ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times

DATE: Friday, January 17, 1997               TAG: 9701170065
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL   PAGE: A-2  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: NEW YORK

CNN APOLOGIZES FOR GRAPHIC FOOTAGE

CNN apologized Thursday for airing footage of Bill Cosby's dead son lying in a pool of blood.

The footage, taken from a helicopter by KTLA-TV, showed a Mercedes, its emergency lights still blinking, by the side of a Los Angeles freeway. The camera then moved in to a close-up of the body of 27-year-old Ennis William Cosby, who died of a single gunshot wound.

After the footage aired at 2:02 p.m., there was an ``immediate negative reaction'' from CNN staff in the Atlanta newsroom and hundreds of calls of protests from the public, CNN spokesman Steve Haworth said.

When CNN anchorwoman Bobbie Battista came on the air from a commercial break at 2:28 p.m., she said: ``There was some tape that aired that showed a closeup of Ennis Cosby, and it was inappropriate to air that. We apologize for that, and to his family as well.''

Mike Klein, CNN's supervising producer, ordered the apology, Haworth said.

- Associated Press

LENGTH: Short :   29 lines