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There's nothing quite like working in live television. Especially when it comes to rolling news. I've been there... It's exciting, fun, fast-paced, adrenaline-inducing, and of course, unpredictable. You're taught to expect the unexpected. And to think on your feet. Because a lot can go wrong, and often does.
Whether it's a technical blip, a guest unexpectedly dropping F-bombs during an interview, the autocue going down, or something much worse, those behind the scenes, and in front of the camera, control what the audience sees, notices, or doesn't. Some of the fails can be funny. But others can have a far-reaching and traumatic impact on viewers. That's why certain television stations have a few seconds' delay on live broadcasts. It allows the crew to take control and even cut away should things get out of hand.
Someone recently asked, "What is the most shocking thing that you have seen happen on live TV?" and there was no shortage of answers. Bored Panda has scoured through almost 3,000 to pick the most intense ones. From the sad, the disturbing, to the downright traumatic, the comments prove that anything is possible when the cameras are rolling. If you want to know a bit more about live broadcasts, you'll find that info between the images.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
I’ll add a shocking thing that was good. Watching the Berlin Wall come down. Extraordinary that it came down and we were watching it live. It seemed profound that with cameras and electronics you could watch history being made as it happened.
Controlling a live television broadcast comes with massive responsibility. It can be a hair-raising experience for the crew, to say the least. There's a lot going on behind the scenes at a television station. Each person is meticulously carrying out their assigned roles and duties to ensure a smooth show.
But sometimes things go south, as anyone who has ever worked in TV will tell you. Often, how you handle the disasters and recover will determine whether the impact is big or small.
RELATED:
#2
Watching 9/11 unfold live was unreal. Burned into my memory forever.
CBus-Eagle:
9/11 - watching thousands of people die on TV was so difficult to process emotionally. I felt like I was walking around in a semi-catatonic state for about a month trying to get my brain to fully process what those people went through. Whether on a plane or in one of the buildings. And those firefighters and police that rushed into the buildings….still gives me goosebumps thinking about it.
Scott Rackley 5 months ago (edited)
I was 30 and my mom, an electrician at a nuclear plant, called me to find out what the hell was going on. They were on lockdown. I turned on the TV just minutes after the first plane hit and was on the phone with her when the second hit. I remember telling her, "A lot of people are going to die because of this." I wasn't referring to the passengers or the people in the towers.
What many people don't realize is that "live TV" isn't always live. Often, there's a slight lag. "Seconds are often lost as broadcast signals are transferred and processed between stations, satellites, and other relays, creating unintentional lost time between the material and live viewing of it," explains Atlas Obscura's Director of Programming, Eric Grundhauser.
But that's not the only thing stopping you from viewing something in real time...
#3
The Challenger Explosion.
Fishmike52:
7th grade for me. We all gathered in the library to watch. They just sent us back to class. Nobody talked to us about it.
Just remember kids you can be anything you want when you grow up! You can even go to space!
Just another reason genx are the way we are.
ॐBoyGanesh 5 months ago
We watched it live in class because a teacher was aboard. It was so hard to comprehend & process at the time.
There's a 'trick' that's become known as the "seven-second delay." And this is more intentional than a lag. It buys the TV crew some crucial time to catch anything they think is inappropriate, indecent, or traumatic, before viewers see it. They can cut to a presenter, another scene, or even an ad break.
"Though intentional delay has come to be known as the 'seven-second delay,' the amount of time that the footage is held back is really up to the people at the controls," reveals Grundhauser.
Often, there will be someone in the control room, like an Executive Producer, who knows the station's editorial policy. They will give the command for the Director to drop the live. Other times, the Director will just do it.
But even with intentional and unintentional delays, some questionable and shocking scenes make it onto air...
#4
Trump bragging on live TV that he had the tallest building in New York right after the twin towers fell (like within an hour or two). I was blown away someone could be that twisted.
Regina Holt 5 months ago
tRump is the king of hyperbole. Everything of his is the best, biggest, smartest, most awesome. I cannot believe the sh!t that comes from his mouth.
#5
An attack on the US Capitol building, by American citizens.
fartharder:
Jan 6. I had CSPAN on because I was expecting nonsense on the floor. I sure got more than I bargained for.
#6
Recently, a grown man standing on the stage at a major political event doing a salute made famous by the Na**is and not getting any real blowback for it.
We mentioned editorial policies earlier. It's basically a set of guidelines that a broadcaster or media organization follows to minimize risks. The BBC's Live Output Guidelines explain that these risks can include "causing harm and offence; giving undue prominence to products, organisations or services; or creating legal problems."
The site notes that hard and fast rules to deal with individual incidents are not practical. And that's why there are guidelines in place to "deal with problems such as strong language, national & international emergencies, impartiality and product placement."
#7
OJ’s low speed chase.
