January 30, 2011

Video: Chinese Broadcaster CCTV Tries to Pass Off ‘Top Gun’ Clip as Military Drill? - China Real Time Report - WSJ

China Real Time Report: Beijing has lately stepped up its campaign against the country’s “fake news” scourge, with the General Administration of Press and Publications putting pressure on news organizations to dismiss journalists suspected of doctoring their stories. Ironically, the latest example of alleged news fakery comes from China’s own state broadcaster, CCTV.

In a development that could further inflame Hollywood’s frustrations with unauthorized reproduction of its intellectual property in China, Chinese netizens are accusing CCTV of repurposing footage from the movie “Top Gun” for use in a news story about an air force training exercise.

As noted yesterday by the blog Ministry of Tofu, the alleged IPR violation, spotted by Internet user “Liu Yi,” took place during a November 23rd evening news broadcast. CCTV has removed the clip in question from its website, but a copy of the broadcast posted on Chinese video sites does reveal some striking similarities.