Media blooper of the year: Bolivian channel uses images from TV drama "Lost" in coverage of Air France crash
Issued on: Modified:
A mighty blow for Bolivian television network PAT. Last Thursday, they aired "exclusive" photos supposedly taken by a passenger of Air France flight 447 at the moment the plane crashed. In fact, the mid-air plane dismemberment photos were taken from the television series "Lost."
A mighty blow for Bolivian television network PAT. Last Thursday, they aired "exclusive" photos supposedly taken by a passenger of Air France flight 447 at the moment the plane crashed. In fact, the mid-air plane dismemberment photos were taken from the television series "Lost."
The Bolivian news presenter even specified that the images were found in a Casio Z750 digital camera, retrieved after the disaster.
As with many other media outlets we received these images via email last week. One can see a passenger spiralling off into the atmosphere in the second shot; in the first shot, the face is obviously that of actress Evangeline Lilly, who plays the character Kate on “Lost.” She is seen seated with an oxygen mask on her face. Another embarrassing tipoff: on the photos, it is clearly daytime, whereas the Airbus A330 crash occurred in the middle of the night.
The Bolivian network was not the only one duped. A Dutch radio station and a Polish television network also fell for it.
Same images, from Lost
Images broadcast by Bolivian TV at 50sec.