The Hazards of Live TV: #25,174
Not much that needs to be said here. For years FNC has been playing with fire with car chases, notoriously more than its competition, and this time it finally burned them. It’s kind of surprising the network skated by this long without disaster striking on the air. Apologies for technical mistakes are fine and dandy…but if you really want to ensure that this never happens again there’s only one solution that is bulletproof…stop televising these gratuitous incidents either live or in delay. Period. Nothing else is guaranteed to succeed.
September 28, 2012 at 2:24 pm
If you want to screw-up big time on national television this is how you do it. This is also a good example of how to properly apologise. Shep took responsibility onto himself entirely.
You can bet somebody is getting yelled at.
September 28, 2012 at 2:27 pm
How did the delay guy miss the incident AND Shep yelling at him to get out of it?
September 28, 2012 at 2:29 pm
Delay Boy is dead meat. He’ll be able to identify Shepard by dental records.
September 28, 2012 at 2:30 pm
^ That’s what Shep may tell his audience tonight of The Fox report.
Could be someone wasn’t paying attention or was watching the delayed feed instead of the live one, could be a button didn’t work, or could even be intentional, I suppose.
September 28, 2012 at 2:33 pm
The whole time he was saying that it made him nervous. From the moment the door opened. Unbelievable.
September 28, 2012 at 2:50 pm
http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/fox-news-televising-shooting-after-car-chase-was-result-of-severe-human-error_b148017
September 28, 2012 at 3:02 pm
Another good reason to stop trying to make car chases news
September 28, 2012 at 3:27 pm
That kid belongs to somebody. That clip exists forever. That’s all.
September 28, 2012 at 3:35 pm
^ What she said.
September 28, 2012 at 3:40 pm
*sigh* One hell of an afternoon to say the least. The point that this high speed chase included no police cards towards the end, and he was in the middle of nowhere, made it unsettling.
Either way, time to watch the media blogs circle around this event, as well as the Times, plus Reliable Sources & (maybe) Fox News Watch, to see everyone say that tablodism has gone to0 far and blah blah blah.
September 28, 2012 at 3:40 pm
Also, Laura, exactly.
September 28, 2012 at 3:49 pm
That clip, which may well have been posted on this site and others before his entire family even knew, Jesus.
September 28, 2012 at 4:02 pm
I’ve kid for years that reality TV would eventually broadcast an execution live, but instead it was a cable news network. What exactly would be worse than this, really?
September 28, 2012 at 4:06 pm
This already happened to KNBC in Los Angeles, a market that runs car chases on a regular basis. FNC knew the risks of following that crappy tabloid local news market, and went ahead anyway. Congratulations.
September 28, 2012 at 4:18 pm
I heard about the other incident, and somehow thought that it had aired on Fox. I certainly heard the story on Fox. So,
September 28, 2012 at 4:22 pm
It was KNBC’s feed..it’s certainly possible it was shown nationally. I focused on the local network because I recognized Kelly Lange’s voice from when I lived there.
September 28, 2012 at 4:56 pm
You can bet someone (at least one) lost their job for this.
September 28, 2012 at 7:21 pm
I’ll give Shep credit for the quick, sincere apology and for taking full responsibility. Still, Laura said it best, that’s somebody’s person out there and this can’t be taken back. Tragic. Hopefully, this will mean the end of live car chases – it is always trouble brewing.
September 28, 2012 at 7:37 pm
“Hopefully, this will mean the end of live car chases – it is always trouble brewing.”
^^ Not sure this will change anything. Car chases and those endless planes with landing gear problems are just too easy tempting for cable nets. They probably won’t do them live anymore but rather put them on a delay from the start; like what should have happened here.
September 28, 2012 at 8:21 pm
Just watched the video as aired on Studio B. I was expecting to see something much worse than this.
September 28, 2012 at 8:32 pm
Nothing is ever as “graphic” as they say it is.
September 28, 2012 at 10:28 pm
Al: A person visually shot themselves in the head and collapsed live on a national cable news network in midday/afternoon. What were you expecting, point-blank cameras and guts flying onto the camera?
September 28, 2012 at 10:51 pm
I think it’s the stuff that you see in movies and TV. Real life is usually much more subdued, or much worse. Or maybe it’s not as close-up.
September 29, 2012 at 3:55 am
The thing that bothered me first when I turned on the TV was that Fox was running a banner with the wording “Fox Urgent”. Naturally, I thought the nation was under a terrorist attack or something, but it turns out they were just following a car chase!
Then I came back a little later and saw Shep apologizing profusely. I backed it up on the DVR and then saw what happened. Fox DID cut away immediately after the guy shot himself (there was no blood and guts or anything; he simply fell forward), but Shep was yelling at the guys in the studio probably 30 seconds or so after they had already cut away. Shep must have been watching something different than what we TV viewers saw.
September 29, 2012 at 5:11 am
What were you expecting, point-blank …?
Realising that I’m probably more desensitised than most at seeing parts of a human body blown inside out, I was merely expecting to see a visual that my children would think to be grossly disturbing. Your written description was actually worse.
Not arguing what should or shouldn’t be shown, just sharing an observation.
September 29, 2012 at 10:21 am
All: Fair enough. I suppose I’m on then other end of that spectrum, didn’t mean to be too harsh back there.
December 13, 2012 at 3:14 pm
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