While the independent and alternative media (including Global Research) are accused of publishing “fake news”, the routine publication of  “fake news” by the corporate media is invariably overlooked. 

While those who criticize the mainstream media are tagged as “conspiracy theorists”, the evidence amply confirms that the corporate media is involved in the publication of “fake images” and “fake video footage.”

And now the European Union is contemplating the adoption of laws which criminalize “fake news”: 

“Is criminalizing fake news the way forward? German lawmakers have called for legal action against the production and distribution of fake news. But digital rights groups warned of the harrowing effects it could have online, including censorship.” (Deutsche Welle, December 14, 2016)

This proposed legal action is largely intended to “go after” the independent online media and social media which is challenging mainstream media reports. 

In this article we will focus on the news coverage pertaining to a selection of important events including the March 2016 Brussels terror attacks in which fake videos and/or fake images were used by the corporate media with a view to deliberately misleading public opinion. 

1. The Brussels Terrorist Attacks, March 2016

The First Fake Surveillance Video Footage at Brussels Airport

The Second Fake Surveillance Video at Brussels Maelbeek Metro Station 

The terror attack in the afternoon of March 22 at Brussels Maelbeek Metro station was reported by mainstream media including CNN.

In these reports, video footage from a 2011 terror attack in Minsk, Belarus was used by network TV and online media to describe what was happening in the metro station at the time of the attacks.

Comparisons: Brussels, 22 March 2016 versus Minsk, 11 April 2011. Same video footage

Here is a screenshot of  video footage broadcast on network TV and on the internet depicting the explosion in the Metro in Brussels, March 22, 2016

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Here is the alleged video footage of the CCTV surveillance camera, Brussel Maelbeek Metro Station.  The CC surveillance camera is under control of the Metro security authorities.

 

Now Compare the above to the screenshot of  the Minsk April 2011 attacks followed by full-length video.

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 Full video of the Minsk Attack

 

The Mainstream media’s response

According to the Independent:

CCTV footage that was shared after the Brussels attacks, believed to show video from inside Maelbeek Metro station, has been proven fake.

As news emerged of the third explosion in the Belgian capital, which targeted the station situated near EU offices, many began sharing what they believed to be footage of the bombing.

However it was soon discovered that the video in fact came from the Minsk Metro bombing of 2011 that killed 15 and injured over 200 people.

The Independent’s report is based on a fallacy.

It was the mainstream media that published the Moscow and Minsk video footages.

It was thanks to incisive social media blog reports that the use of fake videos by the mainstream media was revealed.

The more fundamental question: Two cases of fake videos on the same day. A coincidence? 

Can we trust the mainstream media reports concerning the Brussels terror attacks?

Read Complete article on Brussels Fake Videos

2. Coverage of Syria War: BBC Switches Images

According to Sifty News

“The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has been slammed for mistakenly using a photo taken in Iraq in 2003 to illustrate the Syria 2012 massacre, in which over 100 people, including 32 children, were brutally killed.

The picture, taken on March 27, 2003, showed a young Iraqi child jumping over dozens of white body bags containing skeletons found in a desert south of Baghdad.

It was posted on the BBC news website under the heading “Syria massacre in Houla condemned as outrage grows”.

According to The Telegraph, the caption stated the photograph was provided by an activist and cannot be independently verified, but said it is “believed to show the bodies of children in Houla awaiting burial”.

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Screenshot from the Telegraph, May 27, 2012

We’re Sorry Says the BBC (this is one among many cases of switched images and media manipulation (not to mention the white helmets) pertaining to the war in Syria.

A BBC spokesman said the image has now been removed from the website.

“We were aware of this image being widely circulated on the internet in the early hours of this morning following the most recent atrocities in Syria. We used it with a clear disclaimer saying it could not be independently verified,” the spokesman said.

Meanwhile, a professional photographer, Marco di Lauro, said he nearly “fell off his chair” when he saw the image being used, and said he was “astonished” at the failure of the corporation to check their sources.

“What I am really astonished by is that a news organization like the BBC doesn’t check the sources and it’s willing to publish any picture sent it by anyone activist, citizen journalist or whatever. That’s all,” the paper quoted him, as saying. ( Sifty News)

3. NATO’s “Liberation” of  Tripoli, September 2011

September 2011: The international community, we are told,  is waging a “humanitarian war”. And the people of Libya are rejoicing. “NATO has liberated Libya from the tyranny of Muammar Ghadaffi” 

Green Square Tripoli. Libyans are seen celebrating the victory of rebel forces (affiliated to Al Qaeda) over Ghadaffi in this BBC News Report (see below)

Examine the footage:.

 

It’s not Green Square and it’s not the King Idris Flag (red, black green) of the Rebels.  

Its the Indian flag (orange, white and green) and the people at the rally are Indians.

Perhaps you did not even notice it.

And if you did notice, “it was probably a mistake”.

Sloppy journalism at the BBC or outright Lies and Fabrications? Recognize the flags?

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Indian Flag  (see right)

Libya’s Rebel Flag (King Idris)

This is not the first time images have been manipulated or switched.

