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Politics41 outlets ran this4 min read

Eleven to stand trial for Thomas Perotto murder in France

Judges retain racism as an aggravating circumstance against the accused, overturning a previous prosecutor's objection.

AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made

Published
L'entrée condamnée de la salle des fêtes de Crépol, le 22 novembre 2023 ; c'est là que Thomas, un adolescent, a perdu la vie trois jours avant, mortellement blessé à l'arme blanche lors d'un bal dans ce petit village de la Drôme. (OLIVIER CHASSIGNOLE / AFP)

What this story says

  • Eleven people have been ordered to stand trial for the murder of Thomas Perotto in Crépol, France.
  • Investigating judges have included racism as an aggravating circumstance against the eleven accused, citing statements against 'the white race and the French nation'.
  • The public prosecutor's office in Valence had previously contested the racist nature of the crime.
  • A twelfth suspect will be tried for voluntary violence with weapons.

Who covered it

Left 35%(7)Centre 50%(10)Right 15%(3)

Percentages are shares of the 20 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 21 of the 41 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .

Trust

42/100

Craft

61/100

Hype

41/100

41 sources · methodology

Missing from the right

Only 3 of the 20 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated right.

A reader who follows the right would not have seen this. We report the absence rather than explain it: outlets choose what to cover for many reasons, and we have no evidence about which one applies here.

Investigating judges in France have ordered eleven individuals to stand trial for the murder of Thomas Perotto in Crépol. The judges have retained the aggravating circumstance of racism, citing statements made against "the white race and the French nation." A twelfth suspect will face trial for voluntary violence with weapons.

Disagreement over racist motive

The public prosecutor's office in Valence had previously contested the racist nature of the crime. However, the investigating judges, in their order, included the aggravating circumstance of racism. This decision was made after receiving observations from certain civil parties, according to franceinfo. The prosecutor's office had considered these testimonies to be minor, imprecise, or contradictory, and insufficient to characterise the accusation.

What the coverage left out

None of the digests mention the identity of the individual who delivered the fatal blow. The full report from franceinfo also stated that the author of the fatal blow remained unknown.

Tags:#ThomasPerotto#Crepol#Racism#France#MurderTrial

Coverage settled. We checked this 8 times and stopped on 30 Sept 2026, 17:01. The figures above are what it finished at.

How each side covered it

Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.

Left

7 rated outlets

  • Six left-rated reports focused on the retention of the aggravating circumstance of racism. franceinfo, which published a full report, stated that investigating judges ordered a trial for eleven accused for murder and attempted murder, retaining the aggravating circumstance of racism towards "the white race and the French nation." The report also noted that the public prosecutor's office in Valence had contested this racist nature. La Dépêche du Midi, actu.fr, L'Humanité, Mediapart, Le Huffington Post, Liberation, Le Monde, and NotreTemps.com all highlighted the trial for murder with the aggravating circumstance of racism. L'Humanité noted that this notion "delights the far right," while Mediapart mentioned that the author of the fatal knife blow remains unknown.

Centre

10 rated outlets

  • Seven centre-rated reports highlighted the trial for murder with the aggravating circumstance of racism. actu.fr, France24, Sud Ouest, leprogres.fr, lindependant.fr, ledauphine.com, and BFM TV all reported that eleven young people would be tried for murder aggravated by racism. France24 and BFM TV noted that a twelfth suspect would be tried for voluntary violence with weapons. leprogres.fr and lindependant.fr specified that the aggravating circumstance of racism was retained on the basis of testimonies of statements hostile to whites. Le Monde reported that one of the accused is a minor at the time of the events and that they are all referred to the Assize Court of the Drôme Minors.

Right

3 rated outlets

  • The single right-rated report from Le Figaro stated that the accused would be tried for racism against "the white race and the French nation." It noted that the eleven accused in the murder of the young rugby player were returned to the court of the Drôme minors.

Questions about this coverage

How did the left and right cover Eleven to stand trial for Thomas Perotto murder in France?
Of the 20 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 35% are rated left, 50% are rated centre, 15% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 41. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
Is Eleven to stand trial for Thomas Perotto murder in France left or right?
Neither side dominates it. Of the 20 rated outlets on this story, 35% are rated left, 50% are rated centre, 15% are rated right, and no side holds the 70% this site would want before calling a field one-sided. A story is not left or right in any case; the outlets that carried it are what carry ratings.
Is the coverage of Eleven to stand trial for Thomas Perotto murder in France biased?
Eleven to stand trial for Thomas Perotto murder in France is one event reported by 41 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
Which side is not reporting Eleven to stand trial for Thomas Perotto murder in France?
When we first saw this story, outlets rated right had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
Which outlets covered Eleven to stand trial for Thomas Perotto murder in France?
41 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
How many people are being tried for the murder of Thomas Perotto?
Eleven people have been ordered to stand trial for the murder of Thomas Perotto. An additional twelfth suspect will be tried for voluntary violence with weapons.
What is the aggravating circumstance in the trial?
Investigating judges have retained racism as an aggravating circumstance against the eleven accused, citing statements made against 'the white race and the French nation'. This decision overturns the public prosecutor's office's earlier objection.
When and where did the incident occur?
The incident occurred on the night of November 18-19, 2023, following a village event in Crépol, France.

Read it at the source

41 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.

Left

7

Centre

10
Show 2 more

Right

3

Not rated

21
Show 13 more

How did this read?

About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.

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Thomas Perotto Murder Trial | MediaBias News