China's state-run television network CCTV is under fire after allegations it passed off a clip from the movie 'Top Gun' as a military training exercise.
CCTV's news service Xinwen Lianbo broadcast a story purportedly showing China's air force in training exercises but featuring a segment from the 1986 movie starring Tom Cruise, the UK's Telegraph and the Wall Street Journal reported.
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Xinwen Lianbo customarily posts its entire news bulletin online, but the Wall Street Journal reported that all traces of the air force item had been removed after an Internet user named 'Liu Yi' spotted the similarity to Top Gun in January.
Blog site, the Ministry of Tofu, published a blow-by-blow comparison of the two clips before Xinwen Lianbo removed the video.
Copies of the broadcast are still available on Chinese video sites, with netizens slamming the apparent attempt to fool China's news consumers.
"Looking at the screenshots juxtaposition, one cannot fail to find that even flame, smoke and the way the splinters fly look the same," blog author Jing Gao wrote.
The Wall Street Journal said CCTV's foreign affairs office had no immediate comment on the accusations.
Top Gun enjoyed enormous box office success when it was released in 1986, catapulting Tom Cruise to mega-stardom with numerous quotes entering the vernacular, including 'the need for speed'.
Xinhua, China's state-run news agency, famously used an x-ray of cartoon character Homer Simpson's head in an item on multiple sclerosis in 2007.
