Sky News fined for faking Iraq war report
Sky News has been fined £50,000 (€70,900) by TV watchdogs for faking a report during the war with Iraq.
The report, by correspondent James Forlong, claimed to have a live exclusive showing a missile being fired at Iraq from the British navy submarine HMS Splendid.
It later emerged that the pictures were taken from library footage and that the submarine had been in dock.
Mr Forlong, 44, resigned in July as a result of the incident and committed suicide three months later.
The Independent Television Commission found that the report breached guidelines on accuracy and misled viewers.
It ruled: “Audiences are reliant on the accuracy of news reports, particularly during times of war.”
But the ITC imposed the relatively low fine after concluding there were a number of mitigating factors.
The Commission noted that “Sky did not seek to evade or minimise the importance of what had occurred”.
It was an isolated incident “and the only occasion when Sky’s reporting of the Iraq war had been called into question”.
The Commission also noted that Forlong was an experienced journalist whose reports had never previously proved to be inaccurate.
In 1998 the ITC fined Carlton Television £2m (€2.8m) for its documentary The Connection, which faked evidence of drug running.
Four years ago Channel 4 was fined £150,000 (€212,000) for faking a scene in Chickens, a documentary about rent boys.
