What media moment has shocked you the most?

[GlassLightShade]

Just wondering what media moment has stuck with you or genuinely shocked you the most?
Mine was watching Jade Goody, a 27-year-old mum of two, being told she had cancer on television. I still remember it vividly — it felt so raw and personal. I couldn’t believe they aired something so heartbreaking, and it’s always stayed with me. Though I must have watched it on the news as I believe it was the Indian Big Brother?
What about you? Was there a news story, reality show moment, interview, or anything else that really shook you?

Waiting for the Queens death to be announced on tv - i swear I saw the exact moment that thr itv news reader found out

9/11 and then watching all the world grind into tortoise mode with the COVID outbreak.

Obviously there are other distinct and memorable moments but they seem like the sliding doors moments when the world changed.

Tommy Cooper having a heart attack on live TV - I think it was the Royal variety performance? I cant actually remember much of it - but remember it happening and my parents wondering what had gone wrong.
I'll never erase the image of people jumping/falling out of the Twin Towers live on TV. I do think somethings do not need to be seen - and thats one of them TV producers and reporters have no boundaries since then.

Edited to add - the drama series about Chernobyl. I remember it happening in 1986 (??) but seeing the story behind it all was so shocking - seeing the Russian authorities just send men to their deaths trying to sweep the debris off the roof and all the covering up i realised they'd put millions of lives at risk.

There were rumours about her being unwell, especially following the photos published of her with Liz Truss.

In the staffroom, my colleagues and I were discussing it and how we believed that she didn’t have much time left etc.

I was shocked to hear that she had died, however, despite knowing she was so unwell.

Yeah i agree with you that that speech shouldn't be celebrated and weight shaming is awful

BUT

On that same series, Gemma BULLIED Stephanie something, from hollyoaks. Really bullied her, said that her vagina smells and all sorts

So 🤷‍♀️

Yes. It was called Big Boss. The magazines and papers near the end pretty much did a countdown til her death. It was awful 😔

There's a bit of a theme with shite politicians meeting queens/popes before they die

It felt weird, her dying. I'm not a royalist but I really felt it

Dunblane, 9/11, grenfell, beginning of Iraq war 2003, going into lockdown

Lots already mentioned but the Piper Alpha disaster, can still remember the noise of the choppers coming in, was awful

That's made me cry and I never cry!!

The school in Belsen with the terrorist siege. It was live streamed on tv and I remember watching for hours, then the explosion (?) and some girl came out a window and the climbed back inside.

Also, the protests in Tiananmen Square,

Oh and Bill Clinton insisting, "I did not have sex with that woman" 🙄

9/11. I was in year 8. I felt like that day I realised that all outside of my bubble was not okay and the world was actually dangerous. It was profound

@its2025 they also didn't cancel any of the massive May day parades. My parents remember when they all found out later they were basking in the cloud...

Also IRRC more girl than boys were born at certain areas some period following that.

Apart from many of the others mentioned here, the Moscow theatre siege sticks out in my mind. I remember seeing the footage on Sky News of the theatre and then hearing that the police had pumped sleeping gas inside, accidentally killing several of the hostages.
I also vividly remember seeing the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the Boxing Day tsunami and being stunned by the level of destruction.

I read an interesting (and very well researched) book that touched on that recently. It stated fairly confidently that there were signs the entire siege was set up by Putin and chums. Really grim.

The book is Putin's People. It's a fairly dense text but very well researched and eye opening in places.

Being from NI gotta be the Enniskillen Remembrance Day bomb. I was only 12 and the unbelief that such a thing could happen. And then the fear. Omagh bomb too 😢

Oh thank you for the recommendation, I will definitely be reading that. I went down a bit of a rabbit hole a while ago and remember reading something about the 1999 apartment bombings in Russia and there were similar allegations, so that wouldn't surprise me at all unfortunately. The theatre one always stuck in my mind because there seemed to be a spate of attacks like the school siege all around the same time, and the sheer amount of people killed was so horrifying.

Reading the headline about Paul Ross and dogging

i always knew he’d get round to making me laugh one day.

The Omagh bombing was one of the first news events I really remember, my mum was crying when they discussed one of the victims who had been pregnant with twins. Just horrific. I'm ashamed to admit I'd never heard of the Enniskillen bomb but I've just googled it and it's equally as terrible, it seemed to have mainly killed the elderly which is just heartbreaking. It must have been so scary for you to have been a little 12 year old and living in NI at the time.

Yes, this book covers the apartment bombings too and concludes it's highly likely they were KGB linked too

Hillsborough is mine too. I was 7 and I remember coming downstairs and seeing it unfold on TV. It was traumatic but it led to a lifelong connection with the disaster. I’ve read, watched, listened to everything that’s out there on it and I still cannot believe that this happened due to police incompetence. Not to mention the huge cover up.

And also, 9/11. Such a catastrophic moment. I’ve been to Ground Zero twice and it was extremely poignant.

Kinga and the wine bottle

I live in Enniskillen. It's still talked about alot. And being close to Omagh, I still hate being up the street where it happened