ABC claims it was an honest mistake, but the use of video from a Kentucky gun range -- that was passed off as the Turks attacking the Kurds in Syria -- seems to show journalistic standards are a thing of the past.
DePauw University media critic Jeff McCall says it's hard to know who to trust.
"These kinds of stunts really do create, in the minds' of the audiences, a lot of suspicion and confusion."
Professor McCall says some have just given up.
"There are a number of people now, we find in research, that are not paying attention to the news at all anymore and they're becoming what we call 'news bystanders' and you just really can't have citizens standing on the side of the road not paying attention to what's going on."
Professor McCall says this is a mistake ABC just can't make; there's plenty of video of actual battles in Syria -- they need to get that or don't show anything.
If you ask a college professor, there are journalism standards. But if you ask a television executive, who's honest, you might get a different answer.
"A lot of that is just the management at the top of news organizations who are more interested in clicks or ratings and the bottom line and, let's face it, journalism has to be a step above that."
Professor McCall says his students have ideals that are not being lived up to by the national media.