FBI quiz execution video hoaxer

[DoYouEverWonder]

8 August, 2004

The FBI has interviewed a US man after he admitted faking a video that appeared to show him being beheaded while held hostage in Iraq.

The FBI said it was still considering whether 22-year-old Benjamin Vanderford had broken any law.

Mr Vanderford said he filmed his own mock execution in a friend's garage to show how the media could be fooled.

The apparent execution was widely reported after the footage appeared on a website used by Islamic militants.

The video was reported to have been made by militants linked to top al-Qaeda suspect Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3545822.stm


Maybe the FBI should investigate the media instead? They are the ones who published the story without checking to make sure it was real.

[teryang]

1. We don't know what you did wrong but....

...you made us look bad. Only the government can introduce disinformation and fake videos into the newstream. Didn't you know the law? Oh, it's not a law? Let's just harrass the guy to intimidate others.

[mikedaul]

2. on news.com as well...

http://news.com.com/FBI+probes+beheading+hoax+on+Web/2100-1028_3-5301633.html?tag=nefd.top

[newyawker99]

5. Hi mikedaul!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[dumpster_baby]

3. There ya go! They also made the media look bad

and who can deny that the corporate media and the top levels of govt and the biggest bureaucracies are so closely intertwined as to be almost a single entity?

[Robb]

4. I remember Jennings on the Daily Show

...describing the 24-hour news cycle as a massive shift away from thoughtful, well-checked news to "Hey, guess what we all just heard?!?"

Vanderford seems like a thoughtless kid, and for sure the families who've had people actually killed have every right to think he's a jerk. Was he really trying to make a point? Hard to say. But I'm also not sure he broke any laws. :shrug: