The authentic covers carried different headlines.
These images on X (formerly Twitter) purportedly of the Thursday, July 25, 2024 editions of The Star, Daily Nation, and The Standard have been altered.
According to the images, The Star newspaper’s purported headline was: “DANCING ON GRAVES”, with the sub-head: “Bondo con man raises a toast to corpses of the young and brave”.
Similarly, on Daily Nation and The Standard, the purported headlines were: “Raila’s Judas moment”, which had the sub-head: “Veteran backer turned political prostitute shows his hand in Ruto tyranny” and “The devil wears Kaunda and Raila is his tailor” respectively.
The purported covers were shared after President William Ruto nominated Opposition figures from Raila Odinga-led ODM which is one of the parties that form the Azimio La Umoja coalition, to take up some of the cabinet secretary positions in the Kenya Kwanza administration. The nominations were subsequently challenged in court but the nominated CSs were later sworn into office.
Woman Kenya Network (WOKN) investigated the integrity of these headlines and established that all three had been altered.
WOKN reviewed the media outlets’ social media platforms and established that the news outlets did not publish covers with the purported headlines. The Star, Daily Nation, and The Standard had flagged the covers under scrutiny as fake.
The Star newspaper published a post on their X account on the same day, July 25, 2024, warning its readers against the misleading copy. The actual front page of the newspaper read: “Ruto, Raila new union to redefine 2027 race.”
Similarly, Daily Nation through the Nation Africa X account cautioned the public against the altered front page stating: “Beware of fake news! If it’s not on our official social media pages, it’s fake.”
The original headline read: “Enter Raila, the coalition ‘king’.”
The Standard also took to its social media to warn of the circulation of a misleading front page stating; “Please ignore the fake or manipulated front page cover of The Standard newspaper circulating online and in WhatsApp groups. Our correct headline is available in the print edition. Grab your copy from your nearest newsstand.”
The outlet’s actual front page had the headline: “Ruto hangs on to Raila for survival.”
This fact-check was written by Woman Kenya Network fact-checker Priscilla Kimani and edited by Woman Kenya editor Aruna Museti.
This fact-check was produced by Woman Kenya Network, under the African Fact-Checking Incubator program, with support from PesaCheck, Code for Africa’s fact-checking initiative, and the African Fact-Checking Alliance(AFCA).
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