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Someone Shows How Paris Protest Fire ‘Actually Looked’, Gets Shut Down With Facts
What do you say to someone who has done you the service of exposing fake news, and given you a more realistic perspective? A thank you and a hug would be a good start. With propaganda, trickery with camera angles and bare-faced lies all over different media platforms these days, these guardians of fact and truth should be lauded for the heroes that they are.
But what happens when the truth-tellers go rogue? Everyone loves a good conspiracy, so when a shocking photo of flames blazing in front of the iconic Arc de Triomphe emerged, juxtaposed with a small scooter set alight with photographers jostling for angles in the background, it immediately went viral.
“Aha!” People cried. “It’s the media at it again, tricking us into believing that Paris is burning! Those rascals!”
This time, however, it was the debunkers that needed debunking. Nobody knows who first created the comparison and why, but it was shared tens of thousands of times, along with sarcastic captions like “Perspective matters” or “Paris Burns.” International news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) decided to step in and investigate, and what they found was interesting indeed.
“Perspective matters, and so do dates and places… because these two photos were taken on two different days in two different places, in Paris,” they wrote on Twitter. “Criticism of media coverage is legitimate, but this isn’t the best example of it.
The entire thread is an expert dismantling of this ‘exposé,’ and is a timely reminder that even those claiming to be working on behalf of ‘the truth’ need to be fact-checked themselves.
These pictures ‘debunking’ fires at the Paris Protests have gone viral over the past few days
Image credits: DoveyWan
Image credits: mikofLohr
But something seemed off to international news agency AFP, so they decided to investigate
Image credits: AFPFactCheck
And what they found proved that even those claiming to be working on behalf of ‘the truth’ need to be fact-checked themselves
Image credits: AFPFactCheck
Image credits: AFPFactCheck
Image credits: KARINE PIERRE
Image credits: AFPFactCheck
Image credits: AFPFactCheck
Image credits: AFPFactCheck
Image credits: AFPFactCheck
Image credits: AFPFactCheck
Here’s what people had to say
Image credits: ian2098
Image credits: DanDarkPill
Image credits: _jayschneider_
Image credits: unbearablefacts
Image credits: UncleDiaz
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What do you think ?
Vilkas 5 years ago
The internet used to be so great (Circa 1997-2006). What the f**k happened?
!M! - Imre Zoltan Nemeth 5 years ago
fakenews gets rules the world.... :I
Load More Replies...
diane a 5 years ago
Surely the French leaders should take a note from history about what can happen when it's poor and working class take umbrage at being unfairly treated and opressed by those in power. Arrive Madame La Guillotine!
Load More Replies...
Meowton Mewsk 5 years ago
This is what happens when a bunch of overgrown 4 year olds get their news only in picture form. It’s easy to be misled if you don’t read articles or listen to news and instead just only look at captioned pictures on your Facebook newsfeed.
The Girl on Fire 5 years ago
BP I normally love your content but this is the third time this week I have seen "Gets Shut Down With Facts."
Candela Cottis 5 years ago
Hi, as someone who is actually living in Paris, it is not in flames and most of the protesters are actually peaceful. Those who are not usually have hundreds of riot police around them which stop the damage from getting too far. The only part of this movement that I have seen in the media is the violent part and i personally think that this is the governments way of making sure no one joins the movement and of dehumanizing the pepople who have legitimate problems
Irene Walton 5 years ago
thank you for this, so much in the media is BS and everyone jumps on the bandwagon,
Toby Flenderson 5 years ago
Unfortunately for many, many people, "Somebody's lying" = "Everybody's lying".
Night Owl 5 years ago (edited)
"Photo That Supposedly 'Debunked' Paris Protest Fires Gets Debunked Itself" Debunkception ---------------- Fake news and rumors are like like cancer or a epidemie in that they spread very quickly and are very hard to control. Sometimes I have the feeling they are even easier to deal with than disinformation and sensationalism. I'm grateful for AFPFactCheck, Snopes and other institutions, teams and individuals who do fact checks and share their results with the rest of us.
Sarah Booth 5 years ago
Any photo found to be faked by a legitimate news agency would result in the immediate firing of the photographer and the individual black balled from other legitimate news agency's. Any photo that uses more than the original image or manipulated to change the original image (we're not talking taking out dust specks) is grounds for immediate dismissal. Also staged photographs are also grounds for dismissal and the photographer would never work in news again. No proper news outlet would risk its reputation with a doctored image.
Michelle Dodson 5 years ago
I read a story earlier today about how Tupac's ashes were mixed with weed and smoked by his "posse" Outlawz. Have you ever SEEN cremains (cremated remains)? They are not ashes in any way, shape or form. They're more like a large grit sand, with chunks (bone) in them. Yeah, sure - they "smoked them". What a load of horseshit.
Michèle Gyselinck 5 years ago
The manifestations (to call them that if not actual riots) were not fake. We saw them on France 2's news broadcasts. They showed real people expressing real discontent with their financial situations. The problem is that some people took advantage of the riots to vandalize private property and loot stores.
Kyana Winter 5 years ago
I am sorry, but I am confused by the protest and fire thing, may someone please explain?