Clusterf**kySh**show:
It was almost surreal - I remember thinking "Well, now we know he did it, else he wouldn't be running." We didn't watch the trial in school, but they called all the juniors and seniors into the auditorium to watch the verdict when it came down a year and a half later. That was pretty surreal, too.
Nikole 5 months ago (edited)
Ah I was going to say O.J.! I was a sophomore in high school and was in class when it was announced. We knew what the verdict was when some kid starting yelling “he’s free!” while running down a hallway. Most of us in the class exchanged exasperated and angry looks.
The BBC guidelines state that all live output should be monitored closely, especially those where things could go south.
"Editors should assess the risk of a problem arising in our live output," reads the site. "It is equally important to make this assessment for a local radio phone-in, a high profile event like a big music festival or sporting fixture, or breaking news story of a sensitive nature, for example, a siege."
As an example, the BBC says, "When reporting live from demonstrations, disturbances and riots, programme teams should cut away and record material for use in an edited report, if the level of violence or disorder becomes too graphic, or may install a delay." Like the “seven-second delay,” which we mentioned earlier.
#8
2011 Fukushima earthquake.
Me, my ex, and my mom were watching the 3am news on TV and they went live to the earthquake.
We watched as the tsunami rolled ashore, and it was so traumatizing watching the aerial of the wave coming in and people driving down the highway or walking not knowing how much danger was approaching.
We saw so many people die and get swept away. People trying to warn others, etc.
I never saw that footage/view after the original Livestream.
Lost Panda 5 months ago
I was in stationed in Northern Japan when this happened. This was probably the only time I felt like I actually did something in the military.
The guidelines add that sometimes events and sporting fixtures are the focus of protest, which occasionally turns violent and escalates into a riot situation. "Our main coverage should be the event itself, although where the protest has materially affected the running of the event, then it will normally be editorially justified to reflect this in our coverage," explains the site.
However, the BBC makes it clear that producers should try to avoid "inflaming the situation" and/or showing graphic scenes of violence, particularly in close-up.
#9
The tsunami that hit December 26, 2004, the unbridled power and destruction brought tears to my eyes, watching the people walking on the sea floor amazed, ignorant of the destruction boiling over the horizon was so terrifying.
ॐBoyGanesh 5 months ago (edited)
I had spent nearly 6 months in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia & Vietnam before heading to Tamil Nadu to visit family. The plan was to spend a month in India before meeting a friend in Colombo then time in Kandy. I never made it to Sri Lanka because of the instability of dealing with the aftermath. Also, we lost nearly 20,000 and it was chaos where I was in India. I made many friends in Thailand, especially where I was mainly based in Surat Thani. I know of the handful who were confirmed killed, but there are still dozens I’ve no idea what happened. I lost contact after the disaster & haven’t tracked them down. Two decades later and I have some amazing memories of people I’ve no idea if they survived.
#10
I was watching the news and they were filming the start of the Rodney King riot in LA. All of a sudden they panned to an area where we see Reginald Denny being pulled from his truck and severely beaten--shocking in and of itself, yet the general idea that someone is filming someone getting beaten and NO ONE is helping was mind boggling at that time. Now stuff like that is all over the internet, but not so in 1992. It really freaked me out at the time.
LakotaWolf (she/her) 5 months ago (edited)
I've lived in Southern California my entire life. I remember the 1992 Los Angeles riots very well - I live about 30 minutes away from LA. I was young enough that I couldn't understand why people hated each other over skin color - I was a white child who had been adopted into a Hispanic family, so my skin color was not the same as my family's. I knew racism existed and why it existed, and I'd been taught about the Hólócaust, but I still didn't understand how bad racism could actually be until seeing the coverage of the LA riots on TV. It was surreal.
When it comes to who calls the shots on what to take live and what to cut, the BBC advises that the person in charge should be someone who can react quickly, effectively, and with authority in the event of a problem. "They should have easy access to the senior production team and the presenter," it adds.
And what must that person do if or when something goes wrong? "In the event of a problem, they should be able to authorise a broadcast apology or use of the studio to pull away from a performance or contributor, should inappropriate strong language/ gestures, etc. occur unexpectedly."
#11
Gary Plauché k**ling Jeffrey Doucet in the Baton Rouge airport. Doucet was a child m**ester who had kidnapped and r***d Plauché's son.
MeowZedong 5 months ago
Didn't serve any jail time. Respect to the prosecutor for giving him that plea deal.
#12
I saw Oswald k**led on live TV. I was eight. I saw and heard the President of the United States say F**K on live TV this morning. I will be 70 in two weeks. So, in between, not so much.
Unhappy_Gate9739:
I saw it too at age 9. I was eating breakfast and I remember my father crying out, "Oh my God, he shot him!"
Michael Largey 5 months ago
You don't have to be a conspiracy theorist to believe that Oswald was "eliminated".
You might have seen before that normal television programming is sometimes cut in the event of big breaking news, a national or international disaster, or a state announcement. One minute, you're casually watching your favorite comedy, the next thing, the news appears.
