The police shooting of a 12-year-old boy has become a massive story in Cleveland, and on Wednesday, police released for the first time audio of 9-1-1 calls and video that captures the shooting itself. Cleveland NBC affiliate WKYC promised viewers it would carry the video live, both streaming on the web and on air. Ultimately, the station dropped out of live coverage of the video–not because it showed a child shot and killed, but because of the language that can be heard. “Because of the profanity that is on the tapes, we are going to now take you back to ‘Days of Our Lives’,” said an anchor as the station returned to programming.
Viewers commented on Facebook about the decision, with one writing “so you are censoring it because of profanity??? It is profane that this child was murdered.”