Fake or Fact: Media experts discusses misinformation

State media have published a series of critical articles against Chinese journalists, accusing them of helping foreign media with "anti-China reports."

During French Press and Media in Schools Week from March 21 to 26, the FRANCE 24 Observers team when to meet a class of students from the Paul Valéry high school in Paris. We answered their questions about disinformation and exchanged tips on how to sort the real from the fake. This report covers our experience, and ends with an image the students verified themselves.

We look at the Russian commander dubbed the "butcher of Mariupol" by the Times of London. We also discover a photo from a paediatric hospital that has come to define the war in Ukraine. Plus, Prince William and Kate are accused of colonial overtones in their official tour of the Caribbean, Italy crashes and burns in its World Cup qualifier and the founder of modern Internet culture, the GIF, passes away.

Sri Lanka's government said restrictions on access to social media platforms came a day after protesters defied a nationwide curfew to demand government accountability.

Leaders are asking Russian speakers in Germany not to heed "the cynical and trivializing disinformation campagin led by Russian state media." The statement came a day after a pro-Russian rally in Berlin.

A fake "Le Figaro Live" news report on social media claims to report on Chanel stores in Paris being vandalised with Hitler images. The stickers reference Coco Chanel's Nazi connections during World War II. The backlash against the brand has emerged in protest at Chanel's sale ban in Russia amid the war in Ukraine. We tell you more in this edition of Truth or Fake.

No, French President Emmanuel Macron did not say that 60 million African and Middle Eastern refugees would coverge on Europe over the next 20 years and the BBC did not tweet such a quote either. We take a look at the forensics of a fake news story. Plus, a quote from an old interview with defeated French leftist candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon is taken out of context.

One by one, Russia's independent media outlets have been forced to shut down since the start of the invasion of Ukraine, effectively banning all but the official state narrative on the war. The crackdown has sparked a mass exodus of Russian journalists, who fear not only for their jobs but also their lives. Among them is Denis Kataev, who was a TV anchor at the independent Dozhd TV, or TV Rain. He joined us for Perspective.

A victory for free speech or for disinformation? That is the 44-billion dollar question after Elon Musk's swoop for Twitter. Does it matter any more than Amazon's Jeff Bezos owning The Washington Post or all the French captains of industry whose often money-losing media purchases buy them a platform to voice their views?

In places such as Cameroon, Guinea Bissau, Rwanda or post-coup Mali, the media's vigilance extends well beyond issues that matter to the public. Journalists are forced to watch their own backs — and data, too.

The families of eight missing miners in Burkina Faso desperately awaited news from rescue teams on Thursday as efforts continued to locate the men who have been stuck underground for 26 days. There has been no communication with the miners since they were trapped more than 500 metres (1,640 ft) below ground during a flood at Canada-based Trevali Mining Corp's Perkoa zinc mine on April 16.

A weekly news show produced with photos, videos and personal accounts from FRANCE 24 Observers around the world – all checked by our staff here in Paris.