DW’s fact-checking team is set up exclusively for the purposes of verification. We explain our work in detail here: https://www.dw.com/en/how-we-at-dw-fact-check-fake-news/a-64950646

In this article, you can read who we are and how we work, and that we are part of Deutsche Welle (DW) Germany’s international broadcaster.

We also explain in another article how DW works, which legal status it has, and how it is financed.

https://corporate.dw.com/en/unbiased-information-for-free-minds/a-52364943 

In addition DW makes a declaration on digital accessibility here: 

https://www.dw.com/en/accessibility-statement/a-53922576 

All questions have been answered in full and answers suggest compliance 

1. DW’s fact-checking team was founded in 2020, when the COVID pandemic showed the impact fake news, dis-, and misinformation can have on an international level, even on ordinary lives. DW had been doing fact-checking prior to forming the team, however, it was individuals in various teams, rather than one team that combined the skills of many. DW aims to check claims, mis- and disinformation on social media platforms and the internet. DW’s fact-checking team has been trained in all techniques of verification from the very beginning and continues to stay up to date through national and international verification training, conferences, and fact-checking panels.

2. We are a team of up to 12 journalists in the fact-checking team and come from 6 different countries, and work as a group of 3-4 per day. Everyone in the team works as a fact-checker and writes articles in English and German, which are published on the DW website, and half of the team also produces web videos for the DW News channel on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. For major news events, our team also prepares TV segments. You can find more information about our team here: https://corporate.dw.com/en/dw-fact-check-meet-the-team/a-65166800 

3. DW is a German public, state-owned international broadcaster funded by the German federal tax budget. The service is available in 32 languages. DW's satellite television service consists of channels in English, German, Spanish, Persian, and Arabic. The work of DW is regulated by the Deutsche Welle Act, meaning that content is independent of government influence. DW is also a member of the European Broadcasting Union. DW offers news articles and videos on its website, a provider of live streaming world news which can be viewed via its website, YouTube, and various mobile devices and digital media players. It also runs its own center for international media development, DW Akademie. DW's goals are to produce reliable news coverage, provide access to the German language, and promote understanding between people.

DW’s fact-checking unit produces content for all platforms: articles, web video long format for the YouTube channel, vertical videos for Instagram or TikTok and TV segments for major news events. And we do verification work for all departments of ranging from Sports, Business to Science, but also in all regions from Asia, Africa, Europe to South America. We also do training for students at schools, and journalists in Germany and in foreign countries through the DW Akademie, to explain, how disinformation can be recognized and fought.

4. For the coming year DW’s fact-checking team wants to develop its vertical video format for Instagram and TikTok further so that we can reach a younger audience with verified content as well. We want to continue our debunking of fakes in the context of conflicts and wars like Russia’s war on Ukraine. And we will focus on several upcoming elections that will be likely followed by mis- and disinformation. We will invest in internal and external cooperation to combine more knowledge in research and the production of in-depth fact-checking content. And we aim to strengthen our knowledge transfer efforts regarding media literacy.

In the past half year, DW’s fact-checking team has published between 8 and 12 fact-check articles and per month, which equals an average of 2 to 3 articles a week:

Attached you ll find the spreadsheet of links for the fact checks you published in the six months.

The fact-checking team is part of Deutsche Welle (DW). DW is a German public, state-owned international broadcaster funded by the German federal tax budget. The service is available in 32 languages. DW's satellite television service consists of channels in English, German, Spanish, Persian, and Arabic. The work of DW is regulated by the Deutsche Welle Act (available on our website https://static.dw.com/downloads/59501077/dw-gesetzengneumai-2021.pdf), meaning that content is independent of government influence. DW is also a member of the European Broadcasting Union. The finances of the Deutsche Welle are made transparent here: https://p.dw.com/p/DeFi 

DW is funded by the German federal tax budget. The work of DW is regulated by the Deutsche Welle Act, meaning that content is independent of government influence. There is no funding received.

Deutsche Welle Act: Section 4 - Supervision

§ 61 Exclusion of professional supervision: "Deutsche Welle shall not be subject to professional supervision (Fachaufsicht) by the state."

Deutsche Welle Act: 2.2 The Broadcasting Board - § 32 Duties

Though its funding comes from the federal budget, the director is accountable only to the DW Broadcasting Council, which also elects him for six years. And even if there is a change of government in Germany, the director remains in office.