In fact it seems to be a routine practice of the mainstream media

Terrorists “celebrating” in Green Square

There is no celebration. It is a NATO sponsored massacre which has resulted in several thousand deaths.

But the truth cannot be shown on network television. The impacts of NATO bombings have been obfuscated.

The rebels are heralded as “liberators”.

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Screenshot of the above video

NATO bombing is intended to save civilian lives under The Alliance’s R2P mandate.  But the realities are otherwise: the civilian population is being terrorized by the NATO sponsored rebels.

The images must be switched to conform to the “NATO consensus”.

Death and destruction is replaced by fabricated images of celebration and liberation.

4. The Lhasa Riots, Tibet. March 14, 2008

On the day of the Lhasa Riots (March 14, 2008), the videotape presented by CNN in its News Report on the 14th of March (1.00pm EST) was manipulated.

The message to be conveyed is that Chinese cops were involved in brutally repressing a civilian protest movement including Budhist monks in Tibet’s capital city: Lhasa.

VIDEO: Tibet monks protest against Chinese rulers (CNN, March 14, 2008)

The video footage, which accompanied CNN’s John Vause’s report, had nothing to do with China.

The police were not Chinese, but Indian cops in khaki uniforms from the North-eastern State of Himachal Pradesh, India.

Viewers were led to believe that demonstrations inside China were peaceful and that people were being arrested and brutalised by Chinese cops.

Chinese Cops in Khaki Uniforms

1′.27-1′.44″ video footage of “Chinese cops” and demonstrators including Buddhist monks. Chinese cops are shown next to Tibetan monks.

Are these Chinese Cops from Gansu Province or Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, as suggested by CNN’s John Vause’s Report?

REPORT ON CHINA, MARCH 14

Alleged Chinese cops repressing Tibet demonstrators in China , CNN, March 14, 2008  1′.36”

Alleged Chinese cops in khaki uniforms repressing Tibet demonstrators in China, CNN, March 14, 2008  1’40”

Their khaki uniforms with berets seem to bear the imprint of the British colonial period.

Khaki colored uniforms were first introduced in the British cavalry in India in 1846.

Khaki means “dust” in Hindi and Persian.

Moreover, the cops with khaki uniforms and mustache do not look Chinese.

Look carefully.

They are Indian cops.

The videotape shown on March 14 by CNN is not from China (Gansu Province or Lhasa, Tibet’s Capital). The video was taken in the State of Himachal Pradesh, India. The videotape of the Tibet protest movement in India was used in the CNN report on the Tibet protest movement within China.

In a March 13 Report by CNN, demonstrators are being arrested by Indian police in khaki uniforms during a protest march at Dehra, about 50 km from Dharamsala in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh.

VIDEO; Tibet Protest movement in India, CNN, March 13, 2008

“Indian police arrested around 100 Tibetans on Thursday, dragging them into waiting police vans, as they tried to march to the Chinese border to press claims for independence and protest the Beijing Olympics.” (REUTERS/Abhishek Madhukar (INDIA))

Below are images from the CNN’s report on March 13, on the protest movement in Himachal Pradesh, India:

Compare these images to those in the March 14 CNN report. Same cops, same uniforms, same Indian style moustache

CNN MARCH 13 REPORT ON INDIA

Indian cops repressing Tibetan demonstrators in Himachal Pradesh, India CNN, March 13, 2008  0′.53″

Indian cops repressing Tibet demonstrators in Himachal Pradesh, India CNN, March 13, 2008  1′.02″

Indian cops repressing Tibet demonstrators in Himachal Pradesh, India CNN, March 13, 2008, 1′.18″

Indian cops repressing Tibetan demonstrators in Himachal Pradesh, India CNN, March 13, 2008  2.04″

The CNN’s March 14 report on the Tibet Protest movement in China shows Chinese cops in khaki uniforms, yellow lapels and berets.

While the videotape is not identical to that of March 13 in India , CNN’s coverage of the events in China on March 14 used a videotape taken from the coverage of the Tibet Protest movement in India on March 13, with Indian cops in khaki uniforms.

The protest movement in India on March 13 was “peaceful”. It was organised by the Dalai Lama’s “government in exile”. It took place within 50 km of the headquarters of the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala.

The Western media was invited in to film the event, and take pictures of Buddhist monks involved in a peaceful, nonviolent march. These are the pictures which circled the World.

So what has occurred is that CNN  has copied and pasted its own videotape of the Tibet Protest movement in India and has fabricated a Gansu Province/ Lhasa, China “peaceful” protest movement with Chinese cops in khaki British colonial style uniforms.

The Chinese never adopted the British style khaki uniform and beret.

The uniforms of the alleged (fake) Chinese cops displayed in the CNN report do not correspond to those used by the police in China. (See photograph below, real Chinese cops)

No khaki uniforms in China. These are the uniforms of China’s “Armed Police”.

The foregoing are selected illustrations of “fake news”, which we have been able to corroborate.

They are but the tip of the iceberg in the barrage of daily media disinformation, distortion and omission.

The evidence is compelling. Should the media be held accountable?

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