What's happened here is that the station has deemed the event or announcement important enough to broadcast it live. Each organization has its own way of dealing with situations like this. But in the case of the BBC, it says, "When a live non-news programme finds itself covering a major incident or disaster, it will usually be appropriate to hand over to BBC News, although staff may be asked to continue operating cameras and directing."
In this case, those on duty are expected to follow a set of principles that are there to protect viewers who unexpectedly find themselves watching an unplanned broadcast...
#13
British comedian Tommy Cooper collapsing and dying on stage during a live broadcast.
The audience (and probably most of us at home) thought it was part of the act until they cut to a commercial.
For The Horde 5 months ago
I remember this. I was staying with my grandparents and we were all laughing so much. Tommy went the way any comedian would surely love to go <3
#14
The first thing I remember was the OKC b**bing. Seeing the aftermath and staying up to watch the search and rescue crews look for bodies.
Dawn Marie 5 months ago
Will someone please tell me why this one is not higher up on the list? 168 souls were lost that day, April 19, 1995, in which 11 of those were Children and 3 FBI agents. I lost my best friend and her young baby. True, you didn't probably see the bomb blow up the building, but you probably saw the aftermath. As long as we are in Oklahoma, May 3rd, 1999 an F5 tornado ripped through the middle of the state and their was total mass destruction, injuries and deaths.
And here are the BBC's guidelines for such live broadcasts:
Always report the facts and avoid speculation, source all information, take great care with language and how you frame things, ensure, as far as is reasonably practicable, that names of people who have died, been injured or are missing are not broadcast unless producers are satisfied that next of kin have been informed. Of course, this doesn't apply to prominent figures.
Reporters are also asked to "avoid putting people who are injured or grieving following an accident or disaster under pressure to provide interviews."
#15
The Bay Area earthquake footage of folks driving as bridges buckled and collapsed stayed with me a long long time. They replayed those folks driving into their death over and over. That was the worst.
Roberta Surprenant 5 months ago
Nobody drove off the bridges. The fatalities were from the double decker freeway collapsing on their cars. I slways hated driving on lower deck of that structure.
The BBC also tells staff to "balance the public interest in full and accurate reporting against the need to be compassionate and to avoid any unjustified infringement of privacy."
The site adds that it is rarely justified to broadcast scenes in which people are dying. "It is always important to respect the privacy and dignity of the dead."
#16
The president of the United States just said "f*ck" on national TV a few minutes ago. Does that count?
#17
When Danish footballer Christian Eriksen collapsed during a match, I was sitting eating my dinner and I looked up to see him on his back being given CPR by one of the physios. I genuinely thought I'd just seen someone die, but thankfully he made a full recovery and even continued his playing career. I didn't finish my dinner though.
#18
Tony Hawk landing the 900.
Dukes_Up:
I think this is the greatest example of perseverance ever caught on camera.
norm_190:
I was a kid and just finished a little league game and we all went out to eat as a team after the game. The restaurant had this on TV and we all saw it and went crazy. One of my core memories.
#19
For my parents it was the e*******n of the Ceaușescus... not shocking for them because they hated the dictatorship but if you think about it today it's kinda shocking to broadcast a public e*******n during christmas time xD.
#20
Remember they showed the Saddam Hussein hanging really vividly as a kid.
#23
A two year live streamed g**ocide in the Gaza Strip.
#24
The pizza driver with the bomb around his neck. Brian Wells.
Stephanie Did It 5 months ago
I kept thinking they wouldn't show it; that they'd cut away any moment. But they didn't. I couldn't believe they filmed it live.
#25
Nodar Kumaritashvili losing control of his sled and slamming into an unpadded concrete column at 100mph during the 2010 Olympics sticks out to me just based on how many replays of it were aired because “he didn’t die on impact”, and was pronounced dead at the hospital later so networks thought it would be fine to show. I’ve long held that “he didn’t die on impact” because of Olympic optics, and really they transported a corpse to the hospital. There is just no way that guy didn’t die almost instantly.
#26
I saw a news anchor get completely trashed on television while covering a parade live. She was slur singing along with the marching bands “baggy sweatpants…boots with the furrrrr” and hitting on her co-anchor “Bill…everyday I come into work with a sign that says Bill…you’re still a hottie” She was absolutely wasted and having the time of her life.
It was the single greatest bit of programming that I’ve ever seen and *how dare they* claim it was because of cough syrup. That woman was living her best life and I’ve never forgotten it.
Orion Red 5 months ago
I remember Anderson Cooper sent a reporter to Colorado when pot became legal. She went with a group that had rented a limo to take a tour of all the shops. They showed the taped segment, then cut to her live to discuss it... and she was buzzed. It was ac360, so they tortured her by keeping the interview going while people were giggling at the studio. So about how many miles did you travel today? whispered voice: ask her about the taxes...hehe
#27
The Bradford City football stadium fire in 1985. Pretty sure it was live as the images are seared in to my memory (if you’ll pardon the expression).
