ALTERED: This 26 October 2023 Standard newspaper front page is doctored

The legitimate Standard front page had a different headline.

This Facebook post with an image purportedly of the Standard newspaper’s 26 October 2023 front page is ALTERED.

The image claims that the publication’s front page had a headline reading “The lying president.”

‘Kenyans have now started to see the truth hata wengine wakinyamaza na kulalamika kimoyomoyo( even when others remain silent and complain inwardly) reads the post.

The image was shared after it emerged that the head of state had made 38 foreign trips between September 13, 2022 when he took office, and October  2023.

Browsing through the image, it is evident that the headline on the front page is inconsistent with the summary placed below it.

Moreover, the spacing between ‘The’ and ‘lying’ is unnecessarily huge, potentially indicating digital manipulation.

To confirm the front page’s authenticity, Mtoto News checked Standard Digital’s Facebook page and X account (formerly Twitter), but there was no such cover.

On 26 October 2023, Standard published its legitimate front page which had the headline ‘The Flying President’.

The front page we are debunking was altered by removing the letter ‘f’ from the word ‘flying’. With the exception of the headline, all other information on the front page remains unaltered.

The article linked to the front page was published here.

Mtoto News looked into a Facebook post with an image purportedly of the Standard newspaper’s 26 October 2023 front page and found it to be ALTERED.

This fact-check was published by Mtoto News with technical support from Code for Africa’s PesaCheck newsdesk through the African Fact-Checking Alliance.