Re-used tornado video from 6/12/04

[Dan Robinson]

The high standards and integrity of citizen journalism continues! I thought something looked familar when I saw this video, purported to be a tornado in Valentine, NE a couple of days ago on the AP feed:

http://video.ap.org/v/Legacy.aspx?p=truveo&g=2b3e0c94-51b3-4c1b-b861-d2e1f07fcdd2&partner=en-ap

This is footage of the Rock, Kansas tornado from June 12, 2004, with the image flipped horizontally and frame rate sped up. I've seen this clip all over the news sites the past few days (USA Today, TWC , local affiliates, etc), it's made the rounds.

I guess I could be mistaken, but I just compared the frames with my own footage from that day, and the tornado's shape and evolution matches perfectly. (This is not my video, but is from one taken from a similar angle).

My footage from this tornado is here:

http://stormhighway.com/video-rock.shtml

I figured chances are this is someone's footage getting ripped off, with the submitter hoping the image flip/speed change would mask it.

Dan

 

[Jeff Snyder]

I agree that it looks an awful lot like the Rock tornado, and it's blatantly obvious that the video has been sped up (doubled?). I went back and compared it to some of the stills that I grabbed from that day and, indeed, some of the prominent features are very similar (e.g. the very sharp bend as it ropes out, etc). Of course, with as many tornadoes as there are each year in the US, I'm sure there have been many others that have looked like that Rock tornado, but it is certainly quite suspicious!

 

[Brian Stertz]

Yep agree Dan....that sure looks suspiciously familiar to me too. I saw the whole tornado life cycle in person. Plus the topography and vegetation does not match up with anything in the Valentine NE area. The footage was definitely sped up to make a wow factor. I saw that on the news and was like thats a whirling dervish. No dervish apparently after seeing the video closely. I think the AP will owe somebody (chaser ??) some $$$ for that footage that was pirated it seems. That was video shown here on Fox 4 in KC....at least that is where I saw it locally. It probably has been shown on hundreds of tv stations in the US and who knows in what other countries if this was an AP feed. Good catch on that one Dan.

 

[Bob Schafer]

I'm 100% sure that that's the 040612 Rock KS tornado. So, whose vid is it that got ripped off?? I bet we'll eventually find out.

Here's my version of that tornado, FWIW:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odEYkX7Ay7E

 

[Shane Adams]

That's the Rock tornado, I predicted every change before it happened.

If they did that with every tornado clip that's currently available online, they'd never need to buy a single second of footage again. Hell, the stuff chasers give away on youtube alone, would last them a lifetime.

 

[Dennis Sherrod]

If they did that with every tornado clip that's currently available online, they'd never need to buy a single second of footage again. Hell, the stuff chasers give away on youtube alone, would last them a lifetime.

That is true. Why would newsmedia or individuals buy footage anymore. There is more freebies out there now on youtube than you could buy.

 

[Dan Robinson]

I just checked a couple of network feed servers, and the source video from this is a full-size 720x480 file, full-res video. As such, most likely not a CJ submission stolen from the web. It was also fed nearly everywhere, which is unusual for an amateur photographer (unless they took it to a local TV station that then distributed it to all of the feeds).

 

[Erik Burns]

That's the Rock tornado, I predicted every change before it happened.

If they did that with every tornado clip that's currently available online, they'd never need to buy a single second of footage again. Hell, the stuff chasers give away on youtube alone, would last them a lifetime.

LOL.. Don't give them any ideas now..

I am so fed up with the media twisting things it makes me sick!!
My team chases for the 4th largest market in the US and when we give them tornado footage, They won't use the best part of the footage, and they never tell anybody where exactly where we caught it.. They always have to say we saw it next to a large town or city for the shock factor.. I know they don't use the best part of the footage because they don't want to pay us top dollar or it...
The general public makes me sick as well with them sending photos in and video of things that are not tornadoes or funnels, So nieve. The media doesn't help any by showing thses false images and telling the GP that they are tornadoes, funnels, ect... Like the Photo of a " tornado " that made it to NY times/ Nothing in the photo even looked like a tornado. All it was a HP supercell with what looked like a superwet RFD with some scud tags. People were eating this photo up saying it should win awards and so on. Many of us in ST have photos more worthy of an award then the photo posted in NY times.
I will get off my soap box now!
Well back to the correct subject

I noticed this video too, when I went looking for some possible footage of that storm shortly after I saw all the reports coming out of it. I found the video being discussed, when I noticed how fast everything was moving it didn't look natural. It seemed fishy.. Plus I even noticed what Brian stated about the topography, I have been up there a couple of times to Valentine. I was scratching my head thinking, I don't remember it looking that way.
Hopefully somebody will get down to the bottom of this and the money will into the pockets of who deserves it.

 

[scott r currens]

Rock Tornado

Yeah that is definitely the Rock, KS tornado. I wonder if the video was ripped-off. It is possible that the owner made some "changes" to the clip then sold it as a recent tornado. I often wonder what would happen if a chaser got caught repackaging tornado footage. I know the media would never catch them but chasers sure would. This probably isn’t the case here but I’d bet it will happen.

Is anything going to stop the media from using stolen photos and video? Maybe we should all pull a prank on the media to prove a point. We could fabricate a fake tornado outbreak and send them all kinds of footage of the same tornadoes from different angles. That would be great!

The sad thing is it would be really easy to pull off.

 

[Mike Peregrine]

It would be cool to start a website/blog that tracks all of these erroneous reports somehow. It's only going to get crazier as time goes on. Chasers could practically go into business just going after pirated video these days, rather than marketing the stuff in the first place. And I still think that we all should clandestinely submit old tornado video from time to time. I just read a good article (link in my blog here) about what's going on with the media these days and how it is affecting contract and career photographers.

 

[Brian Stertz]

Calls to question in that case Dan, who would be passing off old video as current stuff to the AP ?? Now that the chasers of the board have certainly nailed down that this was indeed the Rock KS tornado and not anything shot near Valentine NE...we've got the mystery of whodunit. It will be interesting to see what the AP has to say about this one. There were probably a hundred plus chasers on this Rock tornado, so its not that unique video really (unless sped up to Andover type movement for wow factor that is )

 

[Damon Scott Hynes]

1. I always wondered what the charm was in showing 'fresh' car-skidding-down-an-icy-hill-and-hitting-another-car footage.

B. I am a genius : http://stormtrack.org/forum/showpost.php?p=182544&postcount=11

 

[Doug_Kiesling]

I looked into this for Dan after he sent me the info and I have talked with a bunch of the networks and it sounds like a stringer / chaser has just ended their career just to sell footage from four years ago in order to make a quick buck.

 

[Mike Peregrine]

Oh boy. There's just no way this can end well.

Not going to be pretty.

 

[Shane Adams]

I can understand needing to make quick money, but you have to (or I do anyway) keep your integrity. Selling out is one thing, at least that's real. But fabrication is quite another. This will be some excellent blogging material once the details start seeping out (and they will), and should effectively ruin the name of whoever pulled this stunt.

But the upside is, maybe bringing this out into the open will finally get the media's attention and make them realize just how out-of-control it's gotten with the fake photos and misinformed stories regarding severe weather events, and most of all, that they have been a huge part of the problem.