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AFP
7 days ago
- General
- AFP
False claim France's La Jument lighthouse pays staff millions persists online
"This job pays $1.2 million per year but nobody is willing to do it," says text over an image shared on Instagram. The July 6, 2025 post, which has garnered more than 24,000 likes, includes multiple dramatic images showing a wave crashing around the lighthouse. "The French Maritime Administration has struggled for years to staff the post, despite the astronomical salary," the post's caption reads. "A report from Le Monde detailed the extreme isolation, constant threat from the sea, and the psychological toll of living alone under high-risk conditions." "Sometimes, peace of mind is worth more than a paycheck," the post adds, calling the La Jument lighthouse "one of the most dangerous in the world." Image Screenshot of a post on Instagram taken July 18, 2025 Similar posts repeating the same claim racked up thousands of likes across platforms such as TikTok, X, Facebook and YouTube. The rumor also spawned articles that purported to detail the position and salary, published on advertisement-laden websites that resemble pages AFP has previously fact-checked for pushing clickbait misinformation to generate advertising revenue. The lighthouse, built from 1904 to 1911, rose to fame in 1989 after French photographer Jean Guichard took a dramatic picture of keeper Théodore Malgorn standing in the lighthouse's doorway as a wave enveloped the structure. The photo won second prize in the "Nature" category at the 1991 World Press Photo contest -- and is used to illustrate the false Instagram post. But claims of a $1.2 million salary for those guarding the watchtower are false. The official history of the lighthouse on the Interregional Directorate of the North Atlantic Sea Western Channel (DIRM NAMO) website says La Jument has been automated since 1991 (archived here). "There is no keeper at the La Jument lighthouse nor in any French lighthouse," DIRM NAMO told AFP in a July 21 email. "French lighthouses have all been automated for many years. Agents from the 'lighthouses and beacons' division regularly visit them to maintain and modernize them." This statement echoes an official denial the authority posted online when a similar claim circulated on TikTok in 2024 (archived here). A search for open positions within DIRM NAMO yielded no results for prospective employment at the lighthouse (archived here and here). The Office of Tourism for Ouessant Island -- the westernmost point in metropolitan France where the lighthouse is located -- also said the claim was "fake." "There has been no one who has worked in the La Jument lighthouse since 1991 and the salary at that time was far from a million," the office told AFP in a July 18 email. Despite this information, a keyword search AFP conducted for "La Jument lighthouse 1.2 million salary," using Microsoft's Bing browser on July 18, provided an AI-generated summary affirming the eye-popping pay to work at the site, offering social media posts and a false article as the evidence. The same search performed July 22 on Google resulted in an AI summary that called the salary claim exaggerated, but repeated misinformation that the position is vacant, referencing false articles and social media posts. However, when the search was conducted the same day in French, Google's AI summary correctly stated that the lighthouse keeper job at La Jument does not exist. Image Screenshots comparing AI summary responses to keyword searches on Google in English (L) and French on July 22, 2025 AFP has debunked other misinformation about Europe here.
RNZ News
23-07-2025
- RNZ News
Nelson photographer's 10-year Tuhoe project wins top award
Left: Children from the Teepa family drive the younger siblings home, after a swim in the Ōhinemataroa (Whakatane) River, in Ruatoki. Right; Tatsiana Chypsanava. Photo: Tatsiana Chypsanava A photograph is taken in an instant, but an award-winning long-term photography project can take ten years - as Tatsiana Chypsanava discovered. The Nelson-based photographer originally hails from Belarus and is a descendant of the Komi peoples of the Siberian North West Ural. She moved to New Zealand in 2008, and worked for Archives New Zealand - which is where she met representatives of Tuhoe, who were preparing for a settlement hearing. It led her to photograph the people living in Te Urewera, Tuhoe's ancestral land, on and off for a decade. That project, called Te Urewera - The Living Ancestor of Tuhoe People - netted her the Asia-Pacific and Oceania Long Term Projects Prize at this year's World Press Photo Awards. She joins Kathryn to talk about why she's drawn to telling the stories of indigenous people. The World Press Photo Exhibition is on in Auckland from 26 July - 24 August, and Wellington from 5 September - 5 October.
