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Ofcom has ruled that ITV misled viewers last September when it broadcast a documentary which mistakenly used footage from the video game ArmA 2 and claimed it to be real footage from a 1988 IRA film.
26 people complained to the regulator about the program, Exposure: Gaddafi and the IRA. During the documentary footage labelled “IRA Film 1988” was shown, described by the narrator as film shot by the IRA of an attempt to shoot down a British Army helicopter in June 1988. The footage was actually cammed action from Bohemia Interactive’s ArmA 2 game.
ITV said footage of a genuine incident included in an episode of The Cook Report was intended to be used, but the video game footage had “regrettably” made it into the final program.
Ofcom believes there were “significant and easily identifiable differences” between The Cook Report footage and the footage taken from Arma 2 and was therefore “very surprised that the programme makers believed the footage of the helicopter attack was authentic”.
“We take into account that ITV: apologised; removed the programme from its catch-up video-on-demand service; and has now put in place various changes to its compliance procedures to ensure such incidents do not happen in future,” Ofcom said.
“However, the viewers of this serious current affairs programme were misled as to the nature of the material they were watching.”
ITV has since gone on to mislead viewers by marketing the Christmas special of Downton Abbey as two hours of entertainment.
Via BBC
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