45 Of The Most Shocking And Absolutely Horrific Moments Captured On Live TV

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.

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...

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...

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."

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.

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.

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."

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...

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."

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."