The Guardian
12-07-2025
- The Guardian
‘You don't get a second chance at a shot like this – horses wander off': Mike Wells's best phone picture
'Scrambling to catch this shot felt like 3D chess,' says photographer Mike Wells. 'My eyes were balancing Connemara's famous mountains, its wild ponies and the stone walls, while my mind computed the variables: the rush to catch the last rays of evening sun, that moment when a sea breeze lifts the ponies' manes, and whichever way they will amble next.' In 1981, Wells won the World Press Photo of the Year for an image shot in Uganda depicting a malnourished boy's hand resting in the palm of a Catholic priest. 'When I was working in the 1970s and 80s, unless you could afford a motor drive for your camera, you often got just one chance at the critical shot,' Wells says. 'You could never tell whether you really had captured the moment until you got back from Africa, or at least out of the darkroom. That image wasn't well lit or well composed, just grabbed in the moment as an Italian missionary priest showed me the hand of a starving boy, one of those they were trying to save by emptying their mission's grain stores.' Sign up to Inside Saturday The only way to get a look behind the scenes of the Saturday magazine. Sign up to get the inside story from our top writers as well as all the must-read articles and columns, delivered to your inbox every weekend. after newsletter promotion Wells adds that while he is 'older, slower' now, and doesn't often take photos, the familiar electric charge as the elements of an image seem to fall into place remains the same. 'You still don't get a second try at a shot like this: the sun will have set, or the horses wandered off, or both,' he says. 'The difference today is that you get your answer at once – it's wonderful not to have to wait days or weeks to find out if the moment was as special or important as your instinct insisted it was.'
The Guardian
12-07-2025
- The Guardian
‘You don't get a second chance at a shot like this – horses wander off': Mike Wells's best phone picture
'Scrambling to catch this shot felt like 3D chess,' says photographer Mike Wells. 'My eyes were balancing Connemara's famous mountains, its wild ponies and the stone walls, while my mind computed the variables: the rush to catch the last rays of evening sun, that moment when a sea breeze lifts the ponies' manes, and whichever way they will amble next.' In 1981, Wells won the World Press Photo of the Year for an image shot in Uganda depicting a malnourished boy's hand resting in the palm of a Catholic priest. 'When I was working in the 1970s and 80s, unless you could afford a motor drive for your camera, you often got just one chance at the critical shot,' Wells says. 'You could never tell whether you really had captured the moment until you got back from Africa, or at least out of the darkroom. That image wasn't well lit or well composed, just grabbed in the moment as an Italian missionary priest showed me the hand of a starving boy, one of those they were trying to save by emptying their mission's grain stores.' Sign up to Inside Saturday The only way to get a look behind the scenes of the Saturday magazine. Sign up to get the inside story from our top writers as well as all the must-read articles and columns, delivered to your inbox every weekend. after newsletter promotion Wells adds that while he is 'older, slower' now, and doesn't often take photos, the familiar electric charge as the elements of an image seem to fall into place remains the same. 'You still don't get a second try at a shot like this: the sun will have set, or the horses wandered off, or both,' he says. 'The difference today is that you get your answer at once – it's wonderful not to have to wait days or weeks to find out if the moment was as special or important as your instinct insisted it was.'
Scoop
02-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Scoop
A Window Into Humanity: World Press Photo Exhibition Opens This Month In Auckland
Presenting the 2025 World Press Photo Contest winning photographs, the exhibition will display a selection of powerful images by 42 international photographers. It offers a rare opportunity to step away from our screens and engage with the stories … The prestigious annual World Press Photo Exhibition opens this month, bringing the past year's most captivating and thought-provoking photojournalism and documentary photography from around the globe to Auckland, from 26 July – 24 August at 131 Queen Street. Presenting the 2025 World Press Photo Contest winning photographs, the exhibition will display a selection of powerful images by 42 international photographers. It offers a rare opportunity to step away from our screens and engage with the stories behind the headlines. 2025 marks 70 years of World Press Photo. To celebrate, this year will also include a special anniversary exhibition in addition to the 2025 contest winning photographs. Curated by Cristina de Middel and titled What Have We Done? Unpacking Seven Decades of Photojournalism Through the World Press Photo Archive, the exhibition will feature images pulled from the World Press Photo archives. It invites audiences to rethink not just how photojournalism has evolved but how we, as viewers and citizens, should be learning to read images with a sharper and more critical eye. A media preview of the exhibition will be held on Friday 25 July between 2 – 4pm, with Nelson-based 2025 World Press Photo Contest winning photographer Tatsiana Chypsana, and travelling curator Martha Echevarria available for interview. If you wish to attend, please contact ali@ An exclusive public preview and panel discussion is available on Thursday 24 July, 6pm. Tickets are available via Eventfinda. Viewers will get to take in the exhibition ahead of the opening, and hear from a World Press Photo curator, judge, and winning photographer, talking about the importance of press freedom and how photography helps tell the stories the world needs to hear. In addition, you'll get an exclusive look at additional images from photographer Tatsiana Chypsanava's long term project Te Uruwera – The Living Ancestor of Tūhoe People, which are not in the main exhibition. The Rotary Club of Auckland is proud to bring the World Press Photo Exhibition to Auckland, with all proceeds from the event going towards Rotary youth charities and disability charity PHAB.
