Pagella Politica is a registered newspaper at the court of Milan, Italy. Its parent company, TFCF SRL, is a limited liability company (società a responsabilità limitata according to the Italian law) which owns and operates two independent fact-checking projects, Pagella Politica and Facta. Both perform fact-checking, debunking, training, and consulting in the disinformation and media literacy fields. TFCF SRL falls under the “Independent for profit company” category in the IFCN guidelines.

Information about our organization’s legal status is clearly set out in the "Chi siamo" [Who we are] webpage on Pagella Politica’s website, easily accessible from our homepage: https://pagellapolitica.it/progetto

Pagella Politica is a legally registered newspaper at the Court of Milan, with the registration number 55 on 8th March 2021.

It is a unit focused on political fact-checking of the parent company "The Fact-Checking Factory (TFCF) Srl", founded in 2013: TFCF Srl is a limited liability company, which can be labeled as an "independent for profit company” under the IFCN guidelines.
All information is clearly stated here: https://pagellapolitica.it/progetto

Pagella Politica was established as a legal entity – originally a Srls (“società a responsabilità limitata semplificata”, according to the Italian law) – at the end of 2013. Its website (https://pagellapolitica.it/) started publishing fact-checks in October 2012. In December 2020 the name of the legal entity was changed in The Fact-Checking Factory SRL and Pagella Politica continued as a fact-checking project within the parent company.

Since the beginning, Pagella Politica has the objectives of (a) monitoring the statements of the main Italian politicians to evaluate their truthfulness through numbers and facts; (b) analyzing and counteracting the disinformation phenomenon in Italy and in Europe through its participation in dedicated projects; and (c ) fostering cooperation in the fact-checking community through its involvement in national, regional and international networks. Its core mission is to improve the quality of information and the Italian public debate, providing greater objectivity, and to counter the spread of false or incorrect information. Online since October 2012, Pagella Politica has verified over three thousand political statements and many hundreds of fake news.

The team is currently composed by 9 in-house staff and a variable number of external collaborators. The internal staff is: Giovanni Zagni (Director), Tommaso Canetta (Deputy director), Carlo Canepa (Chief Editor), Laura Loguercio (Fact Checker), Federico Gonzato (Fact Checker), Pierpaolo Salino (MIL Expert), Silvia Cavasola (Project manager), Renata Leopardi (Social media manager) andSarah Boschetti (Administrative responsible). We do not use unpaid and voluntary work, but we occasionally have interns from journalism schools and universities.

Pagella Politica performs mainly fact-checking of political statements and publishes political news and analysis. In the recent past, it carried out important collaborations with major Italian media, such as the national broadcaster RAI2 and the newswire agency AGI. It is part of the winning consortia in some of the main European projects in the field of disinformation, such as SOMA (Social Observatory for Disinformation and Social Media Analysis, part of the Horizon 2020 program), EDMO (European Digital Media Observatory, part of the Connecting Europe Facility program) and IDMO (The Italian Digital Media Observatory), EFCSN (European Fact-Checking Standards Network).

In the field of media literacy it is an active partner of the projects Spotted (School policies to detect and tackle fake news, part of the Erasmus+ program), GenZ and Fakespotting..

With regards to our goals for the coming year, we plan to focus on expanding our audience and renew our editorial offer, both through the renewal of our website (currently scheduled for the end of February, 2022) and the expansion of editorial products such as newsletters and podcasts. We plan to deepen our cooperation with European fact-checkers, in the fields of both editorial content and policy, through our participation in the EFCSN, EDMO and IDMO projects..

Pagella Politica has been set up as one of the first, problably the first, websites focused on fact-checking in 2012 and nowadays its activity in this field is renowned and reliable.

At present Pagella Politica's staff is composed by 9 people: 5 as editorial staff plus a project manager, a training and media literacy expert, a social media manager, and a person in charge of the administration.

As known and verified by the assessor Pagella Politica carries out a broad fact-checking activity both for its own activity, for other Italian media and as a part of several European project aimed to tackle disinformation. 

Pagella Politica currently publishes an average of 15 articles per week. All articles published are visible under the following link: https://pagellapolitica.it/fact-checking 

As verified on Pagella Politica's website, the applicant is fully compliant to this criteria.

The applicant is fully compliant to this criteria as after verification more than 75% of published fact-cheks are related to the general interest and wellbeing of the society.

Our organization is completely independent and has no relationship with the state, politicians or political parties in Italy as well as in any other country.

We participate in some of the main European projects in the field of disinformation, which are funded by the European Commission of the EU, namely: SOMA (Social Observatory for Disinformation and Social Media Analysis, part of the Horizon 2020 program), EDMO (European Digital Media Observatory, part of the Connecting Europe Facility program), IDMO (Italian Digital Media Observatory), Fakespotting, GenZ and Spotted (School policies to detect and tackle fake news, part of the Erasmus+ program). Pagella Politica’s involvement in these projects is explicitly mentioned here https://pagellapolitica.it/progetti, including the statement that Pagella Politica’s involvement in these projects has no impact on its editorial independence.

