I was watching a movie the other day, and the CGI was so good that I thought, "if I didn't know this was a movie, I would think this is real". That got me thinking, what if I wasn't watching a movie? What if my BS filter wasn't turned on high for movie viewing, and I was watching footage on the news? So, what do you think is the likelihood that certain video news items are literally manufacted?
I don't think they need to. There are enough clips of different wars, riots, crimes and so on to just pick a stock one rather than hoping that video tampering detection will never catch up. Besides, as I remember watching the news (I tend to read them nowadays), the pictures are rarely the whole story in themselves. They could just show a shaky camera shot and play some stock sound, like a gunshot, and most watchers would think that it was genuine evidence of pretty much anything. It doesn't need to be good to be persuasive. I'm going to go with "I don't know but I don't think they'd ever", even though I'd would answer "I don't know but I don't think they have yet" if it was an option. Who knows what future technology holds?
Good point. In most cases, a good old fashioned lie would do. It would take something truly unusual to warrant going the extra mile. I had hoped that I put all the options in that everyone would want to choose from. Personally, I think the technology is there now. That was the point of the OP.
Have seen weather reporters superimposed on a moving background but that is not to deceive anyone, some of the war reporting would be a lot less dangerous & expensive if filmed by qualified locals & the reporters simply superimposed on the film.