Facts, please!

In the run-up to the 2018 presidential elections, Alma Media’s editorial offices established a joint fact checking team to evaluate the truthfulness of claims made by the candidates. 

The aim of the project was to provide readers with reliable information on the election campaign and candidates, fight the spread of fake media and disinformation as well as give readers the opportunity to participate in fact checking.

The project ended with the presidential elections held in January. The fact checking team produced a total of 14 stories regarding the claims they evaluated. Of the claims, two were based on 
facts and five were based on falsehoods. In the other seven claims, the facts were sort of correct but not entirely accurate. The fact checking team also live blogged two election debates to provide readers with links, studies and expert comments related to the candidates’ claims.

The project that took place during the run-up to the 2018 presidential elections was the first fact checking project to bring together Alma Media’s editorial offices across the boundaries between publications to this extent. The same approach will be employed in the future in various contexts.