We now break into our regular programming.......
The following is a chapter from a project I'm working on. As today is the 20th anniversary.......here 'tis.
"Don't Don't.....this thing will hurt someone....."
January 22, 1987 was an extremely snowy day in Western Pennsylvania. I was twelve years old, seventh grade, and school had been dismissed early because a blizzard was approaching. As we children waited for our schoolbuses to arrive, the teachers turned the classroom TVs to local news, expecting something like a civics lesson for the students. Today, the Pennsylvania State Treasurer was holding a press conference, in which he would "provide an update" on his legal situation. He had been convicted of accepting a bribe in exchange for granting a government work contract. He was sentenced to fifty-five years in prison, plus a $300,000 fine. He vehemently insisted upon his innocence. His name was Budd Dwyer.
At this point, you likely know the story. Budd Dwyer committed suicide live on television. He pulled a .357 Magnum from a manilla envelope, and swallowed it. Brains and blood shot from the back of his head and poured out his nose. Then he slumped to the floor, D.O.A. while the cameras were rolling.
"Please leave the room if this will offend you."
But we weren't going anywhere: a captive audience of schoolchildren, waiting for the buses to take us home.
I don't remember how my twelve-year old brain processed the experience. I remember hearing the people on TV screaming. And I remember the color red: brains and blood, I suppose. I remember the classroom like a South Park scene, where the students are uniformly wide-eyed and silent with disbelief. After all, we had just watched a man kill himself.
"All right.....don't panic, please don't panic.....dear God in heaven!"
Budd Dwyer's public suicide immediately set a precedent for media ethics. Five local TV news outlets had captured the suicide on tape; some kept rolling even after the fatal shot, despite the entreaty of a frantic Dwyer aide to stop their cameras. The question was raised whether the psychological effect of the footage should outweigh the newsworthy elements of a story. Ultimately, local news broadcasts differed in their opinion, and therefore their actions. While several stations edited the actual suicide from their footage, WPXI Pittsburgh chose to re-air the footage in its entirety - brains, blood, and all. WPVI Philadelphia also rebroadcast the complete footage. In fact, it is the WPVI footage that appeared in the video series "Faces of Death," and later became the video which now circulates on the internet.
The Budd Dwyer suicide also changed the Associated Press photography protocol. In 1987, the AP was still using black and white film to cover most news events, because black and white was cheaper and easier to reproduce than color film. However, when the Budd Dwyer story broke, the AP received somewhat morbid requests for color reproductions of the suicide. Because of Budd Dwyer, the AP soon switched to using color film for all media events.
Finally, the Budd Dwyer suicide changed the practice of showing live television in public schools. Again, the psychological impact of witnessing violence was cited, specifically the effect upon school-age children. Nevertheless, the effect was likely the same for all of us: desensitization.
HEY MAN, NICE SHOT
The schoolbuses arrived through the snow. As we lined up outside, I remember a girl began chanting, "Budd Dwyer's dead, he got shot in the head." Her rhyme has resounded in my head for twenty years, because it expressed an unfathomable experience quite simply: "Budd Dwyer's dead, he got shot in the head."
The story of Budd Dwyer is folklore now. The bootlegged WPVI video is a real-life gore classic, the benchmark in gross. Songs have been recorded about Dwyer, reinforcing his legend. And as his legacy, Budd Dwyer still represents the ultimate in anti-social behaviour. Who would have imagined a former Pennsylvania State Treasurer would exist as a cult hero?
Twenty years since I first and last saw the Dwyer suicide, I watched the footage online. My first surprise was how quickly it happens. My second surprise was that I didn't care. Budd Dwyer was so long ago.
* * *
The following is a chapter from a project I'm working on. As today is the 20th anniversary.......here 'tis.
"Don't Don't.....this thing will hurt someone....."
