Colombiacheck is a project conceived and developed by Consejo de Redacción (CdR), a Colombian NGO that promotes investigative journalism in Colombia. This project was launched in June, 2016 (https://consejoderedaccion.org/), and it is currently the only media outlet mainly dedicated to fact-checking in Colombia.

In our website we clearly declare that CdR is the organization behind our work: https://colombiacheck.com/sobre-nosotros.html (see article and footer).

In the attached file, you can find a document that certifies CdR's legal registration:

Bound to Consejo de Redacción (CdR), a Colombian NGO that promotes investigative journalism since 2008, Colombiacheck has provided detailed information about the origin, legal status, staff, activities, and goals of the organization, founded in June 2016. The statutes of Consejo de Redacción, as well as most of the information about of Colombiacheck re also available in the 'About us' (Sobre nosotros) page of their website.

1. When and why was your fact-checking operation started?

Colombiacheck was created in June, 2016 as a project to fight misinformation stemming from the peace process that was being held in Havana, Cuba, between the Colombian Government and the then FARC guerrilla. It has evolved since to cover a wider agenda, such as public discourse in general, electoral campaigns, the current COVID-19 pandemic, and other mis- and disinformation.

2. How many people work or volunteer in the organization and what are their roles?

At the time of this application, Colombiacheck’s team comprises 18 people: a director, a misinformation editor, seven staff reporters, four regional correspondents, a community manager, a graphic designer, a webmaster, and an administrative coordinator. We also work with some journalists from allied media outlets and other organizations, but their works must go through Colombiacheck’s editorial process before being published.

3. What different activities does your organization carry out?

Colombiacheck publishes fact-checks in various formats: written articles, podcasts, videos and social media stories. We also train journalists from other media outlets and different audiences (NGO, students, teachers, etc.) on techniques and tools to verify public discourse or internet mis- and disinformation. CdR is an association that advocates for investigative journalism practice and promotion in Colombia.

4. What are the goals of your fact-checking operation over the coming year?

Our main goals for the next year are to streamline our workflow, to create a section dedicated to covering health disinformation, and to begin developing tools that can help both our fact-checking work, and our audience in identifying falsehoods online.

Colombiacheck has presented, in full detail, information about:

1. The year (2016) and the reasons why this fact-checking operation started.

2. The amount of people (18) who work in the organization, indicating their respective roles.

3. The different activities that are carried out by Colombiacheck .

4. The goals that Colombiacheck is pursuing over the coming year, which comprise improvements in their workflow, to create a section dedicated to covering health disinformation, and several technical developments in order to improve their fact-checking activities..

In the last six months (since Feb. 21 and up to Aug. 21), we have published a total of 493 fact-checks on our website, for an average of 18.9 per week. A spreadsheet with all these fact-checks is attached.

As proof of their constant fact-checking activities, Colombiacheck has presented a spreadsheet with 493 fact-checks performed over the six months prior to the date of application (21 Feb. 2020 - 21 Aug. 2020), almost fourty times the minimum amount of evidences requested (13). The additional details on these fact-checks are also provided, with full clarity.

More than 75% of Colombiacheck’s fact checks focus on claims related to issues that relate to or could have an impact on the welfare or well-being of individuals, the general public or society in Colombia. A large amount of fact-checks performed from February to August 2020 relate to COVID-19 pandemic, which is totally reasonable considering that this was globally the main news on that period of time. Besides that, Colombiacheck also published a significant amount of fact-checks on political, economic and social issues, most of them focuses on Colombia. 

We do not have any commercial, financial, or institutional relationship with the Colombian state or government, nor with any of the country’s politicians.

Our internal regulations (CdR's statute) state that "the associates must declare conflicts of interest between their professional functions and the objectives and activities of the organization, inform of any situation that goes against the principles of CdR and announce when they stop exercising the journalistic profession": https://consejoderedaccion.org/asociados/registrarse

Also, Colombiacheck's code of principles states that "We do not defend any ideology, nor do we carry out political activism or of any other type": https://colombiacheck.com/metodologia.html

When hired, our journalists commit to follow both principles.

