Congo Check is a project of IFC, Initiative des factcheckeurs du Congo. The aim of IFC is to fight against misinformations,  rumors, hate speech and to make a follow up of leaders promises in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Congo Check has been created in the beginning 2018 by 3 journalists, Smmy Mupfuni, Rodriguez Katsuva and Fiston Mahamba. We are legally-registered. I join it here bellow.

Cong Check is a legally registered organization set up exclusively for the purpose of fact-checking.

An evidence of its legal registration is joined by the team... but it's not avalaible to the public and it doesn't mention the Congo Check website, but only the IFC, a non-profit organization.

http://www.congocheck.net/faux-muyembe-na-pas-invente-un-vaccin-contre-ebola-plutot-une-molecule-therapeutique/

Congo Check publishes reports about the accuracy of claims regularly but less than once a week for the last past three months. 

For example, it didn't publish any fact-check in october... 

Congo Check is a team of 16 volunteers. Journalists living in several towns in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. All these journalists scan the Internet for rumors or information that seems false. Afterwards, they share the news found on the internet, or circulating in the communities, and so the editorial staff decides how to find out the truth about the fake news. We call sources who can refute or confirm the information, we do research on the Internet, we cross-check the information collected and then we publish the verified article.

http://www.congocheck.net/faux-le-vaccin-contre-ebola-nest-pas-un-poison-mortel-pour-tuer-les-congolais/

http://www.congocheck.net/ce-faux-compte-de-kabila-qui-publie-des-hommages-authentiques-a-robert-mugabe/

http://www.congocheck.net/attention-larticle-attribue-a-rfi-sur-une-pretendue-rage-de-chien-au-siege-est-une-infox/

http://www.congocheck.net/desintox-ces-fausses-cartes-didentite-attribuees-a-des-personnalites-congolaises/

http://www.congocheck.net/taux-dacces-a-lelectricite-en-rdc-felix-tshisekedi-a-avance-un-chiffre-incorrect/

http://www.congocheck.net/factcheck-ebola-faux-goma-na-pas-encore-totalise-40-jours-sans-nouveau-cas/

http://www.congocheck.net/livraison-de-vaccins-par-drone-le-vaccin-contre-ebola-na-pas-ete-deploye/

http://www.congocheck.net/faux-la-publication-dune-pretendue-nomination-de-henri-yav-comme-premier-ministre-de-la-rdc-est-une-infox/

http://www.congocheck.net/report-partiel-des-scrutins-ce-presume-tweet-de-nangaa-est-un-faux/

http://www.congocheck.net/la-controversee-lettre-de-demande-dadhesion-de-la-rdc-a-la-communaute-des-etats-dafrique-de-lest-est-authentique/

Congo Check selects 10  fact-checks to prove scope and consistency of its work:

http://www.congocheck.net/faux-le-vaccin-contre-ebola-nest-pas-un-poison-mortel-pour-tuer-les-congolais/

http://www.congocheck.net/ce-faux-compte-de-kabila-qui-publie-des-hommages-authentiques-a-robert-mugabe/

http://www.congocheck.net/attention-larticle-attribue-a-rfi-sur-une-pretendue-rage-de-chien-au-siege-est-une-infox/

http://www.congocheck.net/desintox-ces-fausses-cartes-didentite-attribuees-a-des-personnalites-congolaises/

http://www.congocheck.net/taux-dacces-a-lelectricite-en-rdc-felix-tshisekedi-a-avance-un-chiffre-incorrect/

http://www.congocheck.net/factcheck-ebola-faux-goma-na-pas-encore-totalise-40-jours-sans-nouveau-cas/

http://www.congocheck.net/livraison-de-vaccins-par-drone-le-vaccin-contre-ebola-na-pas-ete-deploye/

http://www.congocheck.net/faux-la-publication-dune-pretendue-nomination-de-henri-yav-comme-premier-ministre-de-la-rdc-est-une-infox/

http://www.congocheck.net/report-partiel-des-scrutins-ce-presume-tweet-de-nangaa-est-un-faux/

http://www.congocheck.net/la-controversee-lettre-de-demande-dadhesion-de-la-rdc-a-la-communaute-des-etats-dafrique-de-lest-est-authentique/

These examples show that Congo Check covers a variety of speakers and that its fact-checks are non-partisan work.