The applicant explains at this link (https://pagellapolitica.it/progetto) that it hasn't any relationship with the state or any politicians or party in Italy or abroad. 
On the page "Progetti" (https://pagellapolitica.it/progetti) it's possible to check the projects where Pagella Politica takes/have taken part and that fund its work. 
No evidence results about undeclared relationships, funding or support.

At the top of the webpage where we detail Pagella Politica’s participation in projects financed by the European Commission (https://pagellapolitica.it/progetti), we clearly state that such participation does not impact our editorial independence.

The applicant provides information as requested by this criteria.

Please find the links to the 10 fact checks in the document attached.

In all our fact-checks we use institutional and, where possible, publicly available sources, so that the operations carried out to perform the analysis are transparent and easily replicable by readers.

The systematic procedure that we follow to perform the fact-checks starts from an analysis of the declaration itself and the parts composing it, a verification of the relevant available official data, and a consequent drawing of conclusions. Our “verdicts” regarding the veracity of the analyzed declarations are based on the objective reality stemming from our verifications.

The ten reported fact-checks deal with some of the major political issues in Italy in recent weeks (including the minimum income measure, called ”reddito di cittadinanza”, Covid-19 vaccines, school closures and reopenings in Italy and mandatory vaccines). In the sample, it is possible to notice how our analyses give positive or negative verdicts to declarations of members of opposing political forces independently of their political affiliations, and only taking into consideration the relationship between their declarations and the facts as verifiable through the official sources. Here are some examples taken from the attached document:

In this article https://pagellapolitica.it/blog/show/1285/draghi-gonfia-i-benefici-dellobbligo-di-green-pass-a-lavoro, the Italian prime minister Mario Draghi is proven wrong regarding the benefits of the green pass certificate on hospitalizations and deaths reductions.

In this article https://pagellapolitica.it/dichiarazioni/8965/no-litalia-non-e-lunica-nellue-con-lobbligo-di-green-pass-per-ristoranti-e-altre-attivita, Francesco Lollobrigida, a member of the opposition party Fratelli d’Italia, is proven wrong in his declaration that only Italy uses the green pass certificate for services like restaurants or museums.

In this article https://pagellapolitica.it/dichiarazioni/8966/salvini-ha-quasi-ragione-sugli-unici-paesi-al-mondo-con-lobbligo-vaccinale, the leader of Lega Matteo Salvini is proven right in his declaration that only few countries in the world have introduce a mandatory Covid-19 vaccine.

In this article https://pagellapolitica.it/dichiarazioni/9022/no-litalia-non-e-il-primo-paese-europeo-a-imporre-lobbligo-vaccinale the Public administration minister Renato Brunetta is prove wrong in his declaration that Italy was the first country in Europe to introduce a mandatory Covid-19 vaccine for people aged over 50.

The 10 fact-checks provided by the applicant as well those picked randomly among those published in the last six months are compliant.

The link https://pagellapolitica.it/progetto provides information on the methodology used to select and fact-check claims according to a procedure granting impartiality (see the “Come operiamo” section in particular). The link is easily accessible from the homepage: it is displayed as one of the main menu buttons (“Chi siamo” > “Progetto”). 

As verified the contents published by Pagella Politica are not affected by any unduly concentration on any political side.

At this link you can read a detailed explanation of the verification method used: https://pagellapolitica.it/progetto

According to what verified, the applicant's team discloses regularly the relevant interests as well as any commercial and other kind of relationships that the mentioned sources have.

As verified, the applicant doesn't show any kind of support for any political party, politician or candidate.

See under following link the paragrah "Chi siamo": Pagella Politica is an independent organization.https://pagellapolitica.it/progetto

The applicant states at this link https://pagellapolitica.it/progetto, under the section "Chi siamo" as declared, its policy about the non-partisanship of its staff.

As verified the staff acts in a compliant way according to this criteria. 

After verification, the applicant identifies as a rule all the quoted sources of relevant evidences mentioned in its fact-checks. 

The applicant is compliant to this criteria, according to our review, as almost entirely it uses primary sources for its fact-checks and, when this is not possible, it gives explanations about the use of secondary sources.

For each key claim the applicant usually checks two or more sources of evidence.

According to our review, the applicant usually provides information about the relevant interests of the used sources. 

Pagella Politica is an independent organization.

Pagella Politica is an independent organization, part of TFCF SRL, a limited liability company as stated at this link, under the section "Chi siamo?": https://pagellapolitica.it/progetto

Our website explains the financial situation of the project and the identity of its founders https://pagellapolitica.it/progetto :

Paragraph: “Come ci finanziamo?” 

The applicant provides at this link https://pagellapolitica.it/progetto, under the section "Come ci finanziamo?" a list of the sources of funding that accounted for more than 5% in 2021.

In the same webpage is stated that Pagella Politica is an independent organization, part of TFCF SRL, a limited liability company.

Information about our organizational and editorial structure can be found here https://pagellapolitica.it/progetto and here https://pagellapolitica.it/redazione

The applicant declares how the newsroom is organised, who is in charge of the editorial control and who works on fact-checking at the links https://pagellapolitica.it/redazione and https://pagellapolitica.it/progetto.

https://pagellapolitica.it/redazione

As verified, the applicant provides at the mentioned link (https://pagellapolitica.it/redazione) the professional biografies of its staff.