Our financial sources are described here: https://colombiacheck.com/sobre-nosotros

and are summarized as follows:

International cooperation (51,7%), including funds from Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS), and Deutsche Welle Akademie (DW) in Germany, National Endowment for Democracy (NED) in the United states, International Media Support (IMS) in Denmark, and International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

Income by Colombiacheck’s participation on Third-Party Fact-Checkers (3PFC) Facebook’s program (36,2%).

Own resources (12,1%) received through Consejo de Redacción’s own activities and projects (such as workshops, member’s fees and others), including those with International Center for Jounralists, ICFJ. 

In the view and knowledge of the assessor, Colombiacheck’s editorial output is not controlled by the state, a political party, politician or lobby. The parent organisation, Consejo de Redacción, has a publicly disclosed policy that openly refuses all kind of conflict of interests on its staff and associate members.

Colombiacheck does not receive funds from Colombia state nor intervene in government’s projects. Its funding sources and financial scheme, which over the last couple of years include subsidies from several international foundations and paid services from Facebook and Google, are publicly disclosed in their About us page.

The following fact-checks show that we fact-check all sides of the Colombian political spectrum. They also make explicit the steps we follow in each public discourse fact-check: 1. contact the person who made the statement to be fact-checked. 2. consult official sources. 3. consult non-official sources. 4. consult non-biased experts in the field, or at least a balanced mix. 5. contextualize the fact-check. 6 rate. Some of the examples are social media fact-checks. In those, we can't consult the person who made a statement, but we follow the other steps, regardless. Examples 1 and 2 are of the fact-checks we did to the president's speech on Colombia's national day, August 7th (1), and to the speech made later that day by members of the opposition (2). Examples 5 and 6, in particular, show similar claims made by politicians on opposite sides of a political debate (5. is a fact-check to Bogotá mayor Claudia López and 6. is a fact-check to the Health Minister, both about the available evidence of certain activities impacting the number of new coronavirus cases). All the fact-checks argue their ratings with the evidence found for each.

1. https://colombiacheck.com/especiales/chequeo-los-logros-de-duque-en-el-discurso-del-7-de-agosto
2. https://colombiacheck.com/especiales/chequeo-los-discursos-de-la-oposicion-del-7-de-agosto
3. https://colombiacheck.com/chequeos/colombia-no-es-el-pais-que-registra-la-mayor-tasa-de-muertes-como-dijo-cepeda
4. https://colombiacheck.com/chequeos/fondo-de-tierras-no-tendria-hectareas-para-repartir-porque-la-mayoria-ya-tienen-dueno 
5. https://colombiacheck.com/chequeos/no-hay-como-saber-si-reabrir-iglesias-es-500-veces-peor-que-dias-sin-iva 
6. https://colombiacheck.com/chequeos/no-hay-como-comparar-contagio-por-aglomeraciones-de-dia-sin-iva-y-de-fiestas
7. https://colombiacheck.com/chequeos/tribunal-europeo-de-derechos-humanos-no-puede-actuar-en-caso-mancuso
8. https://colombiacheck.com/chequeos/ramirez-no-dijo-que-los-pobres-los-sorprendio-la-pandemia-por-no-ahorrar
9. https://colombiacheck.com/chequeos/miranda-compartio-viejo-meme-chileno-con-cifras-sin-fuente-favor-del-cannabis
10. https://colombiacheck.com/chequeos/foto-de-la-marcha-del-orgullo-lgbt-en-bogota-no-es-de-2020 

Colombiacheck avoids any partisanship. When performing fact-checks, this organization applies a consistent and sound fact-checking methodology, backing the information with reliable links and covering issues regardless the ideological alignment of the institution, political party or person concerned. The non-partisanship has been adequately demonstrated by providing, as requested, ten examples of fact-checks to politicians of all the Colombian political spectrum. 

https://colombiacheck.com/metodologia

Colombiacheck provides information about its fact-checking methodology and principles to avoid any unduly concentration of fact-checking on any ideological side. This policy is sound and reliable.