Tucker Cahooter 5 months ago
I remember the anguished voice of the commentator saying "Oh that poor man!" when the cameras cut to a man on fire
#28
Bud Dwyer blowing his head off in live tv.
#29
When I was around 8 or 10 years old (late 80s or early 90s), there was a civil war happening in my country of birth. A real nasty one with s*****e b*mbers popping off in public places. One tv in the house and 8pm was nightly news. Never missed it and the whole family would gather to watch it.
This is etched in my mind.
A policeman walks the cameraman to a newspaper on the ground and lifts it to show the severed head of the b*mber. It was shown on the news.
No one freaked out because we had seen worse IRL by that time.
#30
A man walked up to his wife at a grave site (of their daughter) and shot her in the back of the head while she was slumped over the headstone, grieving. It was live and they didn't cut away in time. I will never forget it. Used to have nightmares about it.
Additional info: the gravity site was the daughter who had committed s*****e, the dad blamed the mom. Tragic.
LakotaWolf (she/her) 5 months ago
Her name was Maritza Martin Munoz. Her daughter's name was Yoandra. Yoandra was 15 years old when she committed su!cide, after having found out that she was pregnant. We shall remember their names.
#31
My first memory of F1 is watching Senna die.
Cal Jones 2 months ago
The sad thing is another driver, Roland Ratzenburger, perished during the practise session at the same event. He tends to be forgotten due to Senna's fame and brilliance. Senna had been campaigning for more safety measures. The silver lining is that they were implemented after the accidents, though it was too late for him and Roland.
#32
In South Florida, there was a missing persons case of 2 young adults (19/20) who went out on a date, and disappeared. Had the whole community on edge, wondering what happened to them. The car was nowhere to be found, no trace of them.
They eventually found the car in a canal, and had live TV coverage of cops pulling the car out and investigating it. When they opened the back door, the chopper had a zoomed in view, and you could clearly see the girl's body in the back seat.
I've seen some stuff in my time, but that one shocked me for some reason.
Caroline Nagel 5 months ago
When people disappear while driving a car and there is a body of water nearby, that should be the first place to look. Cars with bodies in them are often found years if not decades later.
#33
I remember watching the news when the remains of victims were being removed from Jeffrey Dahmer's apartment.
I was quite young and didn't really fully understand that I wasn't actually in danger. I still have nightmares about it if I'm being honest.
#34
The deaths of Ayreton Senna and Roland Ratzenburger and in the middle of his act, Tommy Cooper.
#35
Was during the war in ex-yougoslavia, end of the 90’s. In France you could see on all the news channels a guy getting his head shot by a sniper. Almost no filters, I was really young and still remember it.
Geoffrey Scott 5 months ago
Not Gen X time, but the ecksekution of the guy on TV in the 60's in Vietnam by our allies.
#36
APS School attack Peshawar Pakistan, 16th Dec - 2014. S*****e bombers asked kids to gathered around him and then did blast. Continued for hours.
#37
When I was home from school in the 90s and watched Geraldo Rivera bring on a panel of K*K members and Black Panthers and they all got into a huge brawl (obviously) and Geraldo got his nose broken. Nothing will ever compare to 90s daytime talk shows.
#38
The North Hollywood bank shootout. I was home sick from school and it was late morning so nothing on tv but soaps and price is right. Then all of the sudden local news break and I’m watching the real life version of the movie Heat. The whole thing didn’t seem real.
#39
They never shown it, but Owen Hart falling to his death. I just remember the confusion as they wouldnt show the ring and JR is commentating on what's going on and what happened. And then to pronounce his death live was heartbreaking.
#40
Can’t say I saw it live on TV, only after the fact… I heard the Space Shuttle Columbia break apart over my house when I was little and our family lived in East Texas.
I was playing with a very specific toy at the time that my nieces and nephews still played with as I grew up, and the sound of it still gives me flashbacks to that day. We turned the TV and radio on so quickly because my dad thought it was a gas station explosion.
#41
Lee Rigby m**der - watching the journalist interviewing the killer on live tv with blood all over his hands was something.
Forrest Hobbs 5 months ago
More here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Lee_Rigby#Attack
#42
Zhou Guanyu's Formula 1 crash at Silverstone in 2022.
The live camera was at turn 2 pointing at turn 1 and you see the UPSIDE DOWN F1 car just careening from left to right across the screen.
I was like what the absolute hell was that!
They didn't cut to other cameras or the accident for 45min until they knew he was OK. As he flipped over the first barrier and slammed into the second.
Look it up, it's insane.
I also saw the Romain Grosjean crash in 2020 live when it burst into flames after hitting guard rail...
#43
That Kevin Ware leg injury. That was wild. Seeing his leg completely hanging on to skin and bone.
