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Debunking the bushfires disinformation inferno

Esther Chan Friday 21 February 2020

"A satellite photo showing the extent of Australia’s bushfires? No, a graphic generated using NASA’s data. A kangaroo cuddling up to researchers after escaping the fires? No, he was actually thousands of miles away from the blazes, hugging a carer at a wildlife sanctuary. Wombats showed “real leadership” during the crisis by inviting other animals to hide in their burrows? They’ve allowed intruders in their burrows for eons," writes Esther Chan, a digital verification editor in AFP's Sydney bureau.

"As the bushfires spread with unprecedented speed and ferocity in Australia, so had misinformation. In fact the cesspool of rumours, hoaxes and conspiracy theories matched the infernos in their intensity and scale."

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  • AFP / Saeed Khan
  • AFP / Saeed Khan
  • AFP / Saeed Khan
  • AFP / Saeed Khan

Apocalypse now as Australia burns

Glenda Kwek Wednesday 5 February 2020

"For weeks I’d been dreaming of blue skies and the smell of eucalyptus in the air," writes Glenda Kwek, an Australia native on a post in India. "I was shivering through one of New Delhi’s coldest winters in a century and one of its worst air pollution seasons in recent years and all I could think about was upcoming Christmas trip home to Australia -- fresh air, soft, sand beaches warmed by the summer sun."

"The scene that greeted me was starkly different."

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  • AFP / Nicolas Asfouri
  • AFP / Hector Retamal
  • AFP / Hector Retamal
  • AFP / Hector Retamal

Life in the time of coronavirus

Leo Ramirez, Sebastien Ricci, Hector Retamal Sunday 2 February 2020

For eight days, an AFP team reported from the ground zero of the coronavirus epidemic sending shudders across the globe. Leo Ramirez, Hector Retamal and Sebastien Ricci filmed, photographed and wrote about the city of Wuhan in China, where the virus originated, as the metropolis of 11 million was shut off from the rest of the world.

Here they tell their story from a holiday resort in southern France, where they were brought in an evacuation organized by the French authorities and where they are being held in quarantine to make sure they did not contract the deadly virus.

 

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AFP / Menahem Kahana

As memories fade

Michael Zeev Blum, Menahem Kahana, Guillaume Lavallee, Ahikam Seri Monday 27 January 2020

How do you interrupt an Auschwitz survivor in an interview as he strays way off topic? How do you balance your need to get his personal story with his need to tell you the history of the Holocaust in a world where the memory of the Nazi genocide is fading further and further into history? What imprint does hearing stories of evil over and over again leave on you?

Ahead of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the notorious death camp by Soviet troops, the AFP team in Jerusalem interviewed 11 survivors to produce a multimedia package.

Each journalist faced his own difficulties in doing so. Text reporter Michael Zeev Blum, who grew up in a world where the memory of the Holocaust was ever-present, searched for details of his grandfather whose name he bears. Photographer Menahem Kahana couldn’t help but hear echoes of his parents. Bureau chief Guillaume Lavallee kept thinking of how to keep a handle on and do justice to the heartbreaking material. Video journalist Ahikam Seri heard the stories in a new light and saw something he hadn’t noticed before.

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AFP / Fabrice Coffrini

Davos: It's good to talk

Richard Carter Tuesday 21 January 2020

"'Don't get too drunk at the champagne receptions,' my colleagues joked as I left to cover my first summit in Davos a few years back," writes Richard Carter, currently deputy bureau chief in Tokyo.

"That's the public perception of the World Economic Forum in the stunning Swiss village: corporate fat cats, politicians and journalists on a ski junket followed by evenings quaffing bubbly."

"Here's the thing: that's not too far from the truth! But for lowly journalists -- especially from news agencies like AFP trying to cover as many events as possible -- it's also one of the toughest assignments you can get."

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