After a random review of a number of fact-checks published over the previous year (Sept. 2019 - Aug. 2020), the assessor has found no trace of any commercial interest that might influence the fact-checking activity of Chequeado.

After a random review of a number of fact-checks published over the previous year, no trace was found of any political or ideological interest that might influence the fact-checking activity of Colombiacheck.

https://colombiacheck.com/sobre-nosotros
https://colombiacheck.com/node/169 

Colombiacheck self-defines as a "journalistic project independent of commercial and political tensions inherent to private companies," that "selects a public discourse of public figures in general, without biases or preferences for their ideological, sexual, race, or religious orientation" (asssesor's translation). This statement is deemed as acceptable and compliant.

After a random review of a number of fact-checks published over the previous months, a very consistent and widespread use of links to back fact-checks was found. Thanks to the availability of these information resources, Colombiacheck's users can easily verify the relevant information by themselves.

According to the assessor's knowledge, the sources used by Colombiacheck to back fact-checks are well diversified, relevant and sound. 

Colombiacheck does not show any unduly concentration in any specific sources. On the contrary, it relies on a wide array of sources to back its fact-checks, giving priority for public, open-access content. External sources are the core of the background information and they are consistently referred.

Although it's not a very common circumstance, when needed, Colombiacheck contextualizes sufficiently the information about the sources used to back the fact-checks. It provides details so that readers can reasonably conclude the interests that could influence the accuracy of the evidence provided.

Colombiacheck is a fact-checking project created as part of Consejo de Redacción, an independent association of journalists. The “About Us” section on CdR’s website includes us in one of its three working approaches: https://consejoderedaccion.org/sobre-cdr

Colombiacheck self-defines as an independent journalistic project. It is bound to a parent organization, Consejo de Redacción, a "not-for-profit, non-partisan, which brings together more than 100 associated journalists in Colombia to promote investigative journalismo" (assessor's translation).

The “About Us” page in Colombiacheck’s website states we are a project by Consejo de Redacción: https://colombiacheck.com/sobre-nosotros

It’s also in our footer at https://colombiacheck.com  

The information provided by Colombiacheck about its funding scheme, which includes a table with a list of funding organizations over the last two years (2019, 2020) and the overall amount of money received from them, is deemed sufficient. As indicated in the assessmen of criterion 4.1, Colombiacheck is bound to Consejo de Redacción, a parent not-for-profit and non-partisan organization.

https://colombiacheck.com/sobre-nosotros 

Colombiacheck provides on its website a list of the staff members and volunteers. In another page of the parent organization, Consejo de Redacción, a more detailed information is provided about the Colombiacheck's team, with photos and bios of their main staff members.

https://consejoderedaccion.org/webs/EquipoCdR/index.html#colombiacheck 

https://colombiacheck.com/sobre-nosotros

The information about the Colombiacheck's team members is fully disclosed only in the website of its parent organization, Consejo de Redacción. In order to provide to the users a more accessible information about the organizational structure of Colombiacheck, we kindly advise them to provide full information about the staff, including means of contact, directly in the website of the fact-checking organization.

In a first round of assessment for this criterion, it was found that the information about the Colombiacheck's team members was disclosed only in the website of its parent organization, Consejo de Redacción. The applicant was invited to fix this minor deficiency, which was corrected immediately. After this correction, the professional biographies of the Colombiachek members appear published on the website. Therefore this criterion is assessed as compliant.

Our email, WhatsApp number and social media can be found at the end of this section: https://colombiacheck.com/sobre-nosotros

A mailto link can also be found in other buttons in the main page, as highlighted in the attached file.

