Fox News inadvertently broadcasted a mans suicide on Friday. The network aired live feed of a car chase near Phoenix, Ariz., including the final scene where the driver abandoned his car and shot himself in the head. Fox had a five-second delay on the helicopter feed of the chase, according to an article in The Washington Post Friday. <\/p>\n
However, Fox said it was due to severe human error that the network did not take down the footage within the five seconds, according to The Washington Post. <\/p>\n
It is unacceptable that Fox aired footage of a man committing suicide. <\/p>\n
When a network runs live video feed, a scenario such as the one on Friday could occur. <\/p>\n
However, Foxs coverage wasnt live. It was delayed five seconds. The suicide scene could have been avoided. <\/p>\n
Now, a technical error excuse would probably have been more acceptable. Technological snafus happen, some of them unpredictable and unavoidable. Had Fox said a technological glitch prevented it from using the time-delay tool, people would probably have been more understanding. <\/p>\n
But the human error excuse is unacceptable. In the broadcast journalism world, five seconds is a lot of time. The people editing this footage are trained to respond to these situations in that amount of time or less. <\/p>\n
The question of whether or not this car chase was even newsworthy should also be raised. Should car chases be covered at all? What makes a particular chase worthy of coverage? Does a chase have to be conducted for a certain amount of time or does the driver have to engage in a shootout with police to make it deserving of coverage? <\/p>\n
While its true that viewers are drawn to car chases, theyre action-packed and unpredictable, its hard to say where networks should draw the line between chases that should and should not be aired. <\/p>\n
Hopefully this event will prompt networks to review their coverage of car chases (or any potentially violent acts) more closely. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Link: Fox News inadvertently broadcasted a mans suicide on Friday. Continue reading
\nEDIT: Human error?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"