nerualc:

Daniele Alves Lopes was a Brazilian teenager who jumped to her death from an office building in Sao Paulo’s central business district. She was 16 years old. 

The suicide was filmed in its completion by a Brazilian news show, Aqui Agora (Here Now) and shown on the SBT network. This broadcast led to skyrocketing ratings, and a national conversation about the sensationalized, violent and amoral nature of that news show.

On July 5, 1993, Daniele Lopes, despondent from a recent romantic break up, climbed out on a 7th story parapet of an office building where she worked as a receptionist. While contemplating her fate, police and a news crew arrived and started filming. The events were filmed right until after the girl jumped, but the scene was cut before she reached the ground.

When the spontaneous and unedited footage was shown on Brazilian national television, it caused a huge spike in ratings. Lopes’ youth and broken heart may have romanticized and contributed to the interest in the incident.

The Brazilian psychiatrist Jacob Pinheiro Goldberg was a prominent critical voice of the broadcast, stating it may cause a societal desensitization effect, and psychoanalyst Jurandir Freire Costa referred to the media as vultures. Other communications experts were also critical.

In 1994, the Alves Lopes family reached a 1.05 million dollar settlement with SBT network for moral damage.