ITV gives the industry a backhanded compliment with its 'mistaken' game footage, writes CIARA O'BRIEN

IT WAS a moment that must have caused both red faces and a certain amount of pride – for different reasons. When it emerged that footage in an ITV programme on the IRA’s links with Libyan leader Muammar Gadafy had been taken from a videogame by mistake, we all laughed a little.

The clip in question was allegedly of the IRA shooting down a helicopter. The weapons, it was said, had been supplied by Gadafy. The clip was even tagged as “IRA film 1988”.

In fact, eagle-eyed gamers recognised it as scenes from Arma II, a military videogame made by Bohemia Interactive.

It must have been excruciating for the programme's makers. Exposure: Gaddafi and the IRAwas the first show in the series, and was intended to kick it off with a bang. Instead, it made it a bit of a laughing stock.

Blaming human error for the inclusion of the clip, ITV claimed it had the correct footage, but the videogame piece had been included by mistake. Quite how the videogame clip was available to be included in error wasn’t immediately clear.

And things are getting a little worse for ITV. Just as everythng seemed to have died down a little, it was revealed earlier this week that Ofcom, the broadcasting standards authority in the UK, is to look into the incident to see if it breaches broadcasting codes.

It's certainly raised the profile of Arma IIagain; since then, thousands of people who may never have played the game have heard its name.

And it shows that the footage was believable as an alleged propaganda video. That’s something that Bohemia CEO Marek Spanel seems to have recognised. He told website Spong.com that it was “very weird” to see the footage used in the programme. “On a somewhat more positive note, we consider this as a bizarre appreciation of the level of realism incorporated into our games,” he said.

You can’t officially see the original documentary online at the moment; ITV yanked it from its on-demand service and said it will re-edit the programme to include the correct clip.

What appears to be the same footage appears on YouTube, also claiming to be an IRA attack.

With games getting increasingly more realistic, imagine the possibilities in years to come for incorrectly labelled footage of Battlefieldor Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.

theplayer@irishtimes.com