Fox News Car Chase Scandal: What Do You Think About It?

As some of you might know, Fox caused some controversy today when a car chase and subsequent suicide aired on their network (not going to post a link in order to comply with Giant Bomb's rules, but you can practically find it anywhere on the internet if, for some reason, you're interested). Shortly afterwards, Shepard Smith and various Fox execs apologized for the footage profusely.

Anyway, I want to hear what you guys think about the issue. Do you believe footage like this should be aired on live television? Do you think censorship should be used to a greater extent to avoid similar issues in the future, and/or that apologies should be made after such events take place? Personally, I've never been a fan of Fox, and I think their apology was unnecessary. Although I do not believe in the deliberate airing of suicides, executions, etc., I have no problem with this kind of footage airing unintentionally (as was the case here); we get a better grip on reality that way. Still, those are just my opinions; I'm more interested in your thoughts about this "scandal."

I don't think you can really get mad at them. It's live TV, shit happens. They couldn't have controlled that at all.

Superbowl = 10 second delay.

Guy with gun running from cops = LIVE.

There was a delay, but for some reason the producer/director didn't cut the footage.

I didn't actually figure out what was going on at first, because I wasn't paying full attention. I just kind of laughed at the really inappropriate commercial placement that cut it off. Then I fully took in what I'd just watched and felt like a horrible person.

Honestly, though. It's too far away and lacking in detail to really bother me in a significant way.

@Dagbiker: Although they were supposedly running on a 5 second delay, pretty much. And as @Fluttercry said, "shit happens". Therefore, I don't really see why this story has caused so much controversy; it wasn't really in their control at all.

On a related note, Shep's "get it off!" comments were pretty funny

They cut away within seconds and I don't see how anyone could have predicted the guy would do that. They shouldn't have immediately cut to a commercial though I'll bet that advertiser is pissed .

@Dagbiker said:

Superbowl = 10 second delay.

Guy with gun running from cops = LIVE.

Hey, nip slips are nothing to joke about!

why on earth should i care about a criminal scumbag who decided the best thing to do was to end his pathetic life? if anything,im glad he killed himself. now the taxpayers wont have to pay to keep him in prison.one less deadbeat in the world.

as far as the "scandal", it wasnt thier fault. they should have known better but hey,live tv and all.

Entertainment news media getting what it asked for.

"We're going to follow this car chase and give you play-by-play commentary on this violent and reckless display. Ok, he just shot himself. Sorry."

@Kidavenger said:

They cut away within seconds and I don't see how anyone could have predicted the guy would do that. They shouldn't have immediately cut to a commercial though I'll bet that advertiser is pissed .

Except they had a whole 5 seconds after it happened to cut away, which they somehow cocked up.

I can see why they would apologize for it, a lot of people would be deeply disturbed by the footage and maybe they are genuinely sorry for subjecting people to it. Or maybe they're just apologizing to try to calm the inevitable rage coming their way. In either case it makes sense for them to say something. I'm not disturbed by this because I've seen a lot more fucked up things on the internet, but that doesn't go for everyone and I don't think people should have to see something like this if they weren't expecting it.

So it goes.

@DoctorDanger99 said:

why on earth should i care about a criminal scumbag who decided the best thing to do was to end his pathetic life? if anything,im glad he killed himself. now the taxpayers wont have to pay to keep him in prison.one less deadbeat in the world.

You know, that's a really shit thing to say. Even if he was a "criminal scumbag". What crime did he commit exactly?

I don't think seeing someone get shot on TV will ever be like JFK's assassination, and that footage is used in many documentaries that are on T.V. and not censored. Censorship is just weird

@TheDudeOfGaming said:

@DoctorDanger99 said:

why on earth should i care about a criminal scumbag who decided the best thing to do was to end his pathetic life? if anything,im glad he killed himself. now the taxpayers wont have to pay to keep him in prison.one less deadbeat in the world.

You know, that's a really shit thing to say. Even if he was a "criminal scumbag". What crime did he commit exactly?

He stole a car at gunpoint.

I don't really care. I can see why they wouldn't want that live, but I've seen far worse just being on the internet in general. If you're doing a live feed of something like this, you kind of have to expect some nasty shit to go down.

if anything,im glad he killed himself. now the taxpayers wont have to pay to keep him in prison.one less deadbeat in the world.

Transcribed by me:

"...sometimes we see a lot of things that we don't let get to you because it's not time appropriate, it's insensitive, it's just wrong... and that was wrong... and that wont'happen again on my watch and I'm sorry. We'll update you with what happened with that guy and how that went down tonight on the Fox report. I'm sorry. Now the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi which killed four Americans including our ambassador to Li..."

Bullshit. There are many ways to consider what was said by the person speaking on behalf of Fox and none of them come out as anything but shit. Yes they should apologize for broadcasting a live suicide but then they go directly into a pre-written description of an attack that claimed the lives of multiple people. And that's just fine and dandy? Fuck that. I need to get off the internet for the night.

