Hundreds of thousands of Americans watched a man shoot himself in the head live on television as Fox News broadcast the final moments

the actual video -

The cable news channel was playing live footage of the pursuit when the suspect leapt out of his car and began running away down a dirt track.

As producers and viewers watched, the man staggered away from his vehicle, ran a short distance into the grass and then produced a gun.

Shephard Smith, Fox News's afternoon anchor, was providing a running commentary as the suspect lurched away from the vehicle and viewers could hear his producers gasping in horror as the man shot himself.

Mr Smith shouted "get off it, get off it" as it became clear the man intended to kill himself but the station did not cut away in time and broadcast the suspect crumpling to the ground.

Fox went to a commercial break and when it returned to the studio a visibly shaken Mr Smith apologised to viewers, saying "that didn't belong on TV".

"We see a lot of things that we don't let get to [the viewers] because it's not time appropriate, it's insensitive, it's just wrong and that was wrong and that won't happen again on my watch. And I'm sorry," he said.

Mr Smith said that the network had put the footage on a five-second delay after the suspect left his car but it appears that the non-delayed version was broadcast live.

In the footage of the broadcast, Mr Smith appears to react to the shooting several seconds after it had already happened, suggesting that he was looking at a delayed feed but the public was watching live.

No details of the man's identity were immediately available.

US networks often play car chases live on screen but this latest incident may spark demands for a reform of the policy.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/9575413/...

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Comment by Jim Braun on September 30, 2012 at 9:27pm: Real? I thought this was an add for Smith&Wesson,and how effective their weapon's are. The dumbing and numbing of American's has worked well,very easy to see.

Comment by Daniel Seigler on September 30, 2012 at 9:12pm: afraid of a little REALITY on your TV?

Comment by Sweettina2 on September 30, 2012 at 4:13am: Very sad.

Comment by arisuta2 on September 29, 2012 at 9:22pm: 'fluoridate'

Comment by Jim Braun on September 29, 2012 at 4:23pm: Not really sure what all the fuss is about? This is proof that obumacare is working. This guy with his head full of worm's did exactly what the NWO wants,population reduction. He saved money by not getting arrested,or even wounded then a long hospital stay at the tax payer's expense. I didn't cause his problem's,I don't fluoride the water.

Comment by Nancy Oakley on September 29, 2012 at 2:57pm: The television networks will keep showing these events because "we" watch them. By subscribing to TV services and watching a particular kind of show, we are choosing what they broadcast. The money for ads goes to shows that are watched. Follow the money.

I chose to "opt out" several years ago. It can be done. After the first week or so, it's painless. It is easy to do a trial run...just unplug it.

Comment by Ken Brodeur on September 29, 2012 at 2:21pm: Violence is the number one form of entertainment throughout history, from the Roman Games, to people having a picnic while two armies battle, to people gathering on the street to watch a brawl.

There is a morbid fascination of watching that which we so want to avoid.

Comment by apeman2502 on September 29, 2012 at 12:58am: Journalist Hunter S. Thompson (Who did NOT do the 'snuff film' as accused) noted as far back as 1971 that "America had been desensitized to the degree that they would accept their dead grandmother crawling up their leg with a knife clenched in her teeth".

Fox news, again demonstrating an almost subhuman ghoulish taste for someone else's misery and pain, shows us from whose mouth poison flows. What a tacky group of scum.

Comment by Nathan A. Bauer on September 29, 2012 at 12:46am: BTW, does this look more like Afghanistan and a sniper shot? Weird simile' huh?

Comment by Nathan A. Bauer on September 29, 2012 at 12:43am: If this was not intentional, and not there to de-sensitize....then why is it National News?

Another Psy-Op

Message? Be Afraid! It could be YOU next!

They can kiss my a--!