PROMINANT INDIAN NEWS CHANNELS RAN FOOTAGE FROM A VIDEO GAME TO COVER PANJSHIR

Tue 07 September 2021:

On a heavy news day, with the crisis in Afghanistan crisis escalating, the usual suspects of Indian TV news continued to do what they do best: run news without verifying facts, and peddle misinformation.

Republic, Times Now Navbharat, and Zee Hindustan ran footage that they claimed were visuals from the ongoing military conflict between resistance fighters in Afghanistan’s Panjshir and the Taliban.

Sadly for the three channels, the video isn’t from Afghanistan at all; it’s from a video game called Arma-3, as Boom pointed out in a factcheck.

Hello @republic, The ‘exclusive video’ that your team has accessed of Airstrikes at #PanjshirValley is actually from a video game “Arma-3”. 🤦🏾‍♂️🤷🏾‍♂️🙆🏾‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/TG7dJmvsQ9

— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) September 6, 2021

Here is @republic‘s “Exclusive video” from ARMA-3 stimulation. 🤣 pic.twitter.com/qV5zFQrWTo

— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) September 6, 2021

India Today quotes a fake account (@Mohsood123) to claim that a Pakistani Jet was shot down in #Panjshir. The 3 year old image tweeted by the fake account is of a U.S. F-16 fighting falcon crash landing during a training in Arizona. 🙆🏾‍♂️pic.twitter.com/dHcWBqkfHT

— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) September 6, 2021

Also @NavbharatTimes 👇 pic.twitter.com/iaGk7wZrRA

— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) September 6, 2021

But why let mere facts get in the way? Republic called it an “exclusive video” and evidence of Pakistan helping the Taliban take over Panjshir. The video is no longer available on their page, but here’s a teaser of what you missed.

Times Now Navbharat also aired the video, as did Zee Hindustan, claiming that the footage (which, again, is from a video game) showed Pakistan bombing Panjshir valley.

All the channels cited one Hasti TV as a source. Hasti TV, which describes itself as a UK-based Afghan TV channel, had posted the video on Facebook, describing it as a video received from Panjshir showing a Pakistani military airplane flying over the area. The post has since been deleted.

Boom noted that the video clip was from a longer YouTube video from Arma-3 uploaded in January. The video was also tweeted by Faran Jeffery, an “expert” in reporting and analysing terror incidents and conflicts. In a subsequent tweet, he played the “I was just having fun” card.

Fun fact:

The video is from a video game and is currently being shared by pro-resistance accounts as proof of claims that Pakistani drones are attacking Panjshir. I thought I should have some fun. Let’s see how many idiots here share this video with a straight face. 🤣 pic.twitter.com/lxDDJxqZzP

— FJ (@Natsecjeff) September 6, 2021

Not to be left behind, India Today ran a report this evening based on a tweet by an account alleged to be of Ahmed Masood, head of the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan.

The channel claimed that a Pakistani jet was shot down by the resistance front in Panjshir. “They have shown that the jet has been shot down. Remember, they have been calling out Pakistan’s involvement and support to the Taliban,” the anchor said.

The picture of the jet shot down, however, is an image of a US F-16 that crash-landed during a routine training flight near the Arizona-California border in 2018.