Istinomer (https://www.istinomer.rs/) was established by the legally registered non-profit organization Center for Research, Transparency and Accountability - CRTA (https://crta.rs/). Istinomer is inscribed in the Media Register kept by the Serbian Business Register Agency (In Serbian: Agencija za privredne register), which is clearly stated in the "About" section on the Istinomer website:

https://www.istinomer.rs/o-istinomeru/

Besides on the Istinomer website, the registration document is also available on the publicly available link http://pretraga.apr.gov.rs/javnaglasila/PublicMediaBasicData.aspx?beid=3715&rnd=8FD269C0FB71CA88365D1D3A23DC6BE5DC2F516A

This registry does not keep a record of the purpose of certain media, including Istinomer. However, Istinomer is officially and publicly defined as a fact-checking portal, dedicated to fact-checking and rating politicians' and public officials' claims, as well as debunking disinformation published on social media, which is Istinomer's core business. 

Istinomer was founded by a non-profit organisation in Serbia and it is listed as media in the Serbian Business Registry. Details of their legal status is noted in their "about" section.

As the first fact-checking platform in the region of the Western Balkans, established in 2009 by its founding organization CRTA, Istinomer debunks disinformation and propaganda shared in public speech and digital space.

Istinomer was established to provide the audience with an effective fact-checking mechanism for assessing politicians’ and public officials’ accountability based on what they are saying and promising to their constituents and how they actually perform. Istinomer established a comprehensive, precise, and transparent methodology used to evaluate politicians’ and public officials’ claims in three categories: truthfulness, consistency, and fulfillment of promises. It uses uniform standards and methodology for each fact-check, relying on verifiable facts only to ensure the highest level of objectivity and fairness.

With the intensive spread of disinformation and conspiracy theories regarding the Covid-19 pandemic, the Istinomer team introduced fact-checking of disinformation shared in media as well as on social media platforms. Until July 2022, Istinomer debunked hundreds of disinformation shared in the Serbian digital space about the covid-19 and related vaccines, ecology, war in Ukraine...

For the last 13 years since Istinomer was established, it has applied the highest professional standards and strict methodology in fact-checking to ensure impartiality and objectivity and preserve credibility. Besides fact-checking, Istinomer became recognized for its in-depth analyses of the emerging developments and issues of public importance that were used for manipulation and misusing the facts in the public sphere, as well as for video fact-checks, interviews, podcasts and innovative visual presentations of its findings in the online and digital sphere.

In addition to the ongoing publishing of the fact-checking and accountability journalism content at the Istinomer website, which reaches over 220.000 unique users monthly who approximately open 410.000 pages (source: Google Analytics, for the period between July 1, 2021 - June 30, 2022), Istinomer content was regularly promoted at Istinomer’s Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram pages, which further increased the Istinomer outreach effect.

The Istinomer team includes an editor-in-chief, seven journalists, a project coordinator and a media analyst and their biographies are published on the "Impressum" page on the Istinomer website (see the link https://www.istinomer.rs/redakcija/)

Besides reaching the broader public with its fact-checking content, in the following period the Istinomer team plans to expand its methodology in order to engage with the narrative dissection in addition to verifying the politicians' claims and hoaxes in media and social media. In the era of misusing the facts and context manipulations, Istinomer will invest its efforts to analyse false narratives that emerge around the political and social developments in Serbia and the wider region. 

Istinomer remains one of the most valuable fact-checking organisations in the Balkans. It is a first-of-its-kind in the region and is exclusively set up for the purpose of fact-checking. 

In the six months period from January 1 to July 1, 2022, Istinomer published 30 fact-checks of politicians' and public officials’ claims. Istinomer has been focused on covering a constitutional referendum held in January 2022 and general elections held in April 2022, as well as on fact-checking the statements on ecology, economy, rule of law and other key issues of public importance.

Fact-checks of the public officials’ and politicians’ claims in categories of truthfulness, consistency, and fulfillment of promises are available on this link - https://www.istinomer.rs/izjava/

With an aim to improve the quality and trustworthiness of the Serbian information space marked with numerous false information and facts manipulation, particularly in the period of the war in Ukraine, Istinomer invested its efforts to deploy fact-checking skills of its Istinomer team of journalists to counter disinformation shared in media and social media spheres. During the previous 6 months, Istinomer published 91 fact-checks of viral hoaxes published in media or shared across social media platforms, available at the following link https://www.istinomer.rs/facebook-provere/.

Istinomer has published more than one fact-check per week over the course of one year. 

Istinomer publishes fact-checks relevant to the public such as those tackling health, climate change, anti-vax narratives and others. They also tackle some of the viral clickbait news stories. 

