On Friday, Fox News televised a man shooting himself in the head at 12:31 p.m. PDT, following a lengthy car chase that the station devoted a portion of the day covering.
After the suicide aired, Fox anchor Shep Smith told his audience, "We really messed up."
He added, "That didn't belong on TV. I personally apologize to you that that happened. That will not happen again on my watch, and I am sorry."
Smith explained that the news crew should have cut away from the footage and had the means to, as all live streaming operates on a five-second delay, allowing the network to pre-screen video before it airs.
When the man's car stopped, the anchor 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."
Fox News viewers heard Smith yell, "Get off, get off, get off" to the crew before the network cut to commercial.
"We took every precaution to avoid any such live incident by putting the helicopter pictures on a five second delay," said executive vice president of news editorial Michael Clemente. "Unfortunately, this mistake was the result of a severe human error and we apologize for what viewers ultimately saw on the screen."
The suspect is said to have stolen a car at gunpoint, and was confirmed dead at the scene by Phoenix police spokesperson Sgt. Tommy Thompson.
"Efforts to revive him were not successful and he was dead at the scene. We don't have an ID yet," said Thompson.
Fox Anchor Shep Smith Apologizes to Audience
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