At the end of June and beginning of July 2023, covers of The Nation and Humor Times publications appeared on the Internet, ridiculing the President of Ukraine. We decided to check if these are real covers.
American magazine The Nation
On June 29, the cover of The Nation magazine began circulating online. The picture shows Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky at his desk. In front of him are screens with the logos of various television channels, from CNN to RT, showing the Titan bathyscaphe, castaway June 18. This deep-sea vehicle dived to the wreckage of the Titanic. An angry Zelensky says: “Stop talking about this damn Titan! Talk about me! About me! The headline reads: "Angry Boy. President Zelensky's office accuses the world media of paying too much attention to the Titan tragedy." This supposedly new cover of The Nation was reported, for example, by Telegram channels “Staff Correspondent"(99,000 views at the time of writing this analysis), TarikNezalejko (61,000), "DPR 🅉 Info 🇷🇺" (50,000) and "Before everyone else. Well almost. Special operation"(12,000).
Under the title of the magazine on the cover distributed on social networks it is indicated that this is a special issue, to the right above the title are the dates June 26 / July 3, 2023. The Nation is published biweekly, and the June 26/July 3 issue is indeed exists, however, it has a completely different cover. This issue is dedicated to unscrupulous mortgage investors and is available on the magazine's website.
There is almost no technical information on a typical cover of The Nation, so it is not possible to find the mistakes that the authors of such fakes usually make. But in the lower left corner there is a reference to the magazine's website, Thenation.com. On real magazine covers, this inscription is made in a handwritten style and in a lighter font.
The original source of The Nation’s fake cover was the Telegram channel “Olesya Loseva"(8000 views), where the post with the cover appeared on June 29 at 12:44 Moscow time.
American magazine Humor Times
On July 7, the cover of the American satirical magazine Humor Times appeared on the Internet. The cartoon depicts a boxing ring in which Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg are beating Vladimir Zelensky. In the lower left corner there is an explanatory caption: “Billionaires beat beggars in the battle for attention.” We are talking about one of the main media events of early July - fight, to which Musk called Zuckerberg on Twitter. Telegram channels, in particular, wrote about this cover “Bullet"(141,000 views at the time of writing this analysis), "Ostashko! Important" (112,000) and "Putin TG Team"(54,000).
In the upper left corner of the viral image it is indicated that this is issue No. 376, in the right corner there is the inscription “July 2023”. On the official website there is cover archive since 1991, but the latest ones date back to 2022. However, numbers for 2023 can be found in section, where individual issues can be ordered.
The journal uses sequential numbering in addition to indicating the month and year. The July issue is listed on the website as No. 375, and on its cover is a completely different drawing - a caricature of Mike Pence, the former Vice President of the United States (2017-2021), who announced his desire to run for the post of head of state in 2024. This "Verified" image has already led to analysis of the previous fake cover Humor Times. Accordingly, issue #376, which at the time of publication of the cartoon with the fight between Musk and Zuckerberg had not yet been released, will be designated as the August issue.
As in the previous case, the primary source of the fake was the Telegram channel “Olesya Loseva"(8000 views), where the post with the cover appeared on July 7 at 13:15 Moscow time.
Cover photo: collage “Checked”
- Is it true that foreign magazines published these covers dedicated to Zelensky and the Ukrainian church?
- Is it true that foreign magazines published these covers dedicated to Zelensky, Ukraine and Easter?
- Is it true that foreign magazines published these covers dedicated to Zelensky and Ukraine?
- Is it true that foreign magazines published these covers with cartoons dedicated to Zelensky, the Dalai Lama and Swiss banks?
- Is it true that a Spanish magazine published these covers with Zelensky and NATO leaders?
- Is it true that foreign satirical magazines published these covers dedicated to the words of the Pope about the Chechens and Buryats?
- Is it true that on three covers of Charlie Hebdo the President of Ukraine is depicted as a dog?
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