Istinomer is an initiative of the nongovernmental organization Center for Research, Transparency and Accountability - CRTA which can be seen in the registration document attached below. Since it was established, Istinomer received funds from projects CRTA and Istinomer were awarded by international donors and non-profit organizations interested in strengthening democracy and accountability in Serbia. CRTA and Istinomer never apply for funds from the state or local government budgets in order to preserve credibility and neutrality and ensure impartial reporting.

In the "About" section (https://www.istinomer.rs/o-istinomeru), Istinomer published the list of donors for the last two years and the amount of money it was granted by each donor.

In 2021, the Istinomer work was supported by the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs within the Transition program through an allocated grant (CZK 594,135). Within the project "Building Trust in Media in Southeast Europe and Turkey", Istinomer worked with UNESCO on the education of journalists in the field of fact-checking and data journalism (7,980 EUR).

Grants approved to other CRTA initiatives were also used to fund Istinomer activities - European Union funds within the project "Back to Basics - Parliament as a Backbone for the Rule of Law" (4,900 EUR), the Embassy of Germany in Belgrade for the project "Open Parliament - Bridging the Gap between citizens and the Parliament" (15,800 EUR), the Rockefeller Brothers Foundation (18,350 USD), USAID for the project awarded to the National Coalition for Decentralization (11,450 USD), the Embassy of Canada (20,995 CAD) and the Embassy of Luxembourg (2,250 EUR).

Funds from all these projects were used for the operational costs of Istinomer, video production, organization of workshops, conferences, panel discussions and other events.

All financial data, including auditors’ annual reports, are available on the CRTA website. The latest CRTA financial report (covering 2020) is available on this link https://crta.rs/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Crta-Izvestaj-revizora-2020.pdf.

Istinomer's editorial policy seems not to be influenced by any political party, partially due to its financial independence from the state funds. According to their financial reports and public statements, they do not receive money from national public funds.

Information about Istinomer’s non-partisanship policy is available at this link - https://www.istinomer.rs/o-istinomeru/

Istinomer's editorial guidelines prevent the organisation from political influence and make sure the strict rules of the code of ethics are respected.

Within fact-checking processes implemented since its establishment in 2009, Istinomer applies the highest professional standards and strict methodology in fact-checking in order to ensure impartiality and objectivity and to preserve credibility among readers.

Istinomer is making an effort to fact-check the claims that are referring to the facts in the public interest. Therefore, the focus is on the public officials, since they have the opportunity to exercise power and to use public funds and should be accountable to the public. Besides public officials, the Istinomer team also rates different opposition politicians’ statements and collects their promises, particularly during the election campaign. Political affiliations of the people Istinomer evaluates play no role in its fact checks, but verifiable facts only.

Istinomer strives to rate as many different politicians and public officials and it evaluated 30 different claims in the previous six months. However, due to the fact that current president Aleksandar Vucic is the most powerful person in the country and his Serbian Progressive Party members take almost all decision-making positions, delivering public speeches on a regular basis and presenting numerous facts that need to be examined for the sake of public interest, the Istinomer team more than others fact-checks their claims.

The Istinomer team of fact-checkers tends to use video materials to have original citations whenever possible in order to avoid misquoting and misinterpretation. When this is not possible, verbatim quotations published in different media outlets are being used. Journalists of Istinomer always contact people they rate in order to request further information about the given statement, whether it be comments or data. This way they also have the opportunity to react in case their statement was misquoted or taken out of context.

Journalists also contact responsible institutions in a search for data and use publicly available information and databases (both local and international), as well as FOI requests to obtain certain documents, contracts, etc.

Istinomer is open and honest about the sources in our articles - it names the source for every fact and every number.

The Istinomer team analyzes reports of domestic and international institutions and think tanks, searches credible databases and consults experts in different fields, university professors, NGOs. No conclusion in the fact checks could be made based on unnamed sources, as Istinomer uses on-the-record sources and official documents.

Selection of the clams for the fact checks is made at the editorial meetings. The Istinomer team usually chooses recent claims, and important statements where there is a strong public interest and never fact-checks claim only to prove someone was wrong. Istinomer evaluates something if journalists believe there is a demand for verified facts on a certain topic.

Istinomer also has internal procedures regarding the methodology that explain steps in the creation of Istinomer's fact checks. Istinomer journalists are obligated to the following internal procedures:

- to contact the actor for comment and/or data, to always refer to official information/research/statistical data (when possible),

- to contact the expert (individual or organization) for more information about the researched topic,

- to follow the copyright rules (especially for photos) etc.

