Chinese state news plagiarizes "Top Gun"

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thecutline/20110131/ts_yblog_thecutline/chinese-air-force-drill-looks-awfully-similar-to-top-gun

 

Summary:

 

Chinese state news agency posted a video that they said was a live-fire exercise in which an air-to-air missile shoots down a target aircraft. Turns out the clip of the target aircraft exploding was actually a scene from the 1986 blockbuster "Top Gun".

 

D'OH! :dopeslap: :dopeslap:

[Mike]

I heard about this this morning. Maybe it's just the case that all jet fighters blow up in exactly the same fashion.

[cali_beemer]

I wonder if their Olympic committe runs the news station...

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

I heard about this this morning. Maybe it's just the case that all jet fighters blow up in exactly the same fashion.

 

Sure. And all of them - including Chinese-made target aircraft - look exactly like the American-made F-5.

[Kathy R]

If the Chinese State New Agency deems it OK to use movie film footage to make a point, imagine what else they deem OK?

 

I guess this goes along well with their school building inspection standards

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

If the Chinese State New Agency deems it OK to use movie film footage to make a point, imagine what else they deem OK?

 

I just find it amazing that they apparently believed no one would notice.

[Quinn]

It's not a lie until you get caught.

 

Reminds me of some of the 60 minute stories that proved misleading or false.

 

 

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[pbharvey]

I'm not sure which was more amusing, the article or the comments.

 

 

motorcycle content:

[Danny caddyshack Noonan]

Couple scary things:

1. They used copyrighted footage.

2. Probably came off of pirated disc (or VHS)

3. They didn't learn from the damn Iranians. Missile cloning

 

Now, who really thinks that their Gen 5 Stealth Fighter is really Gen 5 or maybe Gen 3 with some added stuff made in China.

They may have the money to do it but, that same approach worked when Ronnie brought the Soviet to their economic doom and, our economy isn't so hot right now.

[Kathy R]

If the Chinese State New Agency deems it OK to use movie film footage to make a point, imagine what else they deem OK?

 

I just find it amazing that they apparently believed no one would notice.

 

A few possibilities come to my mind:

 

They don't care

 

They don't think you will care

 

They weren't expecting scrutiny

[philbytx]

 

Real or fake?

 

 

 

 

[bayoubengal]

This is just funny.

[leikam]

Meh. The Chinese state news agency will say whatever suits its political agenda. Things like facts, actual video footage, reliable sources, accurate quotes -- they're all up for "enhancement" to make the editorial point. Maybe the footage of the "real explosion" got eaten by the editor's dog.

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

Meh. The Chinese state news agency will say whatever suits its political agenda. Things like facts, actual video footage, reliable sources, accurate quotes -- they're all up for "enhancement" to make the editorial point.

 

What's their editorial point? I would think it's to trumpet news of a successful missile test - but if their video footage is borrowed from Hollywood, is there any evidence at all that the missile test was a success? As Peter pointed out upthread, it seems they didn't learn their lesson from the Iranians - namely, that millions of people around the world will be scrutinizing your work for any sign of shenanigans; if anything is out of the ordinary, it almost certainly will be found, especiallyif you're borrowing scenes from an extremely popular movie - and especially if those scenes show an American-made aircraft being shot down.

[Gregori]

Reminds me of some of the 60 minute stories that proved misleading or false.

 

Isn't that redundant? Has 60-mins EVER had veracity?

(Maybe they ought to work for the Chinese!)

[leikam]

What's their editorial point? I would think it's to trumpet news of a successful missile test - but if their video footage is borrowed from Hollywood, is there any evidence at all that the missile test was a success?

 

The evidence that it was a success is that the state news agency says it was. Pretend that's sufficient and the fake video is just an illustration of the idea -- think of it as an artists' interpretation of the event rather than a literal transcript. After all, the only people who would insist on the actual footage are those who openly suspect Chinese media of lying: dissidents, troublemakers and CIA spies.

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

The evidence that it was a success is that the state news agency says it was. Pretend that's sufficient and the fake video is just an illustration of the idea -- think of it as an artists' interpretation of the event rather than a literal transcript.

 

Artists' interpretations are fine. I see plenty of them on the evening news. The difference is that they're usually explicitly disclaimed as such. It seems deliberately deceptive to in-line a special-effects movie scene with real footage and then present the whole thing without any disclaimer.

 

And then there's the whole issue of theft of intellectual property - not just by a low-level movie pirate, but by an official state news agency. That's pretty brazen.

[ESokoloff]

The evidence that it was a success is that the state news agency says it was. Pretend that's sufficient and the fake video is just an illustration of the idea -- think of it as an artists' interpretation of the event rather than a literal transcript.

 

Artists' interpretations are fine. I see plenty of them on the evening news. The difference is that they're usually explicitly disclaimed as such. It seems deliberately deceptive to in-line a special-effects movie scene with real footage and then present the whole thing without any disclaimer.

 

And then there's the whole issue of theft of intellectual property - not just by a low-level movie pirate, but by an official state news agency. That's pretty brazen.

 

Well CCTV missed out on

[leikam]

It seems deliberately deceptive ... and then there's the whole issue of theft of intellectual property ... by an official state news agency. That's pretty brazen.

 

You sound surprised that the propaganda outlet for an authoritarian state acts this way. I guess I assume that anything they present has to be read with a huge disclaimer -- much like anything in the tabloids. I just don't expect them to pay much heed to the best of global journalistic standards. Is there any indication that this was produced for an international audience?

[ghaverkamp]

And then there's the whole issue of theft of intellectual property - not just by a low-level movie pirate, but by an official state news agency. That's pretty brazen.

 

China isn't bound by US copyright laws. I don't know the laws, but I wouldn't be amazed to learn that the Chinese government and its institutions are permitted to use IP freely. (tee hee)

[leikam]

Careful Greg. That was almost an emoticon.

[ESokoloff]

It seems deliberately deceptive ... ..... ... by an official state news agency. That's pretty brazen.

 

You sound surprised that the propaganda outlet for an authoritarian state acts this way. I guess I assume that anything they present has to be read with a huge disclaimer -- much like anything in the tabloids. I just don't expect them to pay much heed to the best of global journalistic standards. Is there any indication that this was produced for an international audience?

 

The quest for truth is not first & formost on RT's (Russia Today) day in & day out slant on the World & in particular the US.

was their take (spin) on a recent (non) event here in SoCal.

 

[Kathy R]

 

 

 

Well CCTV missed out on

 

 

I watched it a couple of times and got laughing harder and harder and harder...

 

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

Is there any indication that this was produced for an international audience?

 

Whether it was or not, it would have been prudent for them to expect close scrutiny by international observers; it's hard to believe they didn't expect anyone to spot this.

 

The fact that CCTV has removed the clip from their website suggests that they do care that it's been noticed.

[longjohn]

It's not a lie until you get caught.

 

Reminds me of some of the 60 minute stories that proved misleading or false.

 

 

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Yep, or of WMD's that we could never find.