EDIT: Human error?

Fox News inadvertently broadcasted a man’s 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.

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.

It is unacceptable that Fox aired footage of a man committing suicide.

When a network runs live video feed, a scenario such as the one on Friday could occur.

However, Fox’s coverage wasn’t live. It was delayed five seconds. The suicide scene could have been avoided.

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.

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.

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?

While it’s true that viewers are drawn to car chases, they’re action-packed and unpredictable, it’s hard to say where networks should draw the line between chases that should and should not be aired.

Hopefully this event will prompt networks to review their coverage of car chases (or any potentially violent acts) more closely.