Alban Bizet 5 years ago
The tax on petrol is more the straw that breaks the camel's back, For year now the government raise the taxes for lower and middle class while they cut them for the rich and companies, now we have people struggling to live with what is use to be a descent salary, the poor are in the deep, so they took the street to complain about it, unfortunately Macron poorly managed the situation and waited for the situation to escalate before try to find a solution, not forgetting the violence between the cops and people in the street and you have a good receipt for disaster.
Load More Replies...
Monika Soffronow 5 years ago
We live in an age where you have to be able to judge correctly - when at the same time, more and more people seem to believe that democracy means that they can choose whatever scenario they please above facts and that it doesn't matter one iota whether they actually have any knowledge on a specific matter or simply an opinion based on whatever happens to suit them for the moment. Gullibility has been weaponized. The internet is an ocean of zeros and ones with way too many skippers running their ships aground to drown in dis- or misinformation.
Sarah 5 years ago
Yes. The cable news channels have more opinion shows that plain deliverance of the news. Apparently we Americans aren't interested in forming our own opinions unaided. We seem to want them prepackaged. We have strayed from real news in favor of ratings.
Load More Replies... 
Vilkas 5 years ago
The internet used to be so great (Circa 1997-2006). What the f**k happened?
!M! - Imre Zoltan Nemeth 5 years ago
fakenews gets rules the world.... :I
Load More Replies... diane a 5 years ago
Surely the French leaders should take a note from history about what can happen when it's poor and working class take umbrage at being unfairly treated and opressed by those in power. Arrive Madame La Guillotine!
Load More Replies... Meowton Mewsk 5 years ago
This is what happens when a bunch of overgrown 4 year olds get their news only in picture form. It’s easy to be misled if you don’t read articles or listen to news and instead just only look at captioned pictures on your Facebook newsfeed.
The Girl on Fire 5 years ago
BP I normally love your content but this is the third time this week I have seen "Gets Shut Down With Facts."
Candela Cottis 5 years ago
Hi, as someone who is actually living in Paris, it is not in flames and most of the protesters are actually peaceful. Those who are not usually have hundreds of riot police around them which stop the damage from getting too far. The only part of this movement that I have seen in the media is the violent part and i personally think that this is the governments way of making sure no one joins the movement and of dehumanizing the pepople who have legitimate problems
Irene Walton 5 years ago
thank you for this, so much in the media is BS and everyone jumps on the bandwagon,
Toby Flenderson 5 years ago
Unfortunately for many, many people, "Somebody's lying" = "Everybody's lying".
Night Owl 5 years ago (edited)
"Photo That Supposedly 'Debunked' Paris Protest Fires Gets Debunked Itself" Debunkception ---------------- Fake news and rumors are like like cancer or a epidemie in that they spread very quickly and are very hard to control. Sometimes I have the feeling they are even easier to deal with than disinformation and sensationalism. I'm grateful for AFPFactCheck, Snopes and other institutions, teams and individuals who do fact checks and share their results with the rest of us.
Sarah Booth 5 years ago
Any photo found to be faked by a legitimate news agency would result in the immediate firing of the photographer and the individual black balled from other legitimate news agency's. Any photo that uses more than the original image or manipulated to change the original image (we're not talking taking out dust specks) is grounds for immediate dismissal. Also staged photographs are also grounds for dismissal and the photographer would never work in news again. No proper news outlet would risk its reputation with a doctored image.
Michelle Dodson 5 years ago
I read a story earlier today about how Tupac's ashes were mixed with weed and smoked by his "posse" Outlawz. Have you ever SEEN cremains (cremated remains)? They are not ashes in any way, shape or form. They're more like a large grit sand, with chunks (bone) in them. Yeah, sure - they "smoked them". What a load of horseshit.
Michèle Gyselinck 5 years ago
The manifestations (to call them that if not actual riots) were not fake. We saw them on France 2's news broadcasts. They showed real people expressing real discontent with their financial situations. The problem is that some people took advantage of the riots to vandalize private property and loot stores.
Kyana Winter 5 years ago
I am sorry, but I am confused by the protest and fire thing, may someone please explain?
Alban Bizet 5 years ago
The tax on petrol is more the straw that breaks the camel's back, For year now the government raise the taxes for lower and middle class while they cut them for the rich and companies, now we have people struggling to live with what is use to be a descent salary, the poor are in the deep, so they took the street to complain about it, unfortunately Macron poorly managed the situation and waited for the situation to escalate before try to find a solution, not forgetting the violence between the cops and people in the street and you have a good receipt for disaster.
Load More Replies... Monika Soffronow 5 years ago
We live in an age where you have to be able to judge correctly - when at the same time, more and more people seem to believe that democracy means that they can choose whatever scenario they please above facts and that it doesn't matter one iota whether they actually have any knowledge on a specific matter or simply an opinion based on whatever happens to suit them for the moment. Gullibility has been weaponized. The internet is an ocean of zeros and ones with way too many skippers running their ships aground to drown in dis- or misinformation.
Sarah 5 years ago
Yes. The cable news channels have more opinion shows that plain deliverance of the news. Apparently we Americans aren't interested in forming our own opinions unaided. We seem to want them prepackaged. We have strayed from real news in favor of ratings.
Load More Replies... 
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