Channel 4 TV Must Eat Its Digits – Fake Execution Video Exposed!

Channel 4 TV, an obvious victim of the current economic crisis engulfing the United Kingdom due to advertising famine, extended its doctrine of self-righteousness by telecasting an execution video, allegedly committed by the Sri Lankan armed forces last week.

The Asian Tribune has obtained the expert-evidence to prove that the video has been doctored to cater for the right audience – the human-rights body who normally turns its back on human-wrongs and the league with vested interests those who are determined to tarnish the image of Sri Lanka at a time that it tries to stand on its feet.

The motive of the telecast by the particular TV channel is blindingly obvious: first of all, it needs stories to be seen as a big player among the TV audience in the UK, having been fed up with itself being in the shadow of the big players like the BSKYB and BBC; secondly, it has an axe to grind with the Government of Sri Lanka, since the unceremonious removal of its television crew in the middle of another questionable venture at the peak of the last phase of the war.

So, the bosses of the Channel 4 started doing what they normally are good at – mud-slinging at a nation which just began recovering from thirty years of endless suffering. It wants to bring the nation down to its knees both economically and politically – and then boast about the mantra ‘We told you so’.

However, its ambitious campaign has all the hall marks of an inauspicious start: it interviewed KP, the newly appointed head of the LTTE, only to see him being captured spectacularly at a spot in South East Asia; then the Channel 4 went on to publish an execution video, which an expert in the digital technology proves as a fake, for the Asian Tribune.

Siri Hewa, the former head of Cisco’s global broadcast and digital video practice, at Present I am executive Director at IPTV System, who currently serves as the chief architect of Optus’ Network Systems Design Broadcast and Satellite TV operation has uncovered evidence of doctoring in the original footage telecast by the Channel 4. It shows the extent to which the bosses of Channel 4 go in combining malice and ignorance in equal measure.

Siri Hewa analyses the startling findings for the Asain Tribune this way:

“Looking at the footage first thing I found strange was the high quality of the video, lack of cascading effects and motion blur that associate with mobile video coding. I got hold of the original video that was in QuickTime format as well as the other that was in AVI format and decided to put through various analysers to see origin of the video from the mobile source.

Looking at the results, I can say this video never came from a mobile phone, since the original video is of quite high standard and motion vectors were of high quality ( that never come from mobile phone) and I also found that the Tamilnet tried to put this video in 3GPP format which is associated with mobile phones.

This also give some clues since mobile phones or older got 3GPP format; I was involved with global Broadcast R&G for almost 25 years and Channel 4 used to have good people; it has gone for gutter journalism in recent years. Any sensible broadcast Engineer should have picked up the lack of cascading errors on the video since Channel 4 use Flash format on their web site.”

Channel 4 highlighted the need for an investigation for war crimes on the following grounds: the executioners were in Sri Lankan army uniform; and they spoke Sinhala.

It forgot the fact that this was the most ruthless terrorist organization in the world – banned in its own country and whole civilized world - which was prepared to send pregnant women and teenagers on suicide missions without any hesitation. So, the attempted portrayal of the tendency of such an outfit to respect conventions – violating the dress code of a conventional army - is something for a good laugh, not to for serious debate.

Its possession of army uniform is well-documented as it launched many attacks against many vital installations disguising themselves in army uniforms. Furthermore, the ability of a Tamil man to speak English is nothing extraordinary; there are lots of Tamils who speak Sinhal as fluently as a native Sinhalese. These don’t form the grounds for launching a war crime probe – by wasting millions of dollars from the coffers of the UN.

There is another important development to note in the video from medical point of view: the man can be seated in that position only as long he is alive. The moment he dies he has to fall either forward or sideways, because the centre of the brain which controls his balance ceases to function. As anyone who has seen an actual execution by a firing squad (or a video of it) would have observed, even if the body were kept erect by some means, such as by tying to a pole, the head will not stay erect after the man is executed. It slumps either sideways or forwards.

Since nothing of this sort happen in the two instances which show 'executions' in this video, it has all the ingredients of movie-making for a purpose. In both instances you hear the firing of a gun, but the man who is supposed to have been executed continues to sit in the same posture as he was before the gun was fired. What it goes to prove is that the execution is just 'theatric' and the man being "executed" is only an actor.

The Asian Tribune learns from very reliable sources that the video has actually been made in Sri Lanka – but not by a mobile phone, as Siri Hewa quite rightly found out. It was then passed on to Tiger sympathisers in Germany who in turn doctored it in a very amateurish way. The scoop-hungry Channel 4 just played into the hands of these elements.

An ex- big Tiger tells us there were no bearded Tigers in the organization with a comical explanation – a goatee could not co-habit with a Tiger for long for obvious reasons! Therefore, the bearded victim at gun point could be an actor, indeed.

Channel 4 has a lot of explaining to do in the light of both digital and medical evidence, if it wants to keep the erosion of what is left of its credibility at bay. Chasing after illusive goalpost of ranking at the expense of media-ethics is damaging the television industry in general and the British broadcasting in particular, which used to be respected for its fairness.

The most honourable thing for the bosses of this particular TV channel to do on this occasion is to put the hands up say, “We got it wrong and please forgive us, Sri Lanka!” However, if they wish they can use the footage for an entertainment programme under the caption ‘Optical Illusions’. It is not too late to perform both in the name of commonsense.

- Asian Tribune -