A front page article by the Southern Times cautioning against travel to Kenya because of the growing number of cases in Kenya.
The image was also shared elsewhere on Facebook with a post claiming that Kenya was on course to follow Italy’s trajectory in terms of the spread of the disease. Italy currently has the third highest confirmed COVID-19 cases in the world, behind the United States and China., While the front page does not include the publication dates of the weekly newspaper, the rest of the stories highlighted on the front page are similar to those of its 23 — 29 November 2018 edition, indicating that it has been doctored., Further, a search on the official website of The Southern Times does not show the story in question and the cover page of the latest digital edition (20 — 26 March) does not feature such a cover story., The Southern Times has also published a statement saying that it has never published such a story in any of its print, digital editions, website or digital platforms at any time., “We stand guided by the WHO guidelines in the fight against coronavirus and nowhere in our publication have we encouraged the shunning of nationals from any African country or elsewhere, as a way of avoiding COVID-19,” said Innocent Gore, the editor of The Southern Times, PesaCheck has looked into an image of a front page of the Southern Times newspaper cautioning its readers to avoid Kenya due to the likelihood of increased COVID-19 infections and finds it to be FALSE., This post is part of an ongoing series of PesaCheck fact-checks examining content marked as potential misinformation on Facebook and other social media platforms., By partnering with Facebook and similar social media platforms, third-party fact-checking organisations like PesaCheck are helping to sort fact from fiction. We do this by giving the public deeper insight and context to posts they see in their social media feeds., Have you spotted what you think is fake news or false information on Facebook? Here’s how you can report. And, here’s more information on PesaCheck’s methodology for fact-checking questionable content., This fact-check was written by PesaCheck Fact-Checker Simon Muli and edited by PesaCheck Deputy Editor Ann Ngengere, The article was approved for publication by PesaCheck Managing Editor Eric Mugendi., PesaCheck is East Africa’s first public finance fact-checking initiative. It was co-founded by Catherine Gicheru and Justin Arenstein, and is being incubated by the continent’s largest civic technology and data journalism accelerator: Code for Africa. It seeks to help the public separate fact from fiction in public pronouncements about the numbers that shape our world, with a special emphasis on pronouncements about public finances that shape government’s delivery of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) public services, such as healthcare, rural development and access to water / sanitation. PesaCheck also tests the accuracy of media reportage. To find out more about the project, visit pesacheck.org., PesaCheck is a joint initiative of Code for Africa, through its innovateAFRICA fund, with additional funding support from the International Budget Partnership (Kenya) and Twaweza, in partnership with a coalition of local media organisations, and the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ)., Written by, Written by
FALSE: This newspaper front page cautioning against travel to Kenya due to COVID-19 is fake