It was not “bad reporting” on their behalf. You created a fake news story. They aired your fake news story. It happens all the time. Most news is created not found.

They didn’t report the funeral they just reported on your video.

They most likely didn’t remove the video out of embarrassment but were notified by Google when their automated software found the copyrighted material.

But you guys should just continue to violate the law. That’s cool.

When you put content on YouTube you assign some rather open ended royalty-free licences on that content. The news corporation did not need your permission to use the video as you’d given YouTube permission to use it and to extend that permission to others without further renumberation to you. You further granted users of the site to “use”, to create “derivative works” and to “distribute” your content.

Read the Terms and Conditions.

Or is it just mock outrage?

10.1 When you upload or post a User Submission to YouTube, you grant:

B. to each user of the Website, a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, licence to access your User Submissions through the Website, and to use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, display and perform such User Submissions to the extent permitted by the functionality of the Website and under these Terms.

Maybe your use of thiers was fair use, I dunno, but the terms of YouTube are quite clear in allowing your work to be used in that way.
As the old (in terms of the internet) expression goes – don’t put anything online if you don’t want someone else to use it in ways you didn’t intend.

As for the prank… well, it’s clearly a prank and the date should have made people think carefully… nice work. :D

I hope you read the license agreements better next time.

* assuming proper contribution.