In July 2023, covers of Courrier International and Charlie Hebdo magazines with cartoons ridiculing the President of Ukraine went viral on the Internet. We decided to check if these are real covers.
Courier International
On July 4, 2023, the cover of the Courrier International publication appeared on the Internet. The headline on it reads: “France is on fire!” Houses and cars are burning in the background, and police officers in protective gear are visible. And in the foreground, French President Emmanuel Macron is trying to resuscitate his wife with the words: “Stop the riots! My wife has a bad heart.” Zelensky stands nearby and says: “Stop the riots! All money should go to help Ukraine, not for repairs!” This supposedly existing cover appeared shortly after days of unrest in France, flared up after a police officer shot and killed 17-year-old Nael Merzouk while driving a car on June 27 in a Paris suburb. This cover was reported, in particular, by Telegram channels “What happened?"(117,000 views at the time of writing this analysis), "DPR 🅉 Info 🇷🇺" (48,000) and "I'm shocked"(29,000).
Courrier International is a weekly magazine published on Thursdays, with a digital version appearing a day earlier. The image being distributed states in two places (to the right of the title and in the lower left corner above the barcode) that this is supposedly #1705, a July 2023 special issue. There is an issue with the same number in the publication’s archive; it appeared on the website on July 6, and indeed dedicated unrest in France. But it has a different cover. In addition, on the publication’s website you can find special application to issue 1705, but Zelensky is not on its cover at all.
Some technical details also indicate that the cover being circulated is fake. The viral image above the barcode shows the number 031183. On the real covers of Courrier International, the number 03183 is used. This is not the first time that the authors of fake cartoons have copied this error; “Verified” wrote about it in April and in June 2023, when previous fake French magazine covers appeared.
The original source of the fake was the Telegram channel “Before everyone else. Well almost. Special operation", where the post with the cover appeared on July 4 at 10:06 Moscow time (12,000 views). In recent months, it is this Telegram channel that has most often become the primary source of distribution of fake covers of foreign magazines and newspapers. Of the 28 similar images analyzed by “Verified” in 2023, in 20 cases it was the channel “Before everyone else” who was the first to write about it. Well almost. Special operation."
Charlie Hebdo
On July 18, the cover of the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo appeared on the Internet. A blurry silhouette of a burning bridge is visible in the background; in the foreground is Vladimir Zelensky in a boat with a rocket in his hands. The President of Ukraine says: “I have nothing to do with it.” Obviously, the authors hint at explosion, which occurred on July 17 on the Crimean Bridge connecting the annexed Crimea with the Krasnodar Territory of the Russian Federation. The Ukrainian authorities did not take responsibility for blowing up the bridge; Russia blamed Kyiv for the incident. This supposedly new cover of Charlie Hebdo was reported, for example, by Telegram channels “Before everyone else. Well almost. Special operation"(12,000 views at the time of writing this analysis), "Long tongue 🇷🇺" (6,000) and "Grandma knows everything!"(6000).
On the right under the title of the journal it is indicated that this is No. 1579 dated July 18, 2023. The first discrepancy is the release date: new issues of Charlie Hebdo appear on the site on Wednesdays, and in print on newsstands on Thursdays. Thus, the real magazine was released only the day after the viral cover appeared, on Wednesday, July 19th. In addition, the numbering does not match: the latest number at the time of writing this analysis is 1617.
The real issue 1579 was published back in October 2022 and was dedicated to the far-right politician Eric Zemmour. It’s interesting that at the same time Telegram also became widespread. fake cover under the same number, which ridiculed the problems with electricity in Ukraine after Russian missile attacks.
Unlike previous fake Charlie Hebdo covers (here are examples for november 2022, April And June 2023), the authors of the fake did not even imitate the handwritten font that the artists of the French edition usually use. In addition, the content of the caricature also differs from the others: the authors of the fakes depicted Zelensky in the form of a dog And persecutor of Christianity, hinted that Ukrainians adhere to Nazi ideology, represented the President of Ukraine beggarconstantly asking for money. This time, the cartoon simply depicts Zelensky refusing to take responsibility for the blown up bridge.
The original source of the fake was the Telegram channel “Grandma knows everything!", where the post with the cover appeared on July 18 at 16:01 Moscow time (6000 views). In the Telegram channel "Before everyone else. Well almost. Special operation”, which most often becomes the source of the distribution of fake covers, it appeared two days later, on July 20.
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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