@TheDudeOfGaming: perhaps it was shitty and i dont know what he did nor do i care.im so tired of seeing these idiots run afoul of the world they live with no care or regard to anyone except them. if he hadnt golriously shot himself he would have shot a cop, or been taken to jail and then relesed to do the same thing all over again. i dont know what he did but you dont run from the cops for no reason. you dont put a gun against your head for no reason. he was filth and the only good thing he did in his entire miserable life was end it.

that or i just have a sore spot for violent and dumb people lol

I think the technicians who failed to cut away from the feed in time should probably get a talking to, but seeing a dude shoot himself is pretty freaking shocking and they probably were too surprised to do it in the five seconds they had. The anchor desperately tried to get them to cut away, and apologized for it, so I don't think it's so big a deal- people are unpredictable.

Also, I want to remind everyone of when the world trade centers went down. When the first plane hit, EVERY news channel was filming the now burning tower, and then guess what? Second airplane flew into the other WTC live. The two towers falling was also live. Everyone's screams were live.

And then what happened? EVERY SINGLE CHANNEL WAS NOW SHOWING THE FOOTAGE. FUCKING NICKELODEON WAS SHOWING IT

@DarthOrange: why so serious?

I just think it's hilarious that people are up in arms about the video being on Youtube when one could readily find the Budd Dwyer video (which is roughly 100 billion times more violent and disturbing) on the same site.

they showed the truth on the news and it was shocking

I don't see what the big issue is here, as long as they warn viewers that some of the footage may not be suitable for certain people. The reason why it's so controversial is because the media needs something fresh to bitch about.

@villainy said:

Transcribed by me:

"...sometimes we see a lot of things that we don't let get to you because it's not time appropriate, it's insensitive, it's just wrong... and that was wrong... and that wont'happen again on my watch and I'm sorry. We'll update you with what happened with that guy and how that went down tonight on the Fox report. I'm sorry. Now the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi which killed four Americans including our ambassador to Li..."

Bullshit. There are many ways to consider what was said by the person speaking on behalf of Fox and none of them come out as anything but shit. Yes they should apologize for broadcasting a live suicide but then they go directly into a pre-written description of an attack that claimed the lives of multiple people. And that's just fine and dandy? Fuck that. I need to get off the internet for the night.

I don't quite understand the point you're trying to make.

@RedSox8933 said:

I just think it's hilarious that people are up in arms about the video being on Youtube when one could readily find the Budd Dwyer video (which is roughly 100 billion times more violent and disturbing) on the same site.

That video has given me nightmares. I can't stand real life pain and suffering. I'll take unrealistic movie violence any day of the week. When you see what actually happens when you put a gun in your mouth and pull the trigger, you immediately understand why movies show don't show it like that. It's way too disturbing.

Some badass teenagers in here.

"Are you not entertained?"

Seems like a suitable quote for this situation

@RedSox8933: Budd Dwyer? Oh, there's worse. Then again, I've always been the weird guy who found nothing wrong with his death (he lived by his word until death, he saved the pension for his then-financially-troubled family, etc.), so I guess that softened the clip for me. In my opinion, any Mayhem videos featuring Dawn of the Black Hearts on YouTube are worse; sure, it's not a clip of the action, but the picture's definitely on the gorier side of things (that's what happens when you slit your wrists and fire a sawed off shotgun directly at your forehead), and it's use as an album cover is kind of disturbing as well.

@PrivateIronTFU:

i totally agree. "fantasy" violence is easier to stomach than the real world violence. ive just lost my empathy for people like the dead man.

That ad was fucking hilarious.

This reminds me of when they used to air war footage from the Vietnam War. While they are obviously different situations it rose up the question of censor ship as the footage was supposed to promote the war but instead showed brutal live footage that was too much for many viewers. Anyway, I'll have to check this video out. I've been under a rock apparently.

@habster3 said:

@RedSox8933: Budd Dwyer? Oh, there's worse. Then again, I've always been the weird guy who found nothing wrong with his death (he lived by his word until death, he saved the pension for his then-financially-troubled family, etc.), so I guess that softened the clip for me. In my opinion, any Mayhem videos featuring Dawn of the Black Hearts on YouTube are worse; sure, it's not a clip of the action, but the picture's definitely on the gorier side of things (that's what happens when you slit your wrists and fire a sawed off shotgun directly at your forehead), and it's use as an album cover is kind of disturbing as well.

You know what I think makes the Budd Dwyer video more disturbing to me? The fact that he is surrounded by people in the video that are witnessing it. And the reactions from them disturb me almost more than the suicide itself.

I guess what people should take away from my time in this thread is that I have a very weak stomach for human violence and suffering. Which I guess is a good quality to have.

Wow just saw it. Yeah I don't blame them for trying to cut it out. You don't want your children to see this.

