Artie Lange's suicide attempt was never going to be a scoop for Howard 100 News, Howard Stern told Rosie O'Donnell on Thursday's Howard Stern Show-Rosie Radio crossover broadcast.
Stern said that his own personal news team had knowledge of Artie Lange's suicide attempt shortly after it happened, but decided to sit on the story out of respect for Lange's family.
"It was so startling," said Howard Stern. "And I said to the news department, and I rarely--maybe 2 or 3 times since we've been on the air have I ever made a request--for some reason I felt that this was such a private matter...We happened to hear about Artie's suicide attempt and it hadn't hit the paper and the family was trying to keep it quiet. They were desperate for some sort of peace, and I said I don't think we should go on the air with it"
The decision to muzzle Howard 100 News kept the Artie Lange suicide attempt under wraps for four days--unheard of in the age of ruthless internet bloggers and potential pay-offs from big name sources like TMZ. The New York Post's Page Six finally broke the story with graphic details about Lange's 9 self-inflicted abdominal stab wounds on the Thursday after the attempt. The Howard 100 News team began filing reports about the Artie Lange suicide attempt after the story went public.
Howard Stern added the "Howard 100 News Team" to the cast of the Howard Stern Show when the band of gypsies moved to Sirius XM in 2006. The team of reporters covers any and all news related to the Howard Stern Show. Recent Howard 100 News stories have focused on allegations that Jay Leno and his writers are regularly stealing material from the Howard Stern Show and rumors of a new romance for Howard Stern Show co-host Robin Quivers.
Stern, who has made a career out of telling the truth when others were afraid to, couldn't bring himself to shine a light on Artie Lange's wounds."It was so sensitive and Artie is such a good friend and Artie is such a dear sweet guy and I hope he's okay," Stern told Rosie O'Donnell.
Artie Lange is currently receiving treatment at an unnamed 'facility,' and whether he will ever return to the Howard Stern Show remains uncertain.
Listen to a clip from the Artie Lange discussion below
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Comments
It IS pretty amazing that a story could be kept quiet for four days.
Wow, you type a quote from a broadcast media show transcript, and call it a story... This is "Journalism" ???
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