Washington, Sept. 11 : Inaccurate reporting and picture filing seems to be the order of the day in the ongoing race for the White House.

A Fox News report has suggested that CNN messed up big time by showing a photo of Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin in a bikini and clutching an AK-47 assault rifle.

That photo, it seems, has turned out to be a fake and joins a series of incidents in the recent past that involve apparent misstatements or inaccurate reporting by the news network.

Fox News warns that this sort of reporting and misrepresentation by a prominent television channel could undercut Palin’s status as a political celebrity, not to speak of reducing Republican efforts to portray the vice presidential nominee as a serious, reform-minded governor to scratch.

The infamous fake bikini shot first appeared during the early days of the Republican convention. But it was widely debunked within 24 hours, with bloggers and others quickly exposing the fraud by finding the original shot, reportedly taken in 2004 in Athens, Georgia., by an amateur photographer of his then-girlfriend.

FOX News was among the news outlets to report the fake. (ANI)