Russian polar submarine TV footage faked

August 13, 2007

Part of the video footage of the Russian submarines (MIR 1 and 2) planting a flag on the sea bed at the North pole, shown by Russian state TV channel Rossiya and re-broadcasted by Reuters, included shots from the James Cameron film Titanic, according to a Finnish newspaper.

The inclusion of the Titanic fragment was spotted by a 13-year-old Finnish boy, Waltteri Seretin, who compared Reuters' pictures with his own DVD version of the Titanic film. He alerted the Finnish tabloid paper Ilta-Sanomat. Screen grabs form the Rossiya footage were shown on web sites and newspapers around the world.

The two MIR submarines used in the Russian expedition were designed in Russia but actually made in Finland, and were indeed used in the Titanic film. However The Guardian reports that the shots used by Rossiya were in fact models shot in the studio. The Russian channel broadcast the pictures before the pole was reached and claimed it was using it in the same spirit as library footage. However Reuters gave the impression that it was actual footage of the expedition. Reuters published an apology, but only admitted that the pictures were from the Atlantic, not the Arctic, and not admitting that the footage showed a studio model.

NTV channel, who sent their correspondent on icebreacker, broadcast the actual videos, filmed from inside the submarine.