By Simon Muli
A post with an image showing the front cover of The Standard newspaper for October 10, 2020 is FALSE.
Background
The cover story claims that Deputy President William Ruto says he does not need President Uhuru Kenyatta to support his 2022 presidential ambition.
The splash is accompanied by a sub-headline that describes Dr Ruto’s sentiments as “an escalation of his defiance” against President Kenyatta.
The post accompanying the image adds that the DP’s “arrogance” will cost him the presidential bid.
Verification
the legitimate front page of the paper, which was shared on The Standard’s official Facebook page on the date it was published, shows the lead story centres around a plot by allies of former Prime Minister Raila Odinga to impeach Dr Ruto.
The photo accompanying the lead story is also different; the original shows the DP with a checked Maasai shawl draped over a grey jacket and a pink shirt. The image on the fake cover page shows him in a red polo shirt and black cap.
The legitimate cover page also contains a number of news bullets on other events relating to Dr Ruto, as well as a blurb with a quote by Siaya Senator James Orengo saying he filed a motion in the past to impeach the DP for disrespecting the president. The fake front-page does not have this additional content.
In a Facebook post, The Standard shared the fake front page alongside the legitimate one and cautioned readers to avoid buying into this misinformation.
It is not the first time the publication’s front cover has been altered. On May 28, 2020, PesaCheck investigated another front-page of the paper with a lead story claiming that the DP’s spouse, Rachel Ruto, had gone into hiding and found that it was fake.
Verdict
PesaCheck has looked into an image of The Standard’s cover page dated October 10, 2020 and finds it to be FALSE.
This story was produced by PesaCheck in partnership with Code for Africa’s iLAB data journalism programme, with support from Deutsche Welle Akademie.
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