Erik Hedenskog 5 months ago
Dave Dreveky breaking his arm pitching after supposedly beating cancer. You could hear his arm break on national tv.
#44
Pursuit down here in Southern California and the dude domed himself live on TV with the helicopter zoomed in on him.
Sixtyninealldaychef:
Yep, was a kid when this happened. If I recall correctly, it was this incident that spawned a policy that camera crews working in helicopters have to stay zoomed out if it looks like something remotely violent might happen.
#45
Reporter and cameraman getting m******d live on air. Story.
LividMushroom1473:
I watched that live over breakfast with my mom. I was getting my braces put on that day and they kept replaying it in the waiting room. I truly think of Adam and Alison every day.
#46
Not much. I would say the fires here in Southern California. You don't see entire neighborhoods, miles and miles go up in flames and have no idea whether you're next, where to go, and what to do if all of a sudden your house, your job, your neighbors, and your kids schools go up in flames. Thankfully I wasn't affected but it was scary to sit there and watch...for days and all night. Just having the car packed and ready to bug out to god knows where not knowing if you'll ever return and be homeless and jobless overnight.
LakotaWolf (she/her) 5 months ago
I live about 30 miles south of the "worst" of the SoCal fire areas, so my city isn't usually in any imminent danger even during the worst of our wildfires. But we get ashfall and the skies are darkened by ash and soot and smoke, and it's very sobering to look up at it and know how badly the fires are raging just a 20-minute drive away.
#47
Well there was Columbine, 911, when Tyson hit of Holifields ear, ni**legate, Jessica in the well… that’s all I can think of.
#48
Joe Thiesman’s leg being broken, Clint Malarchuk’s throat being sliced open by a skate, Dave Dravecky’s arm breaking after throwing a pitch, the Challenger disaster and 9/11. I’ve seen quite a few shocking things on live tv.
Son of Philosoraptor 5 months ago
The sound that Thiesman's leg made! The entire stadium heard it.
#49
The meteorologists t**s. Her top had a strap snap right before switching over to her, she was on screen for like 2 seconds and it was burned into my 5 year old brain.
#50
The guy who shot himself after the car chase on Shepard Smith's news program. He was furious it made it to air and I've never seen him so apologetic.
#51
I want to throw in Damar Hamlin from the Buffalo Bills basically dying on live TV. I saw the play and thought nothing of it at all until he collapsed. Then saw all the players' faces and knew it was serious.
LakotaWolf (she/her) 5 months ago
Good news - he did not die! He recovered and is still playing football to this day.
#52
A news reporter was gunned down on live TV. I was watching it with my dad when it happened while waiting for the school bus, but wasn’t paying full attention so I disregarded it. I forgot about it until I years ago when I saw a video about live TV incidents.
#53
The most shocking thing for me was here in the UK. It was July 2010 and the fugitive Raoul Moat was on the run for going postal. On release from prison. He acquired a shotgun and killed his girlfriend and new partner with it. Then gone up to a police man in his car and shot him point blank in the face. So there had been a country wide man hunt for a week because he was an outdoors man and had gone ground in the countryside. It was already surreal because on that day the police had used the famous SAS trainer and TV survivalist, Ray Mears to help track him down. Ray had found a tent he'd been sleeping in. It was 10 pm at night and the police had Raoul Moat cornered with a shotgun in a river culvert in the northern town of Rothbury. I was watching it live on Sky TV. A banner came up on screen saying Breaking News. SKY then cut live to a completely blind drunk UK football national hero, Paul Gascoigne. Who has turned up to the incident in the town doing a live statement about how he"d brought a fishing rod and a bag of fish and chips. Gazza was slurring that Raoul Moat should give himself up and go fishing with him. My brain at the time just crashed. I could not take in what was happening at all. So that was the most shocking. Raoul Moat shot himself half an hour later. He became something of a folk hero in the UK which was weird because he killed two people and blinded the police man who killed himself a few years later. Turned out too that Gazza did know Moat a bit because Moat was a doorman in Newcastle in the days Gazza was in his prime playing days.
UKGrandad 5 months ago (edited)
Whoever wrote this one has it completely wrong. Gascoigne did not appear on live TV at the stand off with police, he had turned up in a taxi, drunk and coked-up, with a fishing rod, cans of beer and some KFC. He told the police that he was Moat's friend and if they let him through he'd take Moat fishing and talk him into giving up. The police turned him away. Gascoigne later said that he was so drunk and drúgged-up that he had no idea what he was doing, had no memory of it, and had never met Moat before. Also, Moat did not become 'something of a folk hero' at all.
#54
Brazil losing 7-1 in the world cup semi finals 2014. It was so painful to watch towards the end! My Argentine husband was loving every moment.
#55
Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars.
#57
The Janet Jackson nip slip during the Superbowl halftime show.
The Darkest Timeline 5 months ago
The worst part of this whole thing is how much Jackson was punished for it while everyone else pretty much got away with it
What do you think ?
