Le Monde is a company registered in Paris (registration number 433 891 850), editing a newspaper and online articles. The fact-checking and datavizualisation department is Les Décodeurs, created in 2014 (it was a fact-checking blog since 2009). It comes with 10 principles, aiming to give contexte and facts to the readers, transparency of all our sources, etc.

https://moncompte.lemonde.fr/mentions-legales

http://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2014/03/10/la-charte-des-decodeurs_4365106_4355770.html 

"Les Décodeurs" (https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/) is the distinct fact-checking section of the legally registered French media outlet "Le Monde" (https://www.lemonde.fr/).

All the evidence of Le Monde's legal registration are presented in the “Mentions légales” through its ISSN and CPPAP numbers, here: https://moncompte.lemonde.fr/mentions-legales

http://www.lemonde.fr/verification/ 

Les Décodeurs publishes reports regularly about the accuracy of claims. It does so with approximately one fact-check daily over the previous three months. All its work is published here: https://www.lemonde.fr/verification/

https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2018/08/29/nos-reponses-aux-parents-inquiets-des-pretendus-dangers-de-la-loi-schiappa-pour-les-enfants_5347529_4355770.html

https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2018/08/27/edouard-philippe-se-trompe-en-comparant-arret-maladie-et-conge_5346793_4355770.html

https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2018/08/27/bruno-le-maire-nie-l-evidence-sur-le-pouvoir-d-achat-des-retraites_5346619_4355770.html

https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2018/08/15/la-video-d-un-pillage-attribuee-injustement-a-des-migrants-en-espagne_5342755_4355770.html

https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2018/08/08/non-il-n-y-a-pas-de-genocide-contre-les-fermiers-blancs-en-afrique-du-sud_5340550_4355770.html

We cover all kinds of topics. Les Décodeurs has found, since 2009, its origin in political fact-checking – we still fact-check political leaders, from any party. Since 2015, we have also focused on debunking fake news and rumors, about terrorist attacks, migrants and any other relevant topic. Each story is published after editorial meetings between the journalist and the editor of Le Monde and Les Décodeurs. Our standards are described in our charter, which is available to the public. If the quote is not precise enough, we contact the person in order to have a better understanding. If we don’t have an answer from him or her, we do write it in our article. When we find fake news or rumors, we always go back to the source. If there is a controversy about a fact, we do mention it. If there is an error in an article, mentioned by the implicated person (or readers), we correct it and mention it with an edit. Eventually, any article is read at least 4 times before it gets published.

Les Décodeurs’ journalists selected several fact-checks to prove scope and consistency of their work:

https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2018/08/29/nos-reponses-aux-parents-inquiets-des-pretendus-dangers-de-la-loi-schiappa-pour-les-enfants_5347529_4355770.html

https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2018/08/27/edouard-philippe-se-trompe-en-comparant-arret-maladie-et-conge_5346793_4355770.html

https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2018/08/27/bruno-le-maire-nie-l-evidence-sur-le-pouvoir-d-achat-des-retraites_5346619_4355770.html

https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2018/08/15/la-video-d-un-pillage-attribuee-injustement-a-des-migrants-en-espagne_5342755_4355770.html

https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2018/08/08/non-il-n-y-a-pas-de-genocide-contre-les-fermiers-blancs-en-afrique-du-sud_5340550_4355770.html

We add these examples :

https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2018/09/28/immigration-europe-les-intox-de-laurent-wauquiez-face-a-edouard-philippe_5361784_4355770.html

https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2018/09/21/impots-pouvoir-d-achat-emploi-les-contre-verites-de-benjamin-griveaux_5358544_4355770.html

https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2018/09/18/non-eric-ciotti-l-europe-ne-sanctionne-pas-orban-parce-qu-il-a-exprime-une-position_5356816_4355770.html

https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2018/09/18/non-il-n-y-a-pas-de-reductions-d-effectifs-d-eleves-justifiant-1-800-suppressions-de-poste_5356787_4355770.html

https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2018/09/11/non-un-retraite-moyen-ne-va-pas-perdre-1-000-euros-par-an_5353515_4355770.html

These examples show that Les Décodeurs covers a variety of speakers (Bruno Le Maire, Edouard Philippe, etc.) and that its fact-checks are non-partisan work.

Le Monde has a tradition of political neutrality in news articles, which must be balanced and give the opportunity of people involved to speak. Le Monde has a charter of professional ethics, which is public. It explicitly forbid journalists to claim political preferences or to cover a topic of which they have potential conflict of interests. We also have an ethics comitee of independent external members, the CEO company, the Editor and elected representatives of journalists, employees and readers. The Société des rédacteurs (regrouping the journalists and which is a minority shareholder) is very vigilant about possible violations of ethics.

http://www.lemonde.fr/actualite-medias/article/2010/11/03/la-charte-d-ethique-et-de-deontologie-du-groupe-le-monde_1434737_3236.html 

To explain its policies to preserve its non-partisan way of fact-checking claims, Les Décodeurs' team mentions the Le Monde code of ethics: https://www.lemonde.fr/actualite-medias/article/2010/11/03/la-charte-d-ethique-et-de-deontologie-du-groupe-le-monde_1434737_3236.html

It specifies that "the purpose of the Le Monde Group's outlets is to provide, in any medium, quality, accurate, verified and balanced information. Journalists must take a critical look at information and echo the pluralism of opinions."

