Claim: A news artwork by Atinka FM claims to show the image of the British High Commissioner to Ghana, Harriet Thompson.
The photo used on the artwork is not the British High Commissioner to Ghana, Harriet Thompson, but that of the British High Commissioner to Canada, Susannah Goshko.
Full Text
On Tuesday, May 31, 2022, many Ghanaian news portals including Citi Newsroom and Myjoyonline published stories about a letter written by the Inspector General of Police, Dr George Akuffo Dampare, to the British High Commissioner of Ghana, Harriet Thompson, in which the former criticized the diplomat for commenting (in a tweet) about the recent arrest of Ghanaian activist Oliver Barker-Vormawor.
The story dominated headlines for the day as many stories were published in reaction to the IGP’s letter such as this and this.
However, the publications, including various artworks that came with them and were shared widely, especially via WhatsApp had different photos depicting the British High Commissioner to Ghana.
Publications like those made by Multimedia Group’s Joy FM, UTV News, and Atinka FM on their respective platforms came under the radar after radio presenter and entertainment pundit, George Quaye, mentioned it in a Facebook post and asked for clarity.
Verification
We collected the three photos that have been used by the news organizations for their artworks and ran a series of reverse image searches on each of them.
Photo 1 after being subjected to a reverse image search identifies the lady as Harriet Thompson, the British High Commissioner to Ghana. The exact photo also appears on the UK government’s website as the High Commissioner to Ghana serving effectively since August 2021.
In photo 2, the results revealed the identity of the lady in the photo to be the British High Commissioner to Ghana, Harriet Thompson. This is also confirmed by a Twitter post by musician Okyeame Kwame in which he is pictured with the diplomat in the same attire.
Photo 3 is of Susannah Goshko, British high commissioner to Canada according to the Google reverse image search. A news publication by CTV News in Canada confirmed her to be the British High Commissioner to Canada and not Ghana.
Conclusion
The photo used by Atinka FM to represent the British High Commissioner to Ghana, Harriet Thompson, is false as it is photo of the High Commissioner to Canada.