James016 5 months ago
For us Londoners, next week is the 20th anniversary of the tube bombings. I am thankful I changed my commute a few weeks before as I could have been on the Edgware Road train at that time, which is a scary thought.
CPooh 5 months ago
Princess Diana’s death. I don’t care about the royals much but I’d stayed up late watching movies with a friend in Texas. It was maybe 3 in the morning when we switched back to TV. Weird to see it and realize almost no one else in our part of the world knew about it yet.
on second thought.... 5 months ago
What made the biggest impression on me over the years was a positive one: the release of Nelson Mandela from prison in 1990. I remember crying so hard while watching it on tv.
Robert Beveridge 5 months ago
Wait... how did I go through this entire list and not see the one burned forever into my brain, to the point I used it for an album cover in 2008? The helicopter fleeing Jonestown, a cameraman still filming, and the higher up they get, the greater the understanding of the scope... I was nine. They cut into Saturday morning cartoons with live footage. Pretty sure that traumatized a third of my generation (the third that were watching CBS that morning)...
MeowZedong 5 months ago
I didn't see this happen, it was before I was born. In 1974 a reporter named Christine Chubbuck killed herself on live TV. She said "In keeping with the WXLT practice of presenting the most immediate and complete reports of local blood and guts news, TV 40 presents what is believed to be a television first. In living color, an exclusive coverage of an attempted s*****e.” Then shot herself in the head. Surprised it didn't make the list.
Paul C. 5 months ago
Just to lighten the mood. I remember Sky News going to a pub, I can't recall where, to try to interview some regulars that had been "marooned" by floods in the pub. Cue the reporter being transported up the main street by boat to conduct an interview with the poor people. A few questions through the open window, then he asked "what are you eating" to which some bloke said "Oh we just climb out the back window and walk along to the Pizza House down the back road"........... It was only the main street that was flooded!
Ben Stubbs 5 months ago
Isn't it odd that the majority of these incidents occur and are repeatedly televised in America? A country where you can't say sh*t or bug**r, a country where topless bathing is considered sinful, yet produces most of the worlds pornography?
Alberto Alves 5 months ago
The Vietnamese Mahayana Buddhist monk who died by self-immolation at a busy Saigon road intersection on 11 June 1963
The Majestic Opossum 5 months ago (edited)
Wow, I can't believe some of these that are on here and not some of the most iconic/impacting deaths of the 90s (at least for me, an American child at the time): Dale Earnheardt - my dad was a huge NASCAR fan and when the ambulance drove away so slowly, we all knew he had died. My father cried... Steve Erwin - he was our favorite person to watch on television and we genuinely loved him. During the episode, the screen just cut out and we had no idea why until later that day the story broke. Lastly, princess Diana's car crash and death - my mother loved her so much and we watched the whole chase and crash. My mom refused to believe she had actually died.
Smeghead Tribble Down Under 5 months ago (edited)
A localised one, but the 1989 Newcastle earthquake. I was nine and not far from Newcastle (yes we definitely felt it, yes there was some minor damage) Once the electricity was restored and they got news crews on the road (local station, NBN) Seeing the Newcastle Workers' Club just pancaked on tv while rescue workers tried to dig people out, and all the other destroyed buildings around the city I knew even then like the back of my hand. Another local one, and in 1989 as well, the Grafton and Kempsey bus crashes. Many people killed, absolutely horrendous live news footage of the aftermaths. 35 people were killed in the Kempsey one; 21 in the Grafton crash. The worst was that the Kempsey one involved a coach from Newcastle, and because phone lines were still down due to the earthquake, nobody could make contact. There was a lot of worry for local people who were connected to the passengers; not knowing who had and hadn't survived. Pretty heavy stuff when you're nine. Also the Port Arthur mass shooting in 1996.
Bored Trash Panda 4 months ago (edited)
The Las Vegas shooting in 2017. I saw a bunch of videos on facebook of it. 58 killed and a ton more hurt. That was crazy. I have a lot of friends in Vegas that work on the strip so I was really worried. Also, Sandy Hook in 2012, Parkland High school in 2018, and Uvalde - Robb Elementary in 2022 just to name a few of the school shootings.
Huddo's sister 5 months ago
A couple of Australian ones- The Lindt Cafe siege in 2014; The pastor that was stabbed on the alter at his church 2023. One I didn't see live because I was only 2, the Port Arthur m******e.
Lee Gilliland 5 months ago
I guess I'm seriously old but they missed that Buddhist monk setting himself on fire in Vietnam and the Chicago Democratic Convention in 1968 weren't mentioned (the Chicago cops literally tortured protesters with traders for minutes at a time.
Roberta Surprenant 5 months ago
Amazing how many false memories have been posted, people claiming to have watched scenes that never happened.
Joanne Hudson 1 month ago
Hamas attack on Israel and the aftermath. People who were at the concert attacked.
