Sweden’s broadcasting regulator has ruled that commercial broadcaster TV4 breached objectivity rules after its main news bulletin carried a manipulated video purporting to show an explosion at Iran’s Evin Prison.
The sequence, used in a TV4 Nyheterna item on an imprisoned researcher in Iran, showed an apparent blast at the prison gates. Sweden’s Granskningsnämnden för radio och tv, the review board within the Media Authority Mediemyndigheten, found that a basic fact-check should have made it clear the clip was not authentic and that TV4 aired it without clarifying its disputed status.
In its decision (case 25/03472), the board said that when the authenticity of images is in doubt, this must be made clear to viewers. It stressed that in news programming in particular, any use of AI-generated or otherwise manipulated material must be handled with openness and clarity.
By broadcasting the manipulated sequence in a news report without comment, TV4 Nyheterna failed to meet the legal requirement for objectivity, the regulator concluded.