Examples of evaluations of politicians’ and public officials’ claims published in the previous year:

https://www.istinomer.rs/izjava/isto-smo-postupili-s-davanjem-dozvola-n1-i-nova-s-kao-sa-rt/

https://www.istinomer.rs/izjava/narod-ce-da-odlucuje-o-rio-tintu/

https://www.istinomer.rs/izjava/malverzacije-brojem-biraca-u-vranju-novom-pazaru-raskoj-i-kursumliji/

https://www.istinomer.rs/izjava/jedini-sam-kome-na-mitinzima-nisu-govorili-politicari-iz-republike-srpske/

Examples of the fact-checks of disinformation published in media outlets and social platforms:

https://www.istinomer.rs/facebook-provere/baka-koja-zbog-protesta-nije-mogla-na-rucak-ipak-nije-na-reklami-za-artiflex/

https://www.istinomer.rs/facebook-provere/migranti-nisu-osumnjiceni-za-ubistvo-zene-u-somboru/

https://www.istinomer.rs/facebook-provere/fotografija-povredjene-zene-je-autenticna-i-nastala-je-pre-tri-dana/

https://www.istinomer.rs/facebook-provere/snimak-u-kom-se-glas-obraca-mateju-perisu-nije-autentican/

https://www.istinomer.rs/facebook-provere/lazni-tviter-nalozi-sirili-vest-o-smrti-novinara-cnn-a/

Looking at the selected fact-checks, it seems to me that Istinomer uses the same standards regardless of the topic or who made the statement.

https://www.istinomer.rs/o-istinomeru/

Based on the randomly selected samples of fact-checks, Istinomer does not seem to concentrate its fact-checking on any side. Brief explanation of its selection and editing process is available on its website.

In my opinion, Istinomer relies on the basic journalistic norms, taking no sides and reporting without bias.

https://www.istinomer.rs/o-istinomeru/

According to Istinomer’s own Rules of Procedure which is published within the “About Istinomer” page and uploaded below, journalists and employees of the Istinomer may not be members and/or activists of political parties, nor hired by public opinion research agencies or other marketing agencies engaged in market research or public opinion polls.

Istinomer is a member of the Press Council, an independent, self-regulatory body that brings together publishers, owners of print and online media, news agencies and media professionals. As a member organization, Istinomer is obliged to respect and actively promote the Serbian Journalists' Code of Ethics. This code sets high standards for professional reporting, giving concrete guidelines necessary to ensure objectivity and fairness. One of the most important sections of the Code, section III, refers to the prevention of corruption and conflict of interest, including the prevention from the direct involvement of journalists in political parties and advocacy organizations:

“Work in PR and marketing agencies, lobbying agencies, public bodies and institutions, and political parties are incompatible with the profession.

Guidelines:

• Participation in a political, electoral or media campaign (political parties/companies, and others) cannot be performed simultaneously with journalistic/editorial work. The political activity of the family members of journalists/editors could also cause a real or apparent conflict of interest.”

Istinomer's Rules on prevention of conflict of interest document is available online within the “about” section. Their staff is forbidden from becoming members or activists of political parties.

Istinomer lists proofs and sources used in the fact-checking process.

Istinomer's proofs consist of publicly available information, documents obtained through FOI requests, reports, media reporting and experts' quotes.

Istinomer's journalists cross-check relevant sources of evidence when possible.

Istinomer is a fact-checking initiative of the non-governmental organization Center for Research, Transparency and Accountability, CRTA, which can be seen in the registration document attached below.https://www.istinomer.rs/o-istinomeru/

Istinomer is an independent media outlet founded by the NGO Center for Research, Transparency and Accountability, CRTA.    

Their funding is listed on the about page. Most of the funds received in the previous two years are available (numbers included), except for the contract Istinomer has with Facebook as a part of Meta's Third Party Fact-checking programme. Details of the contract might not need to be explained in detail, but it is important to understand the scope of financial support Istinomer gets from other deals, especially with Facebook.

https://www.istinomer.rs/o-istinomeru/

Details about Istinomer's legal status, founder and funding are available and listed within their "about" section.

On the “About Istinomer” page (https://www.istinomer.rs/o-istinomeru/) readers are informed that Istinomer is edited by a team of journalists who gather and build a database of public officials’ and politicians’ statements, analyze and compare those statements, evaluate them according to the criteria of truthfulness, consistency and fulfillment of promises. Each rating given by a journalist is additionally checked by another journalist, a journalist-editor and Istinomer’s editor-in-chief.

The editor-in-chief is appointed by the CRTA organization, which is the Istinomer founder.

The editor-in-chief is completely free and independent in conducting editorial policy and creating content on Istinomer. 

Readers can learn on Istinomer's webpage how the editor is appointed and by whom. According to their statement, editor-in-chief is completely free and independent in conducting editorial policy and creating content on Istinomer.

Short biographies of the team members are published on the "Impressum" page on the Istinomer website - https://www.istinomer.rs/redakcija/

Names and short biographies of Istinomer's team members are available in the Impressum.

