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I suspect someone sold them the altered footage and they rushed to get it on the air. Either for a financial benefit, or to specifically get them to air falsifi

I suspect someone sold them the altered footage and they rushed to get it on the air. Either for a financial benefit, or to specifically get them to air falsified footage. (Project Veritas?) Responsibility still lies with ABC to verify.

Rebelgecko 7y ago
It's a shitty situation, I doubt ABC knew it was footage from the US. But how do you verify that a random video clip, filmed at night, actually took place in Syria (assuming the crowds were cropped out before they saw it, otherwise its fairly obvious)
- greenyoda 7y ago
  You can start by asking the source who they are, who they work for, how they came to be in Syria, etc. Then try to confirm that information independently. That's what journalists are supposedly trained to do. If the source can't be corroborated, don't use the video. (Just like a journalist wouldn't attribute a quote to someone if it couldn't be verified.) Any reputable news organization would have a fact-checking department that does this kind of stuff.
- catalogia 7y ago
  I might be treading on thin ice here, but more cultural diversity at ABC could have prevented this. The Knob Creek machine gun shoot is kind of famous in gun-enthusiast circles. With the number of machine guns being shot and the number of hollywood style gasoline explosions going off, I do think I would have recognized the source of this video if it were presented to me without context. There are many videos of this event from different years and from different spectators, but they all generally look about the same; tons of tracers and tons of gasoline fireballs. I am not a combat veteran so the following is speculative, but I suspect the footage may look suspect to combat veterans as well. Big orange fireballs like that are from milk jugs of gasoline, not high explosives. That sort of thing is done for visual effect, not lethal effect. Certainly vehicle fuel will catch fire on battlefields, but I can't help but suspect the video would look "off" to a combat veteran.
IfOnlyYouKnew 7y ago
TV news stations will almost never pay for just anybody's footage. At the very least, they will work with locals that have some track record. They might sometimes take youtube footage, foreign broadcasts, or material provided to them by parties to the conflict. But those tend to carry prominent labels and aren't paid for.
- canadacorner 7y ago
  This is not true. If you have newsworthy footage, they'll pay. The problem is that you're usually not the only one with the footage, and a lot of people like to see their name on the news!

Rebelgecko 7y ago

It's a shitty situation, I doubt ABC knew it was footage from the US. But how do you verify that a random video clip, filmed at night, actually took place in Syria (assuming the crowds were cropped out before they saw it, otherwise its fairly obvious)

greenyoda 7y ago
You can start by asking the source who they are, who they work for, how they came to be in Syria, etc. Then try to confirm that information independently. That's what journalists are supposedly trained to do. If the source can't be corroborated, don't use the video. (Just like a journalist wouldn't attribute a quote to someone if it couldn't be verified.) Any reputable news organization would have a fact-checking department that does this kind of stuff.
catalogia 7y ago
I might be treading on thin ice here, but more cultural diversity at ABC could have prevented this. The Knob Creek machine gun shoot is kind of famous in gun-enthusiast circles. With the number of machine guns being shot and the number of hollywood style gasoline explosions going off, I do think I would have recognized the source of this video if it were presented to me without context. There are many videos of this event from different years and from different spectators, but they all generally look about the same; tons of tracers and tons of gasoline fireballs. I am not a combat veteran so the following is speculative, but I suspect the footage may look suspect to combat veterans as well. Big orange fireballs like that are from milk jugs of gasoline, not high explosives. That sort of thing is done for visual effect, not lethal effect. Certainly vehicle fuel will catch fire on battlefields, but I can't help but suspect the video would look "off" to a combat veteran.

IfOnlyYouKnew 7y ago

TV news stations will almost never pay for just anybody's footage. At the very least, they will work with locals that have some track record. They might sometimes take youtube footage, foreign broadcasts, or material provided to them by parties to the conflict. But those tend to carry prominent labels and aren't paid for.

canadacorner 7y ago
This is not true. If you have newsworthy footage, they'll pay. The problem is that you're usually not the only one with the footage, and a lot of people like to see their name on the news!