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ABC News didn’t use an altered photo of the Uvalde school shooter to make him look more Caucasian
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ABC News denied the claim, and there is no evidence that the news organization published any altered images of the gunman.
When law enforcement officials identified the Uvalde, Texas, school shooter as an 18-year-old man named Salvador Ramos, they also released his photo.
A social media claim falsely suggested that ABC News and its show "Good Morning America" altered that photo.
"ABC News altered Salvador Ramos’s photo to appear more Caucasian 😡 Real photo of the Uvalde Texas shooter (right) vs photo posted by @abcnews @GMA (left)," one tweet falsely stated.
Posts touting the claim use side-by-side images of a legitimate, unaltered photo of Ramos next to what users say was a photo ABC News published that shows him with lighter skin and different features.
Indeed, we could not find any instance of the edited photo being used in any tweets or reports by ABC News or Good Morning America.
Rather, it appears the altered image in this post was pasted over a screenshot of an authentic May 24 tweet from ABC News about the shooting.
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Our ruling
Tweets claim that ABC News and its program, "Good Morning America," manipulated the image of the Uvalde, Texas, school shooter to make him appear more Caucasian.
This is wrong. ABC News denied the claim and there is no evidence that the news organization published any altered images of the gunman.
We rate these posts False.
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Our Sources
Twitter post, May 24, 2022
ABC News archives search, May 25, 2022
Good Morning America archives search, May 25, 2022
Twitter, ABC News account, Accessed May 25, 2022
Twitter, Good Morning America account, Accessed May 25, 2022
Twitter, ABC News post, May 24, 2022
Email interview, Van Scott vice president of communications for ABC News, May 25, 2022
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More by Samantha Putterman
ABC News didn’t use an altered photo of the Uvalde school shooter to make him look more Caucasian
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