@PrivateIronTFU said:

@habster3 said:

@RedSox8933: Budd Dwyer? Oh, there's worse. Then again, I've always been the weird guy who found nothing wrong with his death (he lived by his word until death, he saved the pension for his then-financially-troubled family, etc.), so I guess that softened the clip for me. In my opinion, any Mayhem videos featuring Dawn of the Black Hearts on YouTube are worse; sure, it's not a clip of the action, but the picture's definitely on the gorier side of things (that's what happens when you slit your wrists and fire a sawed off shotgun directly at your forehead), and it's use as an album cover is kind of disturbing as well.

You know what I think makes the Budd Dwyer video more disturbing to me? The fact that he is surrounded by people in the video that are witnessing it. And the reactions from them disturb me almost more than the suicide itself.

I kind of see what you're saying there. Still, that was part of the reason he did that, so it doesn't bother me so much. Yeah, I probably sound like a jaded asshole right now hahaha

@Godlyawesomeguy: As macabre as its placement was, I concur

@Dagbiker said:

Superbowl = 10 second delay.

Guy with gun running from cops = LIVE.

Hey, nip slips are nothing to joke about!

@PrivateIronTFU: thats an honorable trait to have.dont think less of yourself because you have an aversion to violence and pain. the world needs more people like you!

@SomeDeliCook said:

Also, I want to remind everyone of when the world trade centers went down. When the first plane hit, EVERY news channel was filming the now burning tower, and then guess what? Second airplane flew into the other WTC live. The two towers falling was also live. Everyone's screams were live.

And then what happened? EVERY SINGLE CHANNEL WAS NOW SHOWING THE FOOTAGE. FUCKING NICKELODEON WAS SHOWING IT

It wasn't live I don't think but yeah the Nickelodeon news show for kids (I don't remember the title) did have a show dedicated to it with the footage playing.

@DoctorDanger99: regardless on your fucked up view of crime and punishment, the issue here was that they showed it on TV at all.

@TheDudeOfGaming said:

@DoctorDanger99 said:

why on earth should i care about a criminal scumbag who decided the best thing to do was to end his pathetic life? if anything,im glad he killed himself. now the taxpayers wont have to pay to keep him in prison.one less deadbeat in the world.

You know, that's a really shit thing to say. Even if he was a "criminal scumbag". What crime did he commit exactly?

No good crime goes unpunished

@Animasta: and i agree and i gave my opinion on it. ive just been hearing about it all day and ive known a dozen guys just like the one who killed himself so i apologize if my lack of pity upsets you.

I can't tell if I'm more bothered by watching a man die on live television or the newsman saying "... maybe God has something planned."

@TeflonBilly: If Only.

I wasn't aware this was a "controversy", but I'm not surprised to hear it. I guess I think the news ought to show more stuff like this. Obviously not suicides specifically, but maybe war violence? Treating adults like children and hiding reality from them doesn't do anyone any favors. Hiding or refusing to show pictures or video footage of the aftermath of combat only facilitates the bizarre American attitude of treating war like it's some kind of spectacle or a sport even.

Sorry for going on a small tangent.

As for the footage itself, if such a thing as the soul exists, the internet destroyed mine a long time. It was very tame compared to other videos I've watched. People should feel fortunate if this is the most upsetting thing they've ever seen.

I hate Fox News but Shepard Smith is the shit and he had no idea this would happen so I don't think any of this was their fault. He clearly tried to get it off quick but there was apparently only a 5 second delay so not much they could do.

@Soapy86 said:

As for the footage itself, if such a thing as the soul exists, the internet destroyed mine a long time.

I think the same could be said for most people who use the internet (therefore, most people in general). With the likes of /b/, r/WTF, r/Gore, and r/Spacedicks--along with various other sites, image boards, forums, etc.--it's kind of hard not to be desensitized

@MariachiMacabre said:

I hate Fox News but Shepard Smith is the shit and he had no idea this would happen so I don't think any of this was their fault. He clearly tried to get it off quick but there was apparently only a 5 second delay so not much they could do.

Shepard Smith is one of the only people on Fox News that doesn't seem like he's constantly trying to shove conservative propaganda down your throat. Gotta respect him for that.

There's an expectation for news in the US. That expectation brings with it assumptions about the nature of the content that is to be shown. There's a line with that content where the material is just graphic/violent/etc. But that line really shouldn't be crossed. Showing a suicide crosses that line to me. That goes beyond the nature of the content usually shown on such a program. Is it ok to show such content on other programs? I wouldn't be interested in it but as long as the viewer understands that that content is likely to be shown on that program I have no problems with it. That's the issue, no viewer of the Fox News show could have been prepared for viewing the suicide as the program isn't known for showing such material.

I feel really bad for Fox News because it really doesn't sound like they wanted this to happen.

That's fucked up.

Still not as good as the one a few weeks ago. Some dudes in LA (I think) robbed a bank and drove around a town throwing money out the window. People were running in the streets in front of cops to get the money lol.

Its a little fucked up, but some of you guys are a little weird for not being able to stomach this shit. I mean... this shit happens every day, just because you see it, it affects you? Man whatever happened to gutsy boys.

Too bad some kids had to see that but personally it didn't bother me at all.