An unusual choice of footage BBC News 24

I have just been watching a report on the latest news from Zimbabwe (where a brutal dictator is trying to cling on to power by demanding a recount before the first count has been finished).

Granted, the BBC is banned from the country and therefore finding footage to accompany the report must have been tricky. But even so, it was rather odd to see a report talking about people going to church in Harare accompanied by footage which had also been used just a few minutes previously over on Sky, where it had been illustrating a story about feelings in rural Zimbabwe. Impressive church, what with being in both the city and the rural hinterland at the same time.

This was then followed shortly afterwards by a shot of police getting into a truck, accompanying the report saying that tension was rising. Nothing odd there you might think, except the very same clip was used a few days previously by News 24 alongside a John Simpson report which said that the place was surprisingly calm with only a few police in evidence. Rising tensions? Surprising calm? Must all look the same I guess.

A lesson to remember how TV footage is often just the visual bling added to a story whose content has already been determined.