January 22, 1987 was an extremely snowy day in Western Pennsylvania. I was twelve years old, seventh grade, and school had been dismissed early because a blizzard was approaching. As we children waited for our schoolbuses to arrive, the teachers turned the classroom TVs to local news, expecting something like a civics lesson for the students. Today, the Pennsylvania State Treasurer was holding a press conference, in which he would "provide an update" on his legal situation. He had been convicted of accepting a bribe in exchange for granting a government work contract. He was sentenced to fifty-five years in prison, plus a $300,000 fine. He vehemently insisted upon his innocence. His name was Budd Dwyer.
At this point, you likely know the story. Budd Dwyer committed suicide live on television. He pulled a .357 Magnum from a manilla envelope, and swallowed it. Brains and blood shot from the back of his head and poured out his nose. Then he slumped to the floor, D.O.A. while the cameras were rolling.
"Please leave the room if this will offend you."
But we weren't going anywhere: a captive audience of schoolchildren, waiting for the buses to take us home.
I don't remember how my twelve-year old brain processed the experience. I remember hearing the people on TV screaming. And I remember the color red: brains and blood, I suppose. I remember the classroom like a South Park scene, where the students are uniformly wide-eyed and silent with disbelief. After all, we had just watched a man kill himself.
"All right.....don't panic, please don't panic.....dear God in heaven!"
Budd Dwyer's public suicide immediately set a precedent for media ethics. Five local TV news outlets had captured the suicide on tape; some kept rolling even after the fatal shot, despite the entreaty of a frantic Dwyer aide to stop their cameras. The question was raised whether the psychological effect of the footage should outweigh the newsworthy elements of a story. Ultimately, local news broadcasts differed in their opinion, and therefore their actions. While several stations edited the actual suicide from their footage, WPXI Pittsburgh chose to re-air the footage in its entirety - brains, blood, and all. WPVI Philadelphia also rebroadcast the complete footage. In fact, it is the WPVI footage that appeared in the video series "Faces of Death," and later became the video which now circulates on the internet.
The Budd Dwyer suicide also changed the Associated Press photography protocol. In 1987, the AP was still using black and white film to cover most news events, because black and white was cheaper and easier to reproduce than color film. However, when the Budd Dwyer story broke, the AP received somewhat morbid requests for color reproductions of the suicide. Because of Budd Dwyer, the AP soon switched to using color film for all media events.
Finally, the Budd Dwyer suicide changed the practice of showing live television in public schools. Again, the psychological impact of witnessing violence was cited, specifically the effect upon school-age children. Nevertheless, the effect was likely the same for all of us: desensitization.
HEY MAN, NICE SHOT
The schoolbuses arrived through the snow. As we lined up outside, I remember a girl began chanting, "Budd Dwyer's dead, he got shot in the head." Her rhyme has resounded in my head for twenty years, because it expressed an unfathomable experience quite simply: "Budd Dwyer's dead, he got shot in the head."
The story of Budd Dwyer is folklore now. The bootlegged WPVI video is a real-life gore classic, the benchmark in gross. Songs have been recorded about Dwyer, reinforcing his legend. And as his legacy, Budd Dwyer still represents the ultimate in anti-social behaviour. Who would have imagined a former Pennsylvania State Treasurer would exist as a cult hero?
Twenty years since I first and last saw the Dwyer suicide, I watched the footage online. My first surprise was how quickly it happens. My second surprise was that I didn't care. Budd Dwyer was so long ago.
* * *
VIEW 11 of 11 COMMENTS
channel 6 in WPVI had the best shot...heh.... the cameraman.... John Sanks.... he went with the flow. the last time i spoke with him.... shit... 15 yrs ago... he said he thinks about "that motherfucker" alot...and thinks he was a complete selfish asshole to do that.
it's a Pennslyvania thing.... the isolation of the state makes for a breeding ground of know it alls and in Dwyer's words.."modern day versions of Job" .
honestly... my ols pals in Harrisburg went thru a ton of torture in october with this Amish schoolhouse debacle...that was far worse... but to Budd's credit... he still stands alone... cos it was "caught on tape"