NEW YORK — Video cameras stationed outside the Manhattan courthouse where former President Donald Trump is on trial captured the gruesome scene Friday of a man setting himself on fire and the aftermath. that the authorities were trying to save him.
CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC were all on air with reporters speaking from the jury box when the incident occurred and other news organizations, including the Associated Press, were broadcasting live from the exterior of the courthouse. The man, who distributed leaflets before dousing himself with an accelerant and setting himself on fire, was in critical condition.
The incident tested how quickly networks could respond and how they decided what would be too disturbing for their viewers to see.
With the narration of Laura Coates, CNN had the widest view of the scene. Coates, who initially incorrectly said it was a shooting situation, later said the man was visible on screen, enveloped in flames.
“You can smell burning flesh,” said Coates, CNN’s anchor and chief legal analyst, as she stood at the scene with reporter Evan Perez.
The camera alternated between Coates and what was happening in the park. Five minutes after the incident began, CNN displayed the on-screen message “Warning: Graphic Content.”
Coates later said she could not “overestimate the emotional response of watching a human being engulfed in flames and seeing his body being lifted into a stretcher.” She described it as an “emotional and incredibly disturbing moment here”.
Fox cameras briefly filmed the scene as reporter Eric Shawn spoke, then the network cut to a sketch of Trump undergoing trial.
“We deeply apologize for what happened,” Shawn said.
On MSNBC, journalist Yasmin Vossoughian recounted the scene. The channel showed smoke in the park, but no images showing the body.
“I could see the outline of his body inside the flames,” Vossoughian said, “which was so terrifying to see. As he fell to the ground, his knees hit the ground first.
The AP had a camera with an unannounced live feed stationed outside the courthouse, broadcast on YouTube and APNews.com. Cameras captured an extensive view, with the man lighting himself and then writhing on the ground before a police officer attempted to put out the flames with a jacket.
The AP later removed its live stream from its YouTube channel and replaced it with a new one due to the graphic nature of the content.
The news organization distributed carefully edited clips to its video clients — not showing the moment the man burst into flames, for example, said executive producer Tom Williams.
Julien Gorbach, an associate professor of journalism at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, said news organizations don’t face a big dilemma over whether or not to show the images because the public doesn’t had little to gain from seeing images of a man bursting into flames. .
The episode highlights how quickly information travels and the importance of critical thinking, Gorbach said.
“This is beyond our ability to a) sort through the facts and b) do the kind of methodical, critical thinking we need to understand the truth about the true nature of this incident,” Gorbach said.
The location of the incident may have led some to believe that the self-immolation was related to the trial.
Gorbach, who was listening to MSNBC on satellite radio when it happened, said the media coverage he heard carefully cast doubt on whether there was any connection to the trial. This also raises the possibility that the man wanted to attract media attention.
News organizations cannot suppress information simply to avoid disturbing the public, he said. Either way, word would spread when non-journalists posted accounts online.
“So it’s really a test for us as a public,” he said.
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Associated Press writer Audrey McAvoy contributed from Honolulu.
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