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Fox News Just Showed A Guy Blowing His Brains Out...

Firstly let me say that it doesn't really matter what I think -what is shown on American TV is a matter for American regulators and the American people.

But to me the whole idea of showing a live car chase on a news channel is just plain weird. In the UK police chases *are* shown, recorded, on various shows about the work of the police- Traffic Cops (BBC) Road Wars (Sky) and the oldest of them all- Police Camera Action (ITV). But the whole idea of showing one live is IMHO just crazy. I think this was an accident waiting to happen.

There are rumours on various UK bulletin boards that Fox News could have their UK licence to broadcast reviewed as a result of this, although it's probably not that big a deal to them. But it will be more unwelcome attention on another part of the Murdoch empire......
 
BMR said:
I think this was an accident waiting to happen.
Click to expand...

The result of this chase was exactly what the broadcasters wanted to happen. Like a slowly unfolding tragedy it draws viewers and viewers is the name of the game in broadcasting. Fox can apologize all it wants but it got what it wanted.
 
To my knowledge, car chases are never carried live on Canadian television. There are a few stations with choppers, but I have never once seen a live car chase on any of those stations.

As much as I deplore the state of local television in Canada, this is one area where I think we are ahead of American TV.
 
Agree that generally this is much ado about very little. There are reasons to run chases live locally when the public may need to know to avoid an area, etc. Showing one live on national tv is purely eye candy. Little to no news value in it. But, it is live so..they do.

The Buddy Dwyer thing was MUCH different because it was up close and clear as a bell what happened. Particularly when you saw the blood gushing from the top of his head and his eyes rolled back, his body slowly slump to the floor etc. That was very graphic. This chase was not.
 
This incident brings to mind the suicide of Pennsylvania Treasurer R. Budd Dwyer at a press conference.
He had been indicted on corruption charges. The reporters all thought he was holding the presser to
announce his resignation. Instead he pulled out a .44 Magnum and blew his brains out.

WPXI in Pittsburgh ran the tape unedited. It was very detailed, gory stuff.
 
The Budd Dwyer video is on YouTube, and it is extremely graphic. One of the photographers decided to zoom in and record video of blood gushing like a waterfall out of Dwyer's nose and mouth.

The KSAZ helicopter shot (which I watched live on the station website) wasn't nearly as bad. But car chases have a high probability of ending poorly.

1. Suspect could crash and injure/kill innocent people
2. Police kill suspect
3. Suspect kills himself/herself

When the suspect is out of the car, and it's not clear he or she is surrendering, the photographer should zoom out as wide as possible, or pan back to the cops, away from the suspect. If the photographer does not, then it is up to the control room to abandon the shot if the situation appears to be out of control.
 
When WPXI ran the Budd Dwyer footage uncut it was also a snow day, meaning most school
aged children were at home with the TV on, doubling and tripling down on the outrage.

One of many bumbling fumbling instances in the history of Channel 11.
 
How about in 2009 when the Bay Area Stations ran with the Oscar Grant Video at the Bart station in Oakland. Sure there was outrage over the shooting of Grant by the people of Oakland. But I don't remember them saying lets ban the video.
 
What a double standard is going on here....

It is OK for American troops (out of sight, out of mind) to get blown up in front of their unit in Iraq or Afghanistan, but everyone gets their panties in a wad and screams and yells in righteous indignation if it happens on live TV (as regrettable as it is).
 
sdwulfdawg said:
What a double standard is going on here....

It is OK for American troops (out of sight, out of mind) to get blown up in front of their unit in Iraq or Afghanistan, but everyone gets their panties in a wad and screams and yells in righteous indignation if it happens on live TV (as regrettable as it is).
Click to expand...

True, Also look at when major disasters come into play like the Loma Prieta Quake or the Northridge Quake. I Bet all the Local TV Stations aired dead bodies pulled out of the Cypress Freeway or the Northridge Apartment or the Marina District Apartments but they said the bodies in question is going to the Hospital. I say Dead Bodies in the news tend to be a case by case basis.
 
Most stations showed the Dwyer Suicide with either a freeze frame or black out when he pulled the trigger but at least a couple stations edited it. I remember seeing the edited tape on ABC news. It wasn't until youtube before I saw the unedited tape. Which I believe was recorded from one of the local stations that played it uncut.
 
M.J. said:
To my knowledge, car chases are never carried live on Canadian television. There are a few stations with choppers, but I have never once seen a live car chase on any of those stations.

As much as I deplore the state of local television in Canada, this is one area where I think we are ahead of American TV.
Click to expand...

Global BC aired a live car chase on their morning show soon after getting their chopper in 2006. There should be a clip on Youtube. As I remember the chase was actually pretty slow. CTV BC (which got their chopper a few years before Global did) was probably thinking "Man, I wish we still had a morning show." (They finally relaunched it last year.)

Last year some dude in Ontario stole a bigrig and drove it all around the Golden Horseshoe for what must've been 6 hours. I don't know at what point CFTO/CP24's chopper started following it, but I remember CP24 was carrying the chase live through the late morning, and CFTO spent about half of its noon newscast covering it live too. The driver finally pulled over just as the chopper was down for refuelling.

But yeah, these are the only cases I remember. Thank heavens these things don't happen here more often.
 
M.J. said:
To my knowledge, car chases are never carried live on Canadian television. There are a few stations with choppers, but I have never once seen a live car chase on any of those stations.

As much as I deplore the state of local television in Canada, this is one area where I think we are ahead of American TV.
Click to expand...

I think you need a better metric. ::)

G
 
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