Colombiacheck provides several means of contact on its website, including email, as well as social media profiles and a WhatsApp number. Although the accessibility of these means of contact could be somewhat improved, givinf them a more visible position in the pages, this criterion is assessed as compliant.

https://colombiacheck.com/metodologia 

Colombiacheck openly discloses its fact-checking methodology. It is deemed sound and reliable. 

Based on a random review of a number of fact-checks published over several months prior to this assessment, enough examples have been found that Colombiacheck selects claims to check based primarily on the reach and importance of the claims

Drawing upon a number of randomly selected fact-checks published priot to this assessment, the assessor has come to the conclusion that Colombiacheck commits to transparency and fairness when processing claims. 

No evidence has been found of the eventual usage of different standards for fact-checking, depending on who made the claim, or the subject checked.

In the random sample of fact-checks used for this assessment, the assessor has not found any examples of the situations indicated in this criterion. In absence of any apparent misbehaviour or infringement by Colombiachek of this criterion of the Code of Principles, the assessment is deemed as compliant.

Our methodology (https://colombiacheck.com/node/169) states we do not fact-check opinions or private claims, and that “selection is done with no biases, or preferences for ideology, sexual orientation, race or religion”. Our “About Us” page (https://colombiacheck.com/sobre-nosotros) includes a section titled “How to contribute?” where we share our contact information: e-mail and social media including a WhatsApp number. We encourage users to “propose claims to check, provide data and knowledge, as well as warn about possible errors in our team’s checks.” We also constantly take fact-check requests at out Twitter account, @Colcheck.

As requested, Colombiacheck has provided detailed information about how it encourages users to propose claims to check, provide data and knowledge, as well as warn about possible errors in their team’s checks, thorugh email and social media profiles. 

"Aclaraciones y actualizaciones" part of https://colombiacheck.com/metodologia 

Indicated in the methodology, Colombiacheck has a sound corrections policy. It allows users to send claims and corrections through different means of contact (mail, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp). In case a mistake has been found by anyone, Colombiacheck commits itself to responding to these claims within 48 hours.

The corrections policy is explained in reasonable detail, so that readers can know in advance the how their claims will be handled and how much time migh take to get response.

The Colombiacheck staff always replies to messages from those fact-checked who want to clarify their statements, or who want to dispute a rating, whether they are received via email, social media, messaging apps, or phone calls. We also reply to messages from others who share important information that can change the information or the rating of a fact-check. An example of the first instance was a message we received from a press officer working for former president Álvaro Uribe, who we fact-checked here in a large special project: https://colombiacheck.com/chequeos/chequeo-entrevista-de-alvaro-uribe-en-la-silla-vacia

The press officer shared further information to our fact-checks, which we considered carefully, and added to all the relevant fact-checks in the special, but ultimately we concluded that the new information did not change any of our ratings, as we explained in the link shared above. 

An example of the second instance is this fact-check on the "lethality" of the coronavirus in Colombia, as stated by former congressman Alfredo Rangel. Another person, epidemiologist Andrés Fandiño Losada, made us realize that we were making a mistake by confusing the terms "mortality" and "lethality." We corrected our and added a correction notice at the top of the page, though in this case too this did not change our rating:  https://colombiacheck.com/chequeos/rangel-se-equivoca-en-analisis-sobre-letalidad-del-coronavirus-sars-cov-2

Colombiacheck has presented evidence of a 'clarification' published on March 30, 2020. Although it could be argued whether a 'clarification' is the same as a 'correction', the assessment of this criterion is deemed as compliant. For the sake of transparency, however, we kindly invite Colombiacheck to publish corrections under such name, whenever they are needed in the future.

https://colombiacheck.com/sobre-nosotros

As requested, Colombiacheck has a section of its website where it indicates how the users should proceed in case they want to inform the IFCN of any violation of the Code of Principles.

Colombiacheck is bound to a parent organization, the association Consejo de Redaccion. This organization has a Vision and Mission that adhere to a honest and open corrections policy.