The image quality is likely terrible on purpose. It’s square, so it’s almost certainly modified at least to crop it, I only rarely see people do square photos on purpose for something that is supposedly candid. Photos can be taken at any time, so this would only be proof of life if
The newspaper’s date was legible and the paper itself could be verified
The photo’s quality allowed for better “is it AI” analysis
The image quality is likely terrible on purpose. It’s square, so it’s almost certainly modified at least to crop it, I only rarely see people do square photos on purpose for something that is supposedly candid. Photos can be taken at any time, so this would only be proof of life if