CNN used a screenshot of Fallout 4 in a recent news item that was supposed to discuss Russian hacking. This turned out to be a disaster, as viewers recognized the visual from the popular game by Bethesda.
A few days ago, the government of the United States officially accused its Russian counterpart of an alleged cyber attack during the elections. As the American public anticipated Russia's response, CNN covered a news on the said accusation.
Visualize Hacking In News Reports
The said news item where a Fallout 4 screenshot was used was published last December under CNN Politics. Along with the screenshot from the game, various computer footages that depict hacking were used as visual support for the report.
The screenshot was first reported by a Redditor, showing the specific image used during the report along with the image of the game. The post was upvoted for 4,039 times with 300 comments in just 13 hours.
Reports say that the problem is that hacking has become common, making it difficult to visualize how it really happens.
Fallout 4: The Game
However, gamers argue that Fallout 4 — even Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas — have nothing to do with hacking. It is a role-playing game designed for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows. The combat gameplay takes place in the year 2287. Gamers consider Fallout 4 as the new generation of combat gaming.
Due to what seems to be an inappropriate attribution, gamers suggested other visually suitable images that could have been used for the report instead of the Fallout 4 screenshot.
"What about a guy wearing a hoodie and you can't see his face, he's sitting in a dark room, and you play ominous music, spooky," a Redditor said.
Aside from the Fallout 4 screenshot, there's a bigger pressing issue presented in CNN's report. This is the aggression between Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin.
"If Washington really does take new hostile steps, they will be answered ... any action against Russian diplomatic missions in the US will immediately bounce back on US diplomats in Russia," says Maria Zakharova, official representative for Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
This is not the first time Russians were accused of hacking. Shortly after Trump's victory, Russians hackers allegedly launched attacks on NGOs and think tanks. Earlier this year, computer experts also confirmed that they were able to do the hacking by exploiting a flaw in a Windows software program.