Balázs Vízer 2 months ago
The assasination of Egyptian president Anwar Sadat was also televised, I remember seeing it,
Dirk Daring 5 months ago
Joe Theismann's leg break. That was brutal to watch. Also, the racehorse Barbaro throwing a shoe, causing a spiral fracture in his leg. Heartbreaking.
T'Mar of Vulcan 5 months ago
For South Africans, reading about FW unbanning the ANC and other organizations, and releasing Nelson Mandela. And how the crowed waited for hours for him to come and speak. It was honestly a euphoric time. A sea change for the country. (Things had already started changing in the late '80s, but this was a legal, formal change.) Only a month or two later, Madiba got sick and was in the Park Lane. My mother was in there for a mastectomy, and met him!
Sapna Sarfare 5 months ago
Two events in India... the 26/11 Mumbai attacks were horrifying.. It literally brought the whole nation to the standstill and the deaths were horrifying.. The recent Air India plane crash was devastating
Not-a-Clue (she/her) 5 months ago
The award for seeing something shocking unfold on live TV has to go to my then neighbour Nick. I was living in Tottenham in the 80s when there was a riot at Broadwater Farm (large estate of several blocks of flats.) He'd fallen asleep in front of the telly, when the mention of Tottenham from the live news report filtered into his consciousness, and woke him a bit. He then heard "Broadwater Farm" and perked up a bit more. As he was watching, he realised he recognised the building they were showing, looked out of his window and saw there were several cars on fire right outside. This was a HUGE event, which involved a policeman being m******d, and he found out about it off the news! He came into our flat next door after that & we sat through the rest of it together, later having riot police running past our door, and helicopters outside our window for most of the night. A terrible event, but funny how Nick found out about it.
Just a ray of f'ing sunshine 5 months ago
The assassination attempt of Ronald Reagan was another one. They all wanted to make sure we knew about James Brady being shot in the head. I know there were other tragedies that day, but that was the one they brought up most often.
Margaret Shannon 5 months ago
It’s strange. Somehow I missed all of that. Saw reruns of the events, of course. But never saw them live.
Roberta Surprenant 5 months ago
Before the end of sixth grade my classmates and I had experienced THREE assassinations of national figures. Our parents and grandparents experienced great depression and two world wars. Out ancestors dealt with civil war or revolution. Gen z or millennials aren't discovering anything new.
LakotaWolf (she/her) 5 months ago
I grew up in the era of Rotten.com - that's... pretty much all I have to say. :/
James016 5 months ago
For us Londoners, next week is the 20th anniversary of the tube bombings. I am thankful I changed my commute a few weeks before as I could have been on the Edgware Road train at that time, which is a scary thought.
CPooh 5 months ago
Princess Diana’s death. I don’t care about the royals much but I’d stayed up late watching movies with a friend in Texas. It was maybe 3 in the morning when we switched back to TV. Weird to see it and realize almost no one else in our part of the world knew about it yet.
on second thought.... 5 months ago
What made the biggest impression on me over the years was a positive one: the release of Nelson Mandela from prison in 1990. I remember crying so hard while watching it on tv.
Robert Beveridge 5 months ago
Wait... how did I go through this entire list and not see the one burned forever into my brain, to the point I used it for an album cover in 2008? The helicopter fleeing Jonestown, a cameraman still filming, and the higher up they get, the greater the understanding of the scope... I was nine. They cut into Saturday morning cartoons with live footage. Pretty sure that traumatized a third of my generation (the third that were watching CBS that morning)...
MeowZedong 5 months ago
I didn't see this happen, it was before I was born. In 1974 a reporter named Christine Chubbuck killed herself on live TV. She said "In keeping with the WXLT practice of presenting the most immediate and complete reports of local blood and guts news, TV 40 presents what is believed to be a television first. In living color, an exclusive coverage of an attempted s*****e.” Then shot herself in the head. Surprised it didn't make the list.
Paul C. 5 months ago
Just to lighten the mood. I remember Sky News going to a pub, I can't recall where, to try to interview some regulars that had been "marooned" by floods in the pub. Cue the reporter being transported up the main street by boat to conduct an interview with the poor people. A few questions through the open window, then he asked "what are you eating" to which some bloke said "Oh we just climb out the back window and walk along to the Pizza House down the back road"........... It was only the main street that was flooded!
Ben Stubbs 5 months ago
Isn't it odd that the majority of these incidents occur and are repeatedly televised in America? A country where you can't say sh*t or bug**r, a country where topless bathing is considered sinful, yet produces most of the worlds pornography?