This link https://pagellapolitica.it/contattaci provides users the possibility to contact our editorial team through a webform. Below the webform we state: “Se vuoi avere maggiori informazioni su Pagella Politica, inviarci una dichiarazione da verificare o semplicemente esprimere un commento sul sito ed il nostro lavoro, contattaci compilando il formulario sopra, ti risponderemo il prima possibile. Puoi scrivere alla redazione a questo indirizzo: contatti@pagellapolitica.it” [If you wish to know more about Pagella Politica, send a declaration to be checked by our team, or simply express a comment on our website and work, contact us via email, and we will get back to you as soon as possible.]. The link is easily accessible, as it is displayed on the homepage as one of the buttons of the main menu. 

The applicant is compliant to this criteria

The link https://pagellapolitica.it/progetto provides general information on the methodology used (see the “Come operiamo” section in particular). The link is easily accessible from the homepage: it is displayed as one of the main menu buttons (“Chi siamo” > “Progetto”). Further details on methodology are provided in the individual fact-checks.

Under the section "Come operiamo", in the webpage https://pagellapolitica.it/progetto, the applicant provides information aboput the methodology used for fact-checking. 

According to our verification, the applicant is compliant to this criteria.

As reviewed, the applicat usually provides both evidence that supports and evidence that undermines a claim.

According to our review, Pagella Politica's fact-checkers usually assesses the merits of the evidence with the same high standards, regardless of who made the claim.

As verified, the applicant shows that its fact-checkers seek to contact the sources as a rule. Moreover they state inside tha articles when they weren't able to get an answer from the sources.

This link https://pagellapolitica.it/contattaci provides users the possibility to contact our editorial team via e-mail, stating: “Se vuoi avere maggiori informazioni su Pagella Politica, inviarci una dichiarazione da verificare o semplicemente esprimere un commento sul sito ed il nostro lavoro, contattaci compilando il formulario sopra, ti risponderemo il prima possibile.” [If you wish to know more about Pagella Politica, send a declaration to be checked by our team, or simply express a comment on our website and work, contact us by filling out the form above, and we will get back to you as soon as possible.]. The link is easily accessible, as it is displayed on the homepage as one of the buttons of the main menu. 

At this link https://pagellapolitica.it/contattaci, the applicant writes that readers can send it claim to check, how they can do it and explains also which kind of claim can be verified.

Link to correction policy Pagella Politica: https://pagellapolitica.it/correzioni-rettifiche-aggiornamenti

At the same link, below the correction policy, we list all of the corrections that have been made to published articles. In 2021 e 2022 (January to February), we had 6 such corrections.

At the link mentioned in the application (https://pagellapolitica.it/correzioni-rettifiche-aggiornamenti), is clearly stated the correction policy of Pagella Politica. It is also easy to find in the home page.

The correction policy indicates the features that requests should have, suche as "be detailed and provided with an indication to freely accessible sources". 
It also makes clear that the applicant don't consider requests that ask to change the result of the fact-checking without providing new information that can make possible to review the fact-check.
The applicant adheres scrupulously to the policy.

On our website there is a page where we collect all of the corrections we make to our published analyses. Two recent examples are:

One of 21 July 2021 [link: https://www.pagellapolitica.it/blog/show/1159/perch%C3%A9-i-vaccini-servono-anche-agli-under-40 ] where we updated an analysis published on 21 July 2021 to delete an error on the Istituto superiore di sanità’s data about Covid-19 vaccines efficacy

One of 23 March 2021[link: https://pagellapolitica.it/dichiarazioni/8852/borghi-sbaglia-su-north-e-south-dakota-e-gestione-dellepidemia ], when we integrated a fact-checking article on a deputy Claudio Borghi’s declaration with a response written by Borghi. 

At this link, together with the correction policy, the applicant provides a list of the corrections made as well on the top of each article is stated that it has been corrected and why.

At the top of this webpage https://pagellapolitica.it/progetto , under the first section called “Progetto”, we write: “Dal 2017 siamo membri attivi dell’International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), la principale rete internazionale dei progetti di fact-checking, e firmatari del suo Codice dei Princìpi, una serie di impegni che riassumono le buone pratiche nella verifica delle informazioni. Il loro rispetto, condizione necessaria per diventare firmatari, è verificato periodicamente da esperti indipendenti. Gli utenti possono riportare una presunta violazione del Codice direttamente all’IFCN attraverso questo formulario.”

[Since 2017 Pagella Politica is an active member of the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), and signatory of the related Code of Principles [link to the Code’s webpage]. Any user can report an alleged violation of the Code directly to IFCN through this questionnaire [link to IFCN’s complaints page]].

The applicant is compliant to this criteria.

Pagella Politica is one of the two projects of the parent company The Fact-Checking Factory Srl - TFCF Srl (previously Pagella Politica Srls), the other one being Facta: financial and administrative structure of the two fact-checking projects are the same.

The applicant is complaint to this criteria.