If there’s anything that has come to define the state of modern mainstream news gathering it’s tabloid TV. And many argue that it all started with that slow procession of the white Bronco down LA’s freeways. That broadcast bacchanalia, though, had the distinction of involving a prominent individual involved in a lurid murder that commanded national interest. But the Phoenix area car chase aired yesterday by Fox was a local incident of no particular import. Satellite technology let Fox tap into their KSAZ local affiliate’s feed and they did it because they could. It allowed them to fill a little air time. And they got burned. Despite what Shepard Smith says was a five second delay, they couldn’t (or wouldn’t) cut the feed until the runner had ended the chase with a gun to his temple and a partial cephalic evacuation. Cue the waves of media hand-wringing and navel gazing, but the fact is, if it had been a CNN or NBC affiliate feed, it would be CNN or MSNBC on the hook now. This was inevitable. Suicide footage after the jump, if you care to watch. While you’ve surely seen worse in just about any recent war movie, remember that you can’t un-see it. Just sayin’.
It’s okay to broadcast police chases with sometimes massive crashes and shootings, but this isn’t? LEOs getting shot is fine, but this isn’t?
Double standards, really.
When was the last time a LEO was shot on national TV? I can’t recall that ever happening.
I wont remember seeing this video a week from now. But I’ll always remember the bloodied kids being dragged out from Columbine. The people jumping from the WTC. Or the planes slamming into the towers. Those people didn’t ask for what happened to them, but weren’t edited out of the live feeds. It was further back, but I believe the live footage from the North Hollywood Shootout showed injured cops and the final moments of the bad guys. This guy chose his path, and honestly it’s one less jackass that I have to pay to “rehabilitate”. At least he pulled the trigger himself and didn’t make a cop do it. I’m with everyone who says this is much ado about nothing.
Much ado about nothing.There is an inference that the fleeing felon committed suicide.The image lacks sufficient clarity and detail for the viewer to know with certainty that in fact there was cranial penetration.A projectile transiting beween the scape and skull would present a similar appearance.
I for one certainly don’t need or desire to have this alleged member of the fourth estate pre-screen live events for content and suitablity for viewing.
In the old days, I remember them so gues what that makes me, the news was a non profit segment of the networks and was operated in sort of a public service way. It was also not a 24 hour cycle. Remember when channels used to go off the air at night?
Now the news is expected to grab audience ratings and make a profit. I don’t think a young Walter Cronkite could get a job in todays media.
Seen worse on primetime TV shows.
Any “news” outlet criticizing Fox for this would be like N Korea criticizing China for human rights issues.
They’re all despicable organizations, obsessed with money/agenda at the cost of truth at best, acting as governmental tools at worst.
Fleeing felon commits suicide. Care factor=0
I’m with Derek on this one. I really don’t care that thei was shown on TV. If anything, it shows the down side of being a criminal to anyone considering it as a “career choice”.
Seeing a felon die in a car crash? No apologies.
Seeing a felon get shot by LAPD at a gas station?No apologies.
Seeing a felon do the only smart thing in his life? Priceless. When you need real news about world events, check out internet blogs. For everything else there’s the lamestream media.
They apologize for this, but they have no problem playing videos of planes full of people crashing into the WTC every year.
When was the last time you have seen that on TV?
The media who is largely in the tank for Dem’s stoped air the fotage as soon as the relized it helps the Rep’s and George Bush airing them.
Thanks
Robert
Accidentally the whole fotage?
Every 9/11? Hell, they played the whole thing multiple times on this year’s anniversary.
Yawn…….
Yeah, WTH is hell is he incessantly apologizing for?? They show worse on prime time TV all the time! Crap that is worse for the youth than this video. Even if some of what they show is “fake” or acted on TV…it’s way worse. They also show WTC victims jumping to their deaths without any concern. This POS felon does us all a favor and it’s a big problem? Perhaps we should broadcast more of this to let the rest of these scumbags know what they should do with themselves. Heck, I rewinded and rewatched it a couple times.
What happened to the “We report, you decide.” tagline they spout all the time.
How does that square with two of his statements “That didn’t belong on TV” and “We see a lot of things that we don’t let get to you”.
The video didn’t seem like that big of a deal to me. It’s real life Shep, stop trying to sanitize it, and by extension, manipulate opinion about what is happening in the world.
What’s the big deal? MSNBC commits murder every night on TV and nobody complains.
Maybe it’s me. But the pusification of America started a long PC time ago. The powers that be should allow the people to see the true horrors that humanity brings to the table. Maybe if it wasn’t hidden from view there would be less of it. Shit does happen in the real world. Maybe if WE new about it WE wouldn’t step in it.
I think most people have become desensitized when it comes to seeing death on TV even if it is a real person.
I remember the front page photo on the idiot achronot Israeli news paper following the lIne 5 bus bombing. This is like watching Elmo in comparison.
The only thing I see to apologize for might be that it airs on the west coast at 4 in the afternoon. But impressionable kids are not watching Fox news at 4.
I still remember (as a 9 yo kid) watching the nightly news updates of the Vietnam war on tv every night at 6. Yes I even saw live, General Nguyen Ngoc Loan killing Vietcong operative Nguyen Van Lem.
http://famouspictures.org/mag/index.php?title=Vietnam_Execution
The link has good background information on the two men. Let’s just say that the victim was no saint.
Another time as a Boy Scout (15 yo) while walking across the Golden Gate bridge, I was front and center to a woman jumping off. Watched her climb the rail, jump and all the way down till impact. Right up until she sank flowing out to sea.
The world can be/is a hostile place and some people just can’t suck it up and cope. But the media trying to sanitize everything into PC’ness benefits no one.
This was a nothing.
If it bleeds it leads, as long as they get to control the blood.
There has been far worse on the interwebs. No so long ago I caught a tape by a Mex cartel showing a teenage girl beheading a bound victim with a hunting knife, and a not very sharp one either. What was worse was that the victim was still alive while she was hacking away at him. Then there was the stoning of the alleged adulteress in Pakistan. This is the reality of human violence. What about the pictures of the Americans being dragged through the streets in Iraq andbeing hung from a bridge? Civil War photos of piles of dead men–and of all wars since? And these are relatively bloodless affairs compared to the sanguine battles when the primary weapons were handaxes, short swords and spears. Can you imagine the carnage of the gladitorial games? Killing and blood as entertainment. In Saudi Arabia today, random people are rounded up and forced to attend public executions of criminals–again by beheading. As the comments above reflect, when the matador slays the bull, the crowd cheers. This differs not at all. The comments by the broadcaster just adds that spicy “ick” flavor. He propbably did it on purpose.
It is good to see criminals do the right thing.
I also fail to see what the huge deal is.
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