Readers are invited (https://www.istinomer.rs/o-istinomeru/) to suggest new topics through comments, via e-mail and the “Proveri me” extension for web browsers. In this way, statements for fact-checking are easily sent to the Istinomer team.

Readers can suggest new topics through comments on social media and the web page, via e-mail or tools such as “Proveri me” [Check me] extension for web browsers.

On the “About Istinomer" page (https://www.istinomer.rs/o-istinomeru/) is explained that there are three main criteria the Istinomer team is using for selecting statements for fact-checking and evaluation: that the statement contains verifiable fact, that it has been published in a number of different media and that is of public interest.

Istinomer readers may also find the general explanation on how Istinomer works and more details on the methodology and rating system in the 'About' section. Istinomer has three categories of ratings - truthfulness (scale from true to false), consistency (scale from consistent to inconsistent) and promises (scale from promise kept to not even started). All the ratings are followed by short and simple explanations, which enable readers to understand the core methodology. Ratings that are being used for fact-checking the media and social media claims are also published at the same page.

Selection of the clams for the fact checks is made at the editorial meetings. The Istinomer team usually chooses recent claims, and important statements where there is a strong public interest and never fact-checks claims only to prove someone was wrong. Istinomer examines something if journalists believe there is a demand for verified facts on a certain topic.

Criteria and methodology are well explained within Istinomer's "about" section. I would suggest somehow dividing fact-checks from other statements marked as "Sto zelenije to pliva", "Izjava ljubavi" etc. because it's not clear how they decide to put them in a certain category and can be found among fact-checks even though they do not belong there.

Istinomer takes into account the reach and relevance of certain statements.

Istinomer sets out in its fact-checks relevant evidence that appears to support the claim as well as relevant evidence that appears to undermine it.

Same standards seem to be applied in all cases, although having in mind current political situation and the dominance of one political party, most of the statements reviewed come from the most powerful party.

Istinomer claims to always reach out to people whose claims are reviewed.

"Proveri me!" (Fact-check Me!) extension for web browsers enables readers of the most popular and most influential Serbian news portals to easily and with just one click communicate with Istinomer journalists and to suggest specific politicians’ and public officials’ statements or potentially false information from news and media articles for the Istinomer fact-checking. (https://www.istinomer.rs/o-fektcekingu/proveri-me/)

Although this is a handy solution for readers, in many cases they still fail to send proper statements for fact-checking that fit Istinomer’s criteria and methodology. They either don't send quotes or send quotes where people are expressing their point of view, which Istinomer does not fact check. Therefore, most demands that are in accordance with Istinomer’s methodology that we receive from our readers come through email or social media channels - Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Readers can submit proposals through a browser extension, social media and email. Based on their experience, most relevant proposals come from social media and email.

In its correction policy published at https://www.istinomer.rs/o-istinomeru/, Istinomer admits that it may make mistakes in its work but would never miss the opportunity to correct inaccurate or imprecise articles after the mistake was done. Istinomer also states that politicians or political parties called out in the Istinomer fact-checks are welcome to provide additional explanations, challenge the given assessments or additionally shed light on the problems from their point of view. Istinomer admits and corrects every mistake it makes, in accordance with the Code of Journalists of Serbia and the Law on Public Information and Media, which defines in detail the journalists’ obligations on the manner and deadlines of publishing of different types of corrections.

Although texts on the Internet can be “easily” edited and corrected, as a rule, Istinomer marks every update of the text, either with new information or by rectifying incorrect information.

If they notice a mistake in the ratings or articles published on the Istinomer website, readers are invited to report it to Istinomer journalists at office@istinomer.rs.

Istinomer's correction policy is available within their "about section". Complaints, additional proofs or explanations can be sent through email or other platforms used to communicate with readers.

Istinomer correction policy is in line with Serbian Code of Ethics for journalists and media laws.

In the previous six months, Istinomer corrected or updated articles with additional information, upon readers’ or persons’ who were subjects of the fact-checks requests. Below are examples:

https://www.istinomer.rs/analize/tako-su-govorili-kebara-langura-i-ostali/

https://www.istinomer.rs/facebook-provere/nema-dokaza-da-je-azov-bombardovao-pozoriste-u-mariupolju/

Istinomer uses a disclaimer at the end of each article to describe amends or corrections made in the article.

On its “About Istinomer’ page (https://www.istinomer.rs/o-istinomeru/), readers are informed that Istinomer is a member of the International Fact-Checking Network and respects the IFCN Code of principles, including details on how they can complain in case they notice the non-compliance of the IFCN code. 

Within Istinomer's "about" section, readers are informed that the outlet is an IFCN signatory and what steps they can take in case there are suspicions the IFCN code has been violated.

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