These is written in our STATUT. We are an media linked to a non-profit and non-governmental organization without any preferential part. No one of the staff is in any political party, no one is linked to opponents or powerholder. You can also read it here on our website:

http://www.congocheck.net/a-propos/ 

Congo Check explains its policies to preserve its non-partisan way of fact-checking claims on a text titled “Our policy” here:

http://www.congocheck.net/a-propos/ 

It evokes :

"To ensure the independence of our content, we make sure that no member of the team is involved in political activities or that any of us have any affiliation with a political group or any other citizen movement . We follow the publications of each of our employees online to ensure that they have not taken a stand or engaged in a political struggle. This is to ensure the independence of our project vis-à-vis political organizations."

We always give names of people and sources in our factchecks. If a source want to stay anonymous, then we don't use his quote. We add also screenshots ou hyperlinks. On our site we do give also some ideas on how we check images and videos.

The Congo Check’s public policy on sources mentions:

"We are careful to diversify our sources, but the most important thing for us is that the source is reliable and has proof of knowledge in the field of information to verify. We therefore contact government sources, specialized non-governmental organizations and independent experts to shed light on the topics we are auditing."

The team also explains :

"We always give names of people and sources in our factchecks. If a source want to stay anonymous, then we don't use his quote. We add also screenshots ou hyperlinks. On our site we do give also some ideas on how we check images and videos."

But in the Congo Check reports, key sources are not always referenced in a way that readers, viewers or listeners can use to replicate the fact check...

Cotisation of members

We had, in 2018 a Grant from the Shuttleworth foundation, 5000 us dollars, that allowed us to launch our app and also to have officies and same computers.

We are currently working with Facebook. They are founding some of our activities. 

The only found we do accept is grants, awards, and partnership in wich Congo Check does factchecking for the partener. We don't accept money from government, from politicians or from activists. 

Congo Check is a standalone fact-checking organization which is not really transparent about how it is funded.

The ownership of Congo Check is explained here, by the team :

"Contribution of members

We had, in 2018, Grant from the Shuttleworth Foundation, 5000 US Dollars, which was allowed to launch our app.

We are currently working with Facebook. They are founding some of our activities.

The only found we do accept is grants, awards, and partnership in wich Congo Check does factchecking for the partner. We do not accept money from government, from politicians or from activists."

But, in the website, we can only read a text titled "Our funding" (http://www.congocheck.net/a-propos):

"We are evolving from the outset thanks to our own resources through membership fees We also benefit from the technical support of Africa Check (a fact-checking organization) which assists us with series of upgrade and sharing experiences."

Sammy MUPFUNI

CEO and co-founder

Managing Director of Congo Check, Sammy is an investigative journalist and fact-checker based in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In January 2018, he created Congo Check with other colleagues. In 2010, he began his career as a journalist with a local radio station. Since 2016, he has been interested in online media and surveys.

Rodriguez KATSUVA

Co-founder and editor

Rodriguez worked for 7 years in the audiovisual industry as a journalist, reporter and news manager. He was an editor in a peace monthly in eastern DRC. Later, he started writing on the web and is a blogging editor and trainer. He is passionate about political issues in the Great Lakes sub-region. He is currently preparing his Master's degree in Media and Innovation in Paris.

Fiston MAHAMBA

Co-founder

A journalist based in eastern DRC since 2012, he forged his career in this field after several journalism courses before enrolling at the École Supérieure de Journalisme de Lille. His fields of work are the environment, development, employment, new technologies, agriculture,... that he covers in writing and images.

Ezra TSONGO

Journalist

Web journalist. Congolese of origin, and based in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Passionate about information and blogging. 

Zanem Nety Zaidi

Journalist

Zanem Nety Zaidi is a Congolese journalist and blogger based in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. He has been working as a journalist since 2015. Since 2016, he has been interested in online media and blogging, but above all he seems much more interested in fact cheking, a way for him to fight against misinformation.

