WNYW, the Fox-owned station in New York, is being criticized for streaming ariel video of a man attempting to jump off a New York City bridge Wednesday morning.
The station sent a helicopter over the scene and aired the footage live on Facebook, according to the Huffington Post.
Fox 5 broadcast the scene live on its Facebook page as police tried to talk the man down. At least 60,000 people watched, sending thumbs-up and laughing emojis streaming across the bottom of the video; some commenters suggested the man should just go ahead and jump.
AdvertisementHe didn’t. The man voluntarily climbed back onto the bridge and was taken into police custody hours after Fox 5 ended its livestream, according to several local media reports.
The report says halfway through its livestream Fox 5 pinned a comment to its Facebook video that included the number of a suicide hotline.
The video has since been deleted from the station’s Facebook page. Suicide experts are calling the move irresponsible.
TVSpy reached out to a FOX 5 spokesperson for comment. We will update once we hear back.