Czech disinformation outlet misinforms readers that a refugee camp "like Calais" is growing in Prague

The dissemination of disinformation and fake news to manipulate Czech readers takes various forms. A fresh example from the Czech tabloid Parlamentní listy demonstrates that the images used in news reporting play a significant role in such efforts.
Some people in the Prague 6-Dědina municipal department are expressing concerns about something unfamiliar to them, namely, a newly-created asylum and migration center run by the Czech Interior Ministry there, and they certainly have every right to do so. However, no two people ever write about (or photograph) the exact same thing.
It's rather logical that the media would take up this subject. The tabloid Blesk did so rather moderately and accompanied its piece with a somewhat boring but truthful photograph, this one:
The headline reads "People outraged by immigration center in Dědina, fear for their children and their safety". The disinformation tabloid Parlamentní listy, however, was much more exaggerated in its approach (see below).
Parlamentní listy copied Blesk's reporting, spruced it up, and accompanied the piece with photographs that are far more emotionally charged. The headline to the piece reads: "Gangs of smoking foreigners! Prague 6 Immigration center near primary school said to terrify locals."
The Czech name of the photographer (Jan Rychetský) and the caption to the photograph ("Occupants of the illegal camp called 'The Jungle' are abandoning it") give readers the impression that the image is of an actual place in Prague, a real photograph from the periphery of an otherwise prestigious neighborhood. In fact, this is an old shot of a refugee camp near Calais, France, nicknamed "The Jungle".
Such disinformation is the entire point here. Parlamentní listy is building up quite a tradition of media manipulation, and not just of photographs.
Recently the publication published this photograph to its Facebook profile:
The simple headline, "France", without any more information or explanation of the source of the photo, evokes a "Muslim invasion" of Europe. What are the facts, though?
This photograph actually has nothing to do with France, but was taken during Ramadan in India (where Islam is the second most widespread religion, after Hinduisim) in August 2010. in light of this fact, Parlamentní listy's motto - "Nobody can force you to believe anything" - suddenly takes on a whole different meaning.
This article was first written for the Institute for Independent Journalism.
Don't miss:
- Czech Interior Minister and President disagree about disinformation unit
- Czech Center against Terrorism and Hybrid Threats will refute disinformation online
- Czech bank pulls advertising from disinformation websites, costing them revenue
- Analysis: Czech media spread Islamophobic disinformation about court-ordered removal of Virgin Mary statue in France
- Commentary: How to produce disinformation in the Czech media
- Czech activist accuses two media outlets of producing disinformation and lies
Related articles:
- DECEPTIVE HOAX: No, Amazon has not fired 400 workers in Czech Republic because of refugees from Ukraine
- Pro-Kremlin fakery and manipulation: What to make of Russian claims of Ukraine's alleged "genocide", Fascism and Nazism?
- HOAX: Footage from Austrian television is not related to COVID-19, but shows climate activists demonstrating in Vienna
- Facebook users including Romani community in Czech Republic falling for Canadian HOAX about alleged arrest of pharma exec
- Czech DISINFORMATION: Alleged "Nurse from a Brno ICU" railing against vaccination, Petra Fajmonová Rédová, is not employed by any hospital in Brno
- Czech social media response to tornado includes antigypsyist rushes to judgment about Romani workers
- Online response to Stanislav Tomáš's death includes hoaxes shared in the Czech Romani community
- Commentary: Czech PM fishing for votes in a racist/xenophobic pond
- Local Communist Party cell in Czech Republic posts antigypsyist defamation to official website, party apologizes
- ROMEA TV program discusses current COVID-19 disinformation and hoaxes on the Czech Internet
- Romani scholarship recipient plans to work on AI at Czech university
- Czech Internet flooded with fake news alleging parasites are infesting items now mandated by the Government, such as antigen tests