Fox apologises after car-jacker kills himself live on TV

Sunday 30 September 2012

BROADCASTER Fox News has apologised after millions of horrified viewers around the world saw live footage of a man fatally shooting himself in the head at the end of a high-speed car chase.

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News anchor left stunned as channel bosses blame ‘severe human error’ after tragic end to high-speed police pursuit is broadcast. By Judith Duffy

The blunder happened as the TV news channel covered a police chase which began in Phoenix, Arizona and ended about 90 minutes later within 80 miles of the California border.

The helicopter footage from Fox's Phoenix affiliate station KSAZ-TV showed the driver stop his car and run disorientated into a field before putting a gun to his head and firing. He fell to the ground.

The channel quickly cut to images of Fox News anchor Shepard Smith, who was heard shouting: "Get off, get off, get off, get off!" to his producers in a bid to get the scene off air. After the commercial break, he apologised repeatedly to viewers saying: "That didn't belong on TV. We took every precaution we knew how to take to keep that from being on TV and I personally apologise to you that that happened."The man was declared dead at the scene, said Sgt Tommy Thompson, a Phoenix police spokesman.Smith clearly had his doubts about what was being shown from the moment the man stopped the car. "This scares me," he said. "You wait for the end of these things and you worry about how they may end up. This makes me a little nervous, I got to tell you. A little nervous."He later told viewers that the video was supposed to be on a five-second delay so it could be cut off from airing if something went awry."We really messed up, and we're all very sorry," he added.Fox bosses also apologised for showing the violence on air. "We took every precaution to avoid any such live incident by putting the helicopter pictures on a five-second delay," said Michael Clemente, executive vice-president of news editorial."Unfortunately, this mistake was the result of a severe human error and we apologise for what viewers ultimately saw on the screen."Thompson said the man allegedly stole a car from a couple at gunpoint outside a Phoenix restaurant just before 11am.Police located the vehicle and began a pursuit and the man fired several shots, he said. He said the shots hit the police vehicle and the officers escaped injury."He got out of the car and shot himself," Thompson said. "Efforts to revive him were not successful and he was dead at the scene."During the broadcast of the incident, Fox returned repeatedly to shots showing the car passing big-rig lorries that typically travel at about 70mph. Police cars did not appear to be immediately behind the car during most of the chase.Fox News Channel frequently picks up car chases from its local affiliates and airs them live. It is gripping television and often provides a short-term ratings boost as viewers tune in to see how it ends.This is not the first time there has been a death on live US television. In 1974, news presenter Christine Chubbuck, 29, killed herself while on air.■USA

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Fox apologises after car-jacker kills himself live on TV

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