In November 2023, covers of the Turkish edition of LeMan and the American Washington Monthly appeared on the Internet. The first ridiculed US President Joe Biden, the second - Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky. We decided to check if these are real covers.
Turkish LeMan magazine
On November 17, a cover of the Turkish satirical weekly LeMan began to circulate on social networks. The artist depicted Chinese leader Xi Jinping sitting on the bank of a river. US President Biden floats past him. The inscription reads: “If you sit by the river long enough, the corpse of your enemy will float past you.” This cover appeared following the meeting leaders of the two countries. After the summit, Biden said in an interview that he still considers Xi Jinping a dictator. This image was shared by Telegram channels such as “Optimist in civilian clothes"(11,000 views at the time of writing this analysis), "V🇷🇺Hand of the Kremlin🇷🇺Z" (6000) and "Kali YugaToday"(3000).
The viral cover states that this is issue #1652, dated November 17, 2023. LeMan magazine is published once a week on Wednesdays, with November 17 falling on a Friday. The archive of issues on the official website of the publication indicates that by that time came out No. 1651, on sale November 15th. And the real one is No. 1652 appeared on schedule, November 22, and it has a completely different cover, dedicated not to Biden and Xi Jinping, but to Turkish student dormitories.
The authors of the viral image carefully indicated all the technical information: release date, price and numbers on the barcode. However, there are details that allow you to distinguish real covers from fake ones. In particular, the font of the inscriptions above the LeMan logo at the top of the image is different. This is especially noticeable in the example of numbers, which in the Turkish edition are more like handwritten ones than in the imitators.
This is not the first time that fake covers of a Turkish publication have appeared online. This is the eighth image for 2022–2023 LeMan covers, which parses "Verified".
The earliest post with a fake cover that “Verified” was able to find was a publication in the Telegram channel “Shkvarka 2.0"(911 views) November 17 at 16:24 Moscow time.
American magazine Washington Monthly
On November 21, 2023, the cover of the Washington Monthly began to circulate on social networks. At the bottom of the image is the heading “Thanksgiving 2023.” The picture itself depicts the President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky. He sits with a full belly at the table with the remains of a holiday dinner, opposite is his family, looking at this in horror. Zelensky says: “Thank you! But I need more!” At the top, above the title, is the text: “Who will America celebrate Thanksgiving with in 2024?” This cover was published by such Telegram channels as “Kali YugaToday"(21,000 views), "Ukraine without Z options" (16,000) and "Vyacheslav Nikonov"(10,000).
Magazine Washington Monthly has been published since 1969 and comes out every two months. The viral cover states that this is a November-December 2023 issue. However, there is no such cover on the magazine's website. The last issue of the outgoing year is dedicated to the influence of Joe Biden on the global economy, and the US President is depicted on the cover.
Active dissemination of this cover on social networks began after the image was published by the Telegram channel “Optimist in civilian clothes» November 21 at 15:41 Moscow time.
Cover photo: collage “Checked”
- Is it true that foreign magazines published these covers dedicated to Zelensky and the Ukrainian church?
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- 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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