On the website:

"In 1960, Deutsche Welle became an independent broadcasting corporation according to the Act on the construction of broadcasting premises under federal law."

https://corporate.dw.com/en/foundations-for-independent-journalism/a-16532635

II) "DW is funded through the German federal tax budget. Regulated by the Deutsche Welle Act, DW fulfills its program mission free from government influence."

https://corporate.dw.com/en/about-dw/s-30688/file:///Users/s.thoms/Downloads/DW%20corporate%20fact%20sheet_2023.pdf 

And here you can read and download Deutsche Welle’s Annual Reports from 2017 to 2022. These include information on income, revenue and expenditure, as well as balance sheets: https://corporate.dw.com/en/deutsche-welle-annual-report/a-3530526 

And finally, this page details information about DW's Broadcasting Council and Administrative Board, which are the governing bodies of DW, as per the Deutsche Welle Act. The Administrative Board supervises the management of the Director General beyond the daily program. The Broadcasting Council represents the interests of the general public and supervises the compliance of DW with general program guidelines. https://corporate.dw.com/en/organization/s-3326 

In general, the DW’s fact-checking team does not limit itself in its selection of topics. Our team selects the topic that will be worked on in a fact check depending on the news situation, and input from our users and editors from our various regional departments. We cover breaking news events as well as topics that are timeless. Our fact-check selection shows that we cover topics ranging from the economy, the environment, elections in various countries, the COVID pandemic, and other health-related topics as well as refugees, and individual and public rights.

The fact-checking team looks at the claim and the author of the claim to check whether it is only circulating in a small bubble or if it is a growing viral phenomenon that is of interest to a larger audience. If the reach of the claim is limited, DW will refrain from reporting about it so that it is not given a larger platform and spread more. Virality is, however, only one of the factors which helps us decide for or against producing a fact check. Other factors are the account/ main player behind the claim, whether is there a growing interest in the topic, is a local, regional, national, or international topic, whether is it a major news event, are our users asking for clarification of the topic/ claim because it is viral in their communities. All factors are considered when a decision is made to produce a fact check on a claim.

Also, we do not produce fact-checks on claims that are not verifiable at all. In the case of conspiracy theories, we only fact-check verifiable claims that are used to support a conspiracy theory in order to show the small aspects that are used to spread the bigger story. In some stories, we explain the meta-story: What strategies do conspiracy theorists use to increase their influence? And we also use our platform to educate our users on how to spot propaganda and bots, and how to verify images and videos themselves. Media literacy is a very important key to our work at the fact-checking team and also DW in general. We always keep our reach and broadcasting mission on our users in mind, when choosing topics and claims.

We fact-check claims from politicians of all political parties - whether they are the ruling party or not. We also look at all parties involved in a conflict, breaking news situation, or a general story. While sourcing information from interview partners, we always make sure to select reliable and unbiased people/entities. All interviews are recorded (with the consent of the interview partner) and archived. Also, we check, if scientific studies are reliable as original sources so we can provide neutral and balanced evidence in our reporting.

Also, for our fact-checks, we have a range of four different verdicts: true, false, misleading, and unproven. All outcomes are possible: The claim can be true (the statement is accurate), false (the statement is not accurate), misleading (the statement is partially correct, but the information is portrayed in a way that a wrong impression is created) or unproven (the statement cannot be proven as right or wrong). This can be seen in the examples attached here:

AI fakes in Israel's war against Hamas including examples from both sides: 

https://www.dw.com/en/fact-check-ai-fakes-in-israels-war-against-hamas/a-67367744 

Collection of fact checks on the war in Ukraine:

https://www.dw.com/en/fact-check-fake-news-thrives-amid-russia-ukraine-war/a-61477502

Fact check of deep fakes in the disinformation war between Russia and Ukraine from both sides:

https://www.dw.com/en/fact-check-the-deepfakes-in-the-disinformation-war-between-russia-and-ukraine/a-61166433

Fact checks of several fakes of the war in Ukraine from both sides:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQra4RwXnAk

https://www.dw.com/en/fact-check-5-fakes-of-the-war-in-ukraine/av-60934466

Energy: Is nuclear energy green?

https://www.dw.com/en/fact-check-is-nuclear-energy-good-for-the-climate/a-59853315

Germany's Chancellor debate ahead of the 2021 Bundestagswahl:

https://www.dw.com/en/germanys-chancellor-debate-fact-checking-candidates-statements/a-59165431

Fact check: Is sea rescue a pull factor for refugees?

https://www.dw.com/en/fact-check-is-sea-rescue-a-pull-factor-for-refugees/a-57804247

Donald Trump vs. Joe Biden debate: DW fact check

https://www.dw.com/en/donald-trump-vs-joe-biden-debate-dw-fact-check/a-55367890

Fact check: Is China the main climate change culprit?

https://www.dw.com/en/fact-check-is-china-the-main-climate-change-culprit/a-57777113 

I've checked everything and found it very convincing. Excellent work.