Alberto Alves 5 months ago
The Vietnamese Mahayana Buddhist monk who died by self-immolation at a busy Saigon road intersection on 11 June 1963
The Majestic Opossum 5 months ago (edited)
Wow, I can't believe some of these that are on here and not some of the most iconic/impacting deaths of the 90s (at least for me, an American child at the time): Dale Earnheardt - my dad was a huge NASCAR fan and when the ambulance drove away so slowly, we all knew he had died. My father cried... Steve Erwin - he was our favorite person to watch on television and we genuinely loved him. During the episode, the screen just cut out and we had no idea why until later that day the story broke. Lastly, princess Diana's car crash and death - my mother loved her so much and we watched the whole chase and crash. My mom refused to believe she had actually died.
Smeghead Tribble Down Under 5 months ago (edited)
A localised one, but the 1989 Newcastle earthquake. I was nine and not far from Newcastle (yes we definitely felt it, yes there was some minor damage) Once the electricity was restored and they got news crews on the road (local station, NBN) Seeing the Newcastle Workers' Club just pancaked on tv while rescue workers tried to dig people out, and all the other destroyed buildings around the city I knew even then like the back of my hand. Another local one, and in 1989 as well, the Grafton and Kempsey bus crashes. Many people killed, absolutely horrendous live news footage of the aftermaths. 35 people were killed in the Kempsey one; 21 in the Grafton crash. The worst was that the Kempsey one involved a coach from Newcastle, and because phone lines were still down due to the earthquake, nobody could make contact. There was a lot of worry for local people who were connected to the passengers; not knowing who had and hadn't survived. Pretty heavy stuff when you're nine. Also the Port Arthur mass shooting in 1996.
Bored Trash Panda 4 months ago (edited)
The Las Vegas shooting in 2017. I saw a bunch of videos on facebook of it. 58 killed and a ton more hurt. That was crazy. I have a lot of friends in Vegas that work on the strip so I was really worried. Also, Sandy Hook in 2012, Parkland High school in 2018, and Uvalde - Robb Elementary in 2022 just to name a few of the school shootings.
Huddo's sister 5 months ago
A couple of Australian ones- The Lindt Cafe siege in 2014; The pastor that was stabbed on the alter at his church 2023. One I didn't see live because I was only 2, the Port Arthur m******e.
Lee Gilliland 5 months ago
I guess I'm seriously old but they missed that Buddhist monk setting himself on fire in Vietnam and the Chicago Democratic Convention in 1968 weren't mentioned (the Chicago cops literally tortured protesters with traders for minutes at a time.
Roberta Surprenant 5 months ago
Amazing how many false memories have been posted, people claiming to have watched scenes that never happened.
Joanne Hudson 1 month ago
Hamas attack on Israel and the aftermath. People who were at the concert attacked.
Balázs Vízer 2 months ago
The assasination of Egyptian president Anwar Sadat was also televised, I remember seeing it,
Dirk Daring 5 months ago
Joe Theismann's leg break. That was brutal to watch. Also, the racehorse Barbaro throwing a shoe, causing a spiral fracture in his leg. Heartbreaking.
T'Mar of Vulcan 5 months ago
For South Africans, reading about FW unbanning the ANC and other organizations, and releasing Nelson Mandela. And how the crowed waited for hours for him to come and speak. It was honestly a euphoric time. A sea change for the country. (Things had already started changing in the late '80s, but this was a legal, formal change.) Only a month or two later, Madiba got sick and was in the Park Lane. My mother was in there for a mastectomy, and met him!
Sapna Sarfare 5 months ago
Two events in India... the 26/11 Mumbai attacks were horrifying.. It literally brought the whole nation to the standstill and the deaths were horrifying.. The recent Air India plane crash was devastating
Not-a-Clue (she/her) 5 months ago
The award for seeing something shocking unfold on live TV has to go to my then neighbour Nick. I was living in Tottenham in the 80s when there was a riot at Broadwater Farm (large estate of several blocks of flats.) He'd fallen asleep in front of the telly, when the mention of Tottenham from the live news report filtered into his consciousness, and woke him a bit. He then heard "Broadwater Farm" and perked up a bit more. As he was watching, he realised he recognised the building they were showing, looked out of his window and saw there were several cars on fire right outside. This was a HUGE event, which involved a policeman being m******d, and he found out about it off the news! He came into our flat next door after that & we sat through the rest of it together, later having riot police running past our door, and helicopters outside our window for most of the night. A terrible event, but funny how Nick found out about it.
Just a ray of f'ing sunshine 5 months ago
The assassination attempt of Ronald Reagan was another one. They all wanted to make sure we knew about James Brady being shot in the head. I know there were other tragedies that day, but that was the one they brought up most often.
Margaret Shannon 5 months ago
It’s strange. Somehow I missed all of that. Saw reruns of the events, of course. But never saw them live.
Roberta Surprenant 5 months ago
Before the end of sixth grade my classmates and I had experienced THREE assassinations of national figures. Our parents and grandparents experienced great depression and two world wars. Out ancestors dealt with civil war or revolution. Gen z or millennials aren't discovering anything new.
LakotaWolf (she/her) 5 months ago
I grew up in the era of Rotten.com - that's... pretty much all I have to say. :/
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