Les Décodeurs' team also mentions its ethics comitee and its "Société des rédacteurs" that are vigilant about the non-partisan nature of publications...

The chart of Les Décodeurs explicitly mention the sources must be accessible in one click. We aim to be very strict about our sources, that’s our contract with readers. Every fact must be checked with all available data. We do mention the source, and we link it when we can, so that the reader can get access to the source and the data. More and more, we publish our data (used for graphics) in open source, mainly on Github but also on the French official platform Data.gouv.fr.

http://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2014/03/10/la-charte-des-decodeurs_4365106_4355770.html

https://github.com/decodeurs

Most of the time, sources are provided in Les Décodeurs' fact-checks. According to our assessment, Les Décodeurs' fact-checkers give most of the time details to the readers, so that they are able to replicate the fact-check by their own means.

Fact-checks are written in a pedagogical way and the team try to explain its work.

Besides, Les Décodeurs have a specific policy on sources, which is mentioned here: : http://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2014/03/10/la-charte-des-decodeurs_4365106_4355770.html

This document mentions, in its sixth section: "Our articles explicitly mention the source of a fact or a number. As soon as a fact, a number, a source, is available on the Internet, we indicate it by a link".

We do inform our readers of every change in the capital. Le Monde’s majority shareholders are Pierre Bergé, Xavier Niel, Matthieu Pigasse and the Spanish group Prisa. The charter of professional ethics mention the rights but also, and especially, the duties of the shareholders, in particular a strict ban on interfering with editorial content. http://www.lemonde.fr/actualite-medias/article/2017/01/27/groupe-le-monde-une-transformation-en-bonne-voie_5070086_3236.html http://www.lemonde.fr/actualite-medias/article/2017/01/27/ce-que-change-le-nouvel-accord-entre-les-personnels-du-monde-et-les-actionnaires-du-groupe_5070198_3236.html 

Les Décodeurs is the fact-checking sections of a media named Le Monde. And the ownership of Le Monde is detailed here, in specific articles that the readers are not able to find by themselves : http://www.lemonde.fr/actualite-medias/article/2017/01/27/groupe-le-monde-une-transformation-en-bonne-voie_5070086_3236.html http://www.lemonde.fr/actualite-medias/article/2017/01/27/ce-que-change-le-nouvel-accord-entre-les-personnels-du-monde-et-les-actionnaires-du-groupe_5070198_3236.html

The team actually explains the way the shareholding is made up, but there's no way for the readers to find it directly or to find the shareholding details...

https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2014/03/10/l-equipe-des-decodeurs_4365082_4355770.html

https://twitter.com/decodeurs/lists/equipe/members?lang=fr

The names of Décodeurs' journalists are clearly listed here : https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2014/03/10/l-equipe-des-decodeurs_4365082_4355770.html

But to find some indications about their biographies, readers have to connect to the Décodeurs' Twitter account (https://twitter.com/decodeurs), and then click on the lists section of the account (https://twitter.com/decodeurs/lists), then click on the team list (https://twitter.com/decodeurs/lists/equipe) and finally on the members section of the team list (https://twitter.com/decodeurs/lists/equipe/members)...

It would be more usefull for readers to find biographic informations with a link on each name of the list (https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2014/03/10/l-equipe-des-decodeurs_4365082_4355770.html) to the associated Twitter account.

[Full bios were added after this application]

lesdecodeurs@lemonde.fr

https://twitter.com/decodeurs

https://www.facebook.com/lesdecodeurs/

There are several ways to reach the team, through the social media Twitter (https://twitter.com/decodeurs) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/lesdecodeurs/). And also through the specific section :

https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/live/2016/09/28/posez-vos-questions-aux-decodeurs_5004759_4355770.html

http://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2014/03/10/la-charte-des-decodeurs_4365106_4355770.html

The Décodeurs's team doesn't really explain clearly and with details its fact-checking methodology.
Its "Charte" (www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2014/03/10/la-charte-des-decodeurs_4365106_4355770.html) is more like a code of principles, but it explains the philosphy more than the methodology....

[The methodology was updated after this assessment, see note at the top]

http://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/live/2016/09/28/posez-vos-questions-aux-decodeurs_5004759_4355770.html 

Les Décodeurs have a specific section, a live section, that readers can use to send claims for verification : 
https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/live/2016/09/28/posez-vos-questions-aux-decodeurs_5004759_4355770.html

But they don't explain what readers can legitimately expect will be fact-checked and what isn't fact-checkable...

Le Monde is making its best effort to update stories and contents that would, unfortunately, have mistakes or imprecisions when first published. As we do so, we explain our readers why and how we made this update.

Les Décodeurs had no public corrections policy, and Le Monde either.

[The policy was added after the assessment, see link at top]

https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2018/08/29/la-france-condamnee-par-l-onu-a-la-suite-de-l-affaire-baby-loup-une-affirmation-a-nuancer_5347415_4355770.html

https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2018/07/31/depuis-le-1er-aout-la-terre-vit-a-credit-a-quoi-correspond-cette-date_5337791_4355770.html

Les Décodeurs have no public page listing all corrections made... But they provide two examples of corrections made in the past three months...