In this article we explain how we select a story, do a fact-check, and how DW publishes it:

https://www.dw.com/en/how-dw-fact-checks-fake-news/a-64950646 

This link had already been provided above. 

I found this to be the case. For instance, in fact checks dealing with the Israel - Hamas war, fake claims regarding Egypt were contextualized with reference to a shared religion (with Palestine). In discussing deepfakes, AI experts (allegedly with vested interests) were presented as such.

I didn't find an example of disclosed commercial interests in the sample of fact checks I reviewed. 

Here you will find our policy on non-partisanship for staff

https://p.dw.com/p/4MwPl 

In addition here DW explains its foundations for independent journalism

https://corporate.dw.com/en/foundations-for-independent-journalism/a-16532635

Further, diversity (in many perspectives) is a key value for DW. Here we explain why: https://corporate.dw.com/en/diversity-is-our-strength/a-15715485  

Employees from more than 60 nations are the key to DW's success - and ensure, that DW can provide a variety of perspectives on all kind of topics. 

And finally, this page details information about DW's Broadcasting Council and Administrative Board, which are the governing bodies of DW, as per the Deutsche Welle Act. The Administrative Board supervises the management of the Director General beyond the daily program. The Broadcasting Council represents the interests of the general public and supervises the compliance of DW with general program guidelines. https://corporate.dw.com/en/organization/s-3326  

This is probably ok, but you might want to have this sentence toned down? "We are straightforward – we hold strong opinions and are always focused on what matters." (first hyperlink above).

Good sourcing practices, hyperlinks are used a lot.

Few secondary sources, though they were not always necessary and primary sources could have been used instead (eg fact check on how protestors are counted). In that example, for instance, the use of secondary sources wasn't justified or explained.

But good practice overall.

Yes, good explanation of interests (eg Trump and Pizzagate).

DW’s fact-checking team is part of the Deutsche Welle (DW), is a German public, state-owned international broadcaster funded by the German federal tax budget. The work of DW is regulated by the Deutsche Welle Act, meaning that content is independent of government influence.

https://corporate.dw.com/en/about-dw/s-30688 

And finally, this page details information about DW's Broadcasting Council and Administrative Board, which are the governing bodies of DW, as per the Deutsche Welle Act. The Administrative Board supervises the management of the Director General beyond the daily program. The Broadcasting Council represents the interests of the general public and supervises the compliance of DW with general program guidelines. https://corporate.dw.com/en/organization/s-3326  

Here you can read and download Deutsche Welle’s Annual Reports from 2017 to 2022 which detail information on balanced sheets, etc. https://corporate.dw.com/en/deutsche-welle-annual-report/a-3530526 

Here is a link to the page on our website where you find details on our funding and the legal form in which the organization is registered:

https://p.dw.com/p/DeFi 

Here is information about our financing: 

https://corporate.dw.com/en/who-finances-deutsche-welle/a-36767785

And here are more information about the status of DW as a public broadcaster and detailed information about the people that lead DW:

https://corporate.dw.com/en/about-dw/s-30688 

The fact-checking team is part of DW’s “Editorial Lead, Information, and News” as shown in this organization chart:

https://static.dw.com/downloads/64556877/organizational-chartdwjanuary-2023.pdf 

All this is summarized in this article, linked on the top of the fact-checking page:

https://www.dw.com/en/fake-news/t-37038790

and in more detail here:

https://www.dw.com/en/how-we-at-dw-fact-check-fake-news/a-64950646 

This is all very clear and looks fine to me. But I'm not sure the second link provided helps in answering the question, it seems off topic.

You can find information on our team members, their bios and how to contact them in our "Meet the team" article on our website in English here:

https://p.dw.com/p/4PQrQ

and in German here:

https://p.dw.com/p/4PQoc 

The article is also embedded in our website: 

English: https://www.dw.com/en/fact-check/t-56584214

German: https://www.dw.com/de/faktencheck/t-56578552 

We have a good overview of our work here, and an improved structure of the DW Fact check website. It now includes information about the team, the workflow and how to reach us (including separate articles on fact-checking methodology, fact-checking team biographies and contact options), as well as a section on media literacy, as that is also an important aspect of our work. 

We have dedicated an entire article on how to reach our team on our DW FC landing page here: https://www.dw.com/en/how-to-reach-dw-fact-check/a-67700045. The landing page is here: https://www.dw.com/en/fact-check/t-56584214 and is the top link when users search for "DW fact check". The same applies for "DW Faktencheck" and the German page: https://www.dw.com/de/faktencheck/t-56578552  

Most of DW's users access the website via Google, so our SEO is optimized in a way that our articles and DW landing page are the top results when people look for content regarding DW and/or factcheck.

