A fake TIME Magazine cover of Donald Trump as ‘Man of the Ear’ has gone viral as real.

The viral the image claiming to feature Donald Trump on the cover of TIME Magazine with the caption “Man of the Ear” is actually an altered version of the magazine.

Following the assassination attempt on former US President Donald Trump, an image purportedly showing former US President Donald Trump with a bandaged ear on a cover of TIME Magazine is going viral online.

Let’s check the truth

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Fact Check-

At first, we checked for the viral image on the TIME magazine front page archive for 2024 editions, to verify whether they had featured Donald Trump on its cover with a bandaged ear and the headline “Man of the Ear.” but none of the October editions listed for 2024 contain the cover shown in the viral claim does not exist.

The front-page archive for 2024 editions also can be seen below.

Time Vault

Melinda French Gates, not Donald Trump, is featured in the July 15, 2024 issue of TIME magazine. The May 27th edition of the magazine featured Trump, but the image and headline did not match the viral claim. This was before the attempted assassination of Trump on 13 July, 2024.

In November 2019, TIME Magazine released a checklist on how to spot a fake cover. It states most fake covers either have their logo stretched vertically, the word TIME tracked out too much or the logo in a different font. The article also mentioned that a genuine cover will feature a thin white border separating the iconic red frame from the photograph. In this case, we noticed that the viral image lacks the white border that is typically present alongside the cover image and only has a red border.

There is no date or “time.com” written on the viral image, which are standard elements on authentic TIME covers.

On 14 July 2024, TIME Magazine’s official Twitter handle uploaded a cover for their 5 August 2024 edition featuring a photograph of Trump fist-pumping to the crowd, moments after the near miss of his assassination attempt. This edition will be titled the “Attack on Trump.”

The altered TIME magazine cover, on the other hand, features an authentic image of Donald Trump. The image was captured on July 15th, as former President Donald Trump motioned during the Republican National Convention.

The widely circulated image claiming to feature Donald Trump on the cover of TIME Magazine with the caption “Man of the Ear” is actually an altered version of the magazine.

Conclusion

Fact Crescendo found that the viral the image claiming to feature Donald Trump on the cover of TIME Magazine with the caption “Man of the Ear” is actually an altered version of the magazine.