Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Network investigated for claiming video game footage was terrorism

This above footage captured by the IRA in 1988 proves that ... wait, you say this isn't real, honest-to-goodness terrorism in action? Well, THAT'S embarrassing.a

By Winda Benedetti

A British media regulation organization has launched an investigation into a TV network that aired a documentary program that claimed to show footage of terrorists blowing up a helicopter — but actually showed footage from a video game.a

The independent regulatory organization — Ofcom — announced Monday that it is investigating the UK TV network ITV for its program "Exposure: Gaddafi and the IRA," which aired Sept. 26.a

The program, which explored the connection between the IRA terrorist organization and Libya's Colonel Moammar Gadhafi, showed footage allegedly captured by the IRA in 1988 in which the militants use Gadhafi-supplied heavy machine guns to shoot down a helicopter.a

But gamers spotted that footage for what it was: A segment from the military shooting game "ArmA 2." ITV has since removed the program from its online site, though, of course, YouTubers have made sure we can continue to get a look at the flub here:a

According to British newspaper The Guardian, Ofcom announced Monday that it will be launching an investigation to see whether the incident — which ITV chalked up to "human error" — constitutes a breach of the Broadcasting Code. Ofcom regulates the UK TV and radio sectors as well as telecommunication and mobile industries.a

ITV has apologized and said the events in the program — which was to be the first in a new hard-hitting and investigative series — were real. However, during the editing process the producers accidentally used the game footage rather than the correct clip, ITV said.a

If that seems hard to believe, note that there is this fan-made YouTube clip that claims the game footage is real IRA footage and may have been the source of confusion. Though, even if it was a simple mistake, the question remains: Why were these investigative documentarians turning to YouTube for their footage?a

Needless to say, the denizens of YouTube have since had some fun at ITV's expense:a

For more video game news, check out:a

Documentary mistakes video game for real terrorism 'FarmVille: The Movie' might happen ... no really You can play 'Mass Effect 3' with your friends

Winda Benedetti writes about games for msnbc.com. You can follow her tweets about games and other things here on Twitter or join her in the stream here on Google+.  And be sure to check out the In-Game Facebook page here.a

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