We also have an article explaining how we work in DW's factcheck team and it also includes a paragraph on how to reach us. 

https://www.dw.com/en/how-we-at-dw-fact-check-fake-news/a-64950646 

This article is embedded in our website:

English: https://www.dw.com/en/fact-check/t-56584214 

German: https://www.dw.com/de/faktencheck/t-56578552  

In addition several fact checks contain embedded links to our DW fact check website and of course to other relevant fact checks. 

Here is a link to the statement on our website that explains the methodology we use to select, research, write and publish your fact checks.

https://www.dw.com/en/how-we-at-dw-fact-check-fake-news/a-64950646 

It's hard for me to know how widespread certain claims are, but I haven't seen any fact checks on topics that may have originally concerned just few people. Thus, I am not worried that the applicant may draw attention to misinformation that may have otherwise reached only few people. Not all fact checks meet both criteria, eg those on Taylor swift are viral but less important than those on war.

Some fact checks explain the reason for choosing the claim to check, eg pizzagate debunked because Elon musk tweeted about it years after the original "scandal."

The exceptions listed in 5.5. pretty much cover all bases, such that this criterion becomes (IMHO) rather weak. But I can say this: I haven't encountered any fact check by the applicant where I thought to myself: "Why haven't they given this person a chance to explain what they meant?" 

In our article on how we work we explain how we can be contacted:

https://www.dw.com/en/how-we-at-dw-fact-check-fake-news/a-64950646

In addition, users can find specific information on just how they can send in claims to check on our page here:

English: https://www.dw.com/en/how-to-reach-dw-fact-check/a-67700045

German: https://www.dw.com/de/so-erreichen-sie-das-dw-faktencheck-team/a-67705603 

These articles are both embedded on or FC landing page: https://www.dw.com/en/fact-check/t-56584214 under the category "Team DW Fact check". 

In our article "how we work" we explain how we assess how big a story is. We do not amplify a topic that is only gaining little attention. For this, we have three criteria that a topic must pass before we decide to work on it. 

1. Virality: how big is the story? Also looking at whether this is only a topic for a certain region or bigger and how fast it is growing. 

2. Reach: Here we check on how many social media platforms this topic is being spread and how many people are interacting with it. 

3. Relevance, we check how much impact the story has on our target audience.

There are also limits to fact-checks, though. We do not guarantee that we will research them all. That depends on our editorial criteria, resources, and whether the claim can be verified.

Furthermore, we ask the users in our videos on YouTube, to leave comments or to write to us, if there are questions to answer and claims to check, like here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9lfUqbwBTU 

You can read in detail about DW's correction policy here:

https://www.dw.com/en/professional-and-transparent-dw-guidelines-for-dealing-with-errors/a-52066383 

This document provides insight into the guidelines put in place to ensure timely and transparent handling ofany errors and inaccuracies in our content. Errors will be addressed individually, taking into consideration boththe type of error and the medium used.

We are committed to providing accurate, and high-quality content free of errors. However, despite numerousquality control measures, mistakes can be made. What’s important is that we address these errors as soon aswe become aware of them and do it transparently.

https://www.dw.com/en/professional-and-transparent-dw-guidelines-for-dealing-with-errors/a-52066383

This means, when we publish a content item that needs to be revised, we need to clearly indicate a changehas been made. This also applies to mistakes concerning numbers, dates, names, locations, quotes, photos,etc. These are corrected as soon as they have been verified and the item is republished for online and socialmedia. A note added to the bottom of the article (or in a social media thread) informs the user of the revisionand reason.

Here are some examples of the responses to a correction (see disclaimer at the end of the articles)

Example 1:

https://www.dw.com/en/dw-fact-check-debunking-election-misinformation-online/a-55507603

Example 2:

https://www.dw.com/en/germany-top-court-rules-against-ex-chancellor-merkel-in-afd-spat/a-62136430

Example 3: 

https://www.dw.com/en/africas-kidpreneurs-a-rising-generation-of-trailblazers/video-66882203

Example 4: 

https://www.dw.com/en/south-korean-footballer-son-jun-ho-detained-in-china/a-65636455 

Relatively speaking, these were minor mistakes and properly corrected. Link 3 seems off topic, as arguably not a fact check.

As soon as we become a signatory of the IFCN we will install all this information and the link to inform our users.

Not yet applicable.

This page shows an overview of the correction policy of DW and its guidelines for dealing with errors.

https://www.dw.com/en/professional-and-transparent-dw-guidelines-for-dealing-with-errors/a-52066383