Fox News apologizes for on-air broadcast of suicide
Posted September 28, 2012 6:10 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
PHOENIX, Ariz. – A high-speed chase in Phoenix ended with the driver shooting himself in the head, which aired on live television on Friday.
Fox News apologized on air for its live broadcast of the car chase, which ended with the graphic footage.
In the live footage, a driver pulls over, gets out of the car and runs. Afterward, he pulls out what appears to be a gun and shoots himself in the head.
Fox News anchor Shepard Smith starts shouting “get off it, get off it,” and the network cuts to commercial.
After the break, Smith apologized on air.
“We really messed up and we’re all very sorry,” he said.
“That didn’t belong on TV.”
“We took every precaution we knew how to take to keep that from being on TV.”
Smith said a five-second lag on live broadcasts allows producers to screen footage for inappropriate content.
But in this case, Smith said, there was a mishap.
“We see a lot of things that we don’t let get to you,” he said.
“That won’t happen again on my watch and I’m sorry.”
Fox News anchor Shepard Smith apologizes on-air for the live broadcast of a man’s apparent suicide.
