I thought it was only police transmissions in the UK that were subject to any protective law. Perhaps I'm wrong.
Aside, I have heard a genuine mayday call from one of my colleagues on a scanner at the office in the comfort of my leather chair; the sound of a 10,000 hr pilot talking like he was about to burst in to tears is one that will never leave my mind, and certainly not one that I would ever consider as "entertainment" for the general public. The consequences of this event 1 minute and 23 seconds later was his colleague drowning after a succesful ditching.
Perhaps not a story attributable to this incident, but a personal example of how horrible such situations are & how anybody can use them as "gossip" is beyond me.