Laetitia KASONGO

Journalist

Freelance journalist based in Goma, DRC. Finished her studies in information and communication science at UCBC. I started my career as a local radio in 2009. After about 7 years in the field of radio and television, started to take an interest in web journalism in 2016. In 2018,  she discovered factchecking and joined Congo Check.

Claude SENGENYA

Journaliste

Claude Sengenya: journaliste indépendant basé en ville de Butembo en république démocratique du Congo. Ayant débuté dans la presse audiovisuelle, il s’intéresse aux nouveaux médias (médias en ligne) depuis 2016. Il rejoint Congo Check vers le début de l’année 2019. Il s’intéresse aux questions politiques, humanitaires, sécuritaires et de justice transitionnelle !

Dido KAYEMBE

Journalist

Dido Kayembe has been a journalist based in eastern DRC since November 2010 after a year of training in political journalism. For one year from 2011 to 2012, he was editor-in-chief of CCTV - RADIO LIBERTE BENI, from 2013 to 2018.

Dido Kayembe is passionate about political and social issues in eastern DRC.

Rose MATHE

Journalist

Rose MATHE is a young Congolese woman journalist living in Goma, North Kivu. She started while she was still a student, her career as a journalist in 2013 on Emmanuel TV, before joining Kivu 1, another local channel. Since August 2018, she has been working with Blessing Radio. She joined the Congo Check team in March 2019.

Daniel MICHOMBERO

Journalist

Daniel Michombero Journalist based in Goma, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Video specialist, blogger, fixer. Editor of various online media Fact-cheker of Congo Check since June 2018.

Steves MBUSA

Journalist

Steves MBUSA, Web journalist. Congolese by origin, and based in Kisangani in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Passionate about information, investigation and blogging. Started working in audiovisual journalism in 2013 and then, started working in web journalism in 2017. 

Mervielles KIRO

Journalist

A Congolese journalist based in Goma in eastern DRC, Merveille began his career in Beni with a local radio station in 2014. He perfected his skills in Goma, where sport would be his main field until he became a correspondent for Digital Congo in Goma. Today, Merveille is the director of a radio station in Goma. Interested in blogging, he joined Congo Check since 2018 to destroy infox and rumors.

There’s a “people section” detailing authors behind the project and their biographies on Congo Check’s website, here:

http://www.congocheck.net/notre-equipe/

All the articles are signed by their author.

http://www.congocheck.net/nous-proposer-un-article/

And on our home page

It’s easy for readers to contact Cong Check’s team: there’s a contact page called "We propose an article" (http://www.congocheck.net/nous-proposer-un-article/), with a form to complete and there’s an generic email address on the footer of the website home page : info@congocheck.net. 

There also a phone number on the footer of the website home page...

http://www.congocheck.net/a-propos/

Congo Check gives precisions about its fact-checking methodology in its about section here :
http://www.congocheck.net/a-propos/

"Our drafting rules and factchecking steps

We follow a number of the rules in carrying out our activities which is that of the publication of factchecks or fact verification articles. The steps are:

- We first identify the information we are called to verify.

- We identify the source of the information to check whether it is reliable or not.

- We list the potential reliable sources to confront the data of the information that we verify

- We contact sources deemed reliable depending on the area in which we locate the information.

- We publish the conclusions in the factcheck. In this one we affirm if the information is true or false.

Among our basic rules, we do not express our own opinions in a factcheck but we strictly limit the facts. For the transparency, we explain in our texts, the means by which we managed to obtain the true version of the information."

Congo Check should explain with more details its methodology.

http://www.congocheck.net/nous-proposer-un-article/ 

There’s a dedicated page to invite readers to submit claims to fact-check on Congo Check’s website. We can find it here:

http://www.congocheck.net/nous-proposer-un-article/ 

This page contain a specific form to send it to the staff, and the page is reachable from the menu.

But this page doesn't really present to readers rules to respect to submit a fact-checkable claim.

As classical journalists, If we make mistake, we will publish a mea culpa. But, thanks to God, this has never happened from our beginning.

.

The Congo Check’s website doesn't give precisions about its corrections policy in a specific webpage, nowhere.

From our creation, we did not do any mistake yet  that needed to be corrected. 

Congo Check didn't tested its corrections policy since its website is online.