An image which has been shared multiple times on Facebook purports to show a report in US newspaper The Boston Globe ranking Sri Lankans the world's "top foolish voters". The claim is false; the front page has been doctored from an August 2018 edition of the paper; the original front page actually shows an editorial decrying US President Trump's attacks on the media.
The image was published here on Facebook on August 6, 2020. It has been shared more than 1,100 times.
The misleading post features a purported front page of The Boston Globe dated August 16, 2018.
The headline reads: "Top Foolish Voters, By Country", and lists Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, in order.
The Sinhala text overlay translates to English as: "We are happy to announce that we have been selected as the world's most foolish voters".
A screenshot of the misleading Facebook post taken on August 17, 2020 The image was also shared here, here, here, here and here on Facebook, and here on Twitter, alongside similar claims.
However, the claim is false; this image actually shows a doctored front page.
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A reverse image search on Google found the original photo published here on the website of international photo agency Getty Images, dated August 16, 2018.
Below is a screenshot of the photo on Getty's website.
The picture was seen on Getty's website. The photo caption reads: "The front page of the Thursday, August 16, 2018 edition of the Boston Globe newspaper reads 'Journalists are Not the Enemy' as it sits for sale at Out of Town News on August 16, 2018 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Hundreds of U.S. newspapers joined together and published editorials decrying President Donald Trump's description of the media as the 'enemy of the people.'"
Below is a screenshot comparison between the front page pictured in the misleading post (L) and the Getty Images photo (R) :
Screenshot comparison between the front page pictured in the misleading post (L) and the Getty Images photo (R)
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by BOOM staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
