyers pretending outrage while seeing dollar signs threatened lawsuits before aggrieved family members even had a chance to mourn. I'm saddened that we needed lawyers at all when a proper recourse was patently obvious.

I'm saddened that other contestants sought financial restitution and got it, as if to jump on a tragedy just for a quick payday.

I'm troubled when someone argues that "everyone" knows about water intoxication without answering why anyone would participate in a contest that might cause their death. Isn't that a fair question? How much do we blame Strange for her own actions, since it could be that she didn't know she could die from what she was doing? But sadly, people blame her.

I'm troubled too that the radio hosts would react so casually when warned by listeners who called to say such a contest was life-threatening. At that point, you stop the contest – ratings be damned. Hearing the flippant response of a co-host saying the contestants signed waivers so "we're not responsible" had to be a cringing moment for the jury. It wasn't cringing at the time it was said. At the time, listeners hearing that probably figured, "Well, that's just entertainment." At the time, who imagined we'd be dealing with a contestant's death six hours later?

I'm a longtime DJ. This water-drinking contest was done in radio for years. Morning shows nationwide routinely network through industry Web sites to share their ideas. That's how this one traveled – almost virally. If you hear your favorite morning show doing some routine, skit or "bit," it's because they got the idea from another show elsewhere in the country.

It doesn't matter if the contest was done in 1996, when I first did it as a wacky morning host, or in 2006, when the Wii was the hot toy for Christmas, or in early 2007 when some stations managed to get a Wii after the holiday rush and turn it into a promotion to drive ratings. The repeated success of the contest set a precedent of presumed safety by the time the Morning Rave hosts latched onto it.

I wonder how much of this comes back to us. If we really want to watch or listen to this kind of stuff and call it entertainment, then it may be time to have a conversation with ourselves.

People do stupid things all the time. It's unavoidable. But when given a platform to act stupidly, it creates an opportunity for others to act in poor judgment. That's where we found ourselves in the case of Jennifer Strange.

I don't isolate any particular demographic like that which listens to a station like The End, though this kind of "entertainment" targets that kind of demographic, and these kinds of broadcasters believe it works. It must or they wouldn't do it. It must or we wouldn't listen. Or watch. How is it that one is so lacking in personal pride that you would allow yourself to be used as an instrument in a presentation like a reality TV show that requires you to look like a jackass?

We can ask the rhetorical question, "How do you live with yourself?" Apparently we can, because we keep tuning in. It seems to me that if you can enjoy somebody in pain, somebody being humiliated, somebody making a fool of themselves, I'm not sure you've got all the genes necessary or all the cells necessary in the brain to appreciate the fact something terrible has happened even when it happens.

That's a fair question, isn't it? How do we laugh at someone in extremis?

What is our limit? Should we as broadcasters participate in an "anything goes" atmosphere just to get an audience? Say anything? Do anything? Should you as listeners (or viewers) participate in an "anything goes" atmosphere just to give that radio (or TV) station ratings? I think the answers to those questions are no, and no, but I can't decide for you. And I can't decide for some of my colleagues who believe the answer is yes.

Strange's participation was her undoing, but her death could've been prevented by her facilitators. Meanwhile, the rest of us get what we get and then complain about what we got when the fact is, we're the ones who asked for it.

Blame isn't equal, but nobody's hands are clean here.

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Bruce Maiman is a former evening radio talk-show host for KFBK who lives in Rocklin.