Altered photo of Mexican presidential candidate was not published by Times of Israel

An apparent screenshot of a headline in the Times of Israel is circulating online, but it features an altered photo that was not included in the original article. 

The screenshot includes the headline “Everything you need to know about the Jewish woman leading Mexico’s presidential race”, and features a photo of Claudia Sheinbaum as she walks across a stage with the Government of Mexico City logo in the background. 

Ms Sheinbaum was Mexico City’s first Jewish mayor between 2018 and 2023, and is a candidate in the country’s presidential election which will take place this June. 

But the photo shown in the screenshot, which appears to have been circulating online since at least 9 February, has been altered. It is clear from the original photo that Ms Sheibaum’s physical characteristics have been changed. The original photo is several years old.

Moreover, a completely different photo of Ms Sheinbaum was used in the actual Times of Israel article published in September 2023. That photo shows her addressing supporters at a rally. 

One post of the altered image has the caption “a picture says more than thousand words [sic]”, while another says: “That’s all I need to know.” 

This is not the first time Full Fact has seen an altered screenshot of a media report. We’ve recently written about an image of a Telegraph article on migration that was edited to feature a photo from Notting Hill Carnival, rather than the generic photo of a UK border sign.

Image courtesy of Secretaría de Cultura Ciudad de México