Tempo is a media group in Indonesia that focus on quality and investigative journalism. Fact checking is our latest project to strengthen our service to our growing digital audience.

We launched our fact-checking initiative last year during Jakarta's governor election and continue to factcheck various claims and hoaxes until today.

In January 2018, we launched a special channel for fact-checking in our frontpage called "Verifikasi". It compiles all of our previous fact checking articles in one channel so it is more easy to be discovered (https://cekfakta.tempo.co/fakta/20) . It also marked the start of our collaboration with "TurnBackHoax.id" a non profit citizen-led fact-checking initiative in Indonesia.

Links to stories about Tempo can be found here:

https://www.globaleditorsnetwork.org/press-room/news/2016/04/45-years-of-tempo-magazine/

https://cpj.org/reports/1998/11/tempo.php

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3652726.stm

Tempo.co is a profit corporation and registered at Indonesia Stock Exchange, Jakarta. The outlet is part of the Tempo Media Group, a huge media company in Indonesia (see: https://www.tempo.co/about & https://korporat.tempo.co/investor/investor_s). Hence, fact-checking work is organized as part of the Tempo’s editorial practices. Moreover, Tempo.co is a commercial entity under registered name: PT. Tempo Media Digital.

The ‘Tentang Kami’ (About Us) section provides a brief description of the history of Tempo.co; its office address; phone number and e-mail account. In addition, this outlet was awarded as ‘The Best Mobile Media 2011’ from the Asia Digital Media Award. The Tempo.co office merges with the office of magazine & Koran Tempo on Jl. Palmerah Barat no. 8, South Jakarta, 12210. In the same column the information of editorial staffs is completely provided. 

We collect all of our factcheck articles here: https://cekfakta.tempo.co/fakta/20 You can read it all of our previous fact check articles at the bottom of that page. Please be informed that although most of it was posted on that channel in January, the articles dated back to mid last year (2017) when we first conducted fact-checking about statements and claims made by candidates participating at Jakarta's governor election.    

According to description in the application form, fact checking is the latest project of Tempo.co (just started by January 2018) to strengthen its service for digital audiences, in particular to check various claims and hoaxes. Tempo.co developed a specific section in its web (on the right middle side) entitled: VERIFIKASI as a room for public to access & verify fact-checking works. On channel: https://cekfakta.tempo.co/fakta/20, I can easily find, 20 previous fact-checking articles with five categories: true, half true, not valid, dark and false. However, in this link, Tempo.co only featured 20 news fact-finding results conducted in the past month. There was no indication of the regular work over the last three months. Moreover, in every fact that has been checked, there is no publication schedule indicated, so it’s hard for audience to identify whether the facts being examined are news published by Tempo.co or other media platform.

In each fact check article, we specifically point out the claim or the statement that we want to check, then we do our research and cross examination to verify the claim. Finally, in our conclusion we stated the fact that we found around the claim, including the sources, links and documents that we use.

These are the fact-checks we did in the last 12 months:

https://cekfakta.tempo.co/fakta/20

This claim is made in social media by various sources, about the newly appointed parliament speakers: Bambang Soesatyo's exessive wealth. We checked his asset declaration at the corruption eradication commission and found that most of the claims were true.

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https://cekfakta.tempo.co/fakta/19

This claim was viral in social media made by various sources claimed to be related in the intelligence and law enforcement, about the possibility of a ISIS attack in Indonesia. They believe ISIS supporters would return to their home countries after the war in Syria and Iraq, close to over. Then we checked several sources and it shows that the report is confirmed. However, ISIS supporters who are allowed to return home will be first closely verified by Iraq authorities.

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https://cekfakta.tempo.co/fakta/18

This claim was made in social media last September accusing that Indonesian legal aid unit was organizing a seminar to support communism. This is a dangerous accusation since it can triggered violence response from parties who oppose communism in the country. We attended the seminar, interviewed the organizers and concluded that the accusation was false.

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https://cekfakta.tempo.co/fakta/15

This claim was widespread in October last year when the government announced their plan to register all SIM card holders. Several anonymous sources in social media accused the registration plan was a hoax, a plot to collect millions of valuable private information. We check the government sources and verify the objective of the registration.

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https://cekfakta.tempo.co/fakta/14

This claim was widespread in November, accusing Indonesian sardines and fisheries product of contamination. We check the claim and cross examine it to several official sources and conclude that it was hoax.

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https://cekfakta.tempo.co/fakta/12

This claim was really viral in a short time in social media last December, informing people to avoid certain areas in Yogyakarta due to a riot initiated by Papuan students.

We quickly dispatched our reporter to the area, who check the claim, interview residents and visit the Papuan students dormitory. After that we conclude it was hoax.

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https://cekfakta.tempo.co/fakta/10

This information was viral in social media last November. A student was claimed to be bullied in school because of his ethnic and religious background. We quickly send our reporters to the school and found no student with the name mentioned in social media. After several attempt to verify, then it was clear that the student went to school in another location and indeed was bullied because of his appearance. We conclude the hoax was partially true due to the mistake in the location.

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https://cekfakta.tempo.co/fakta/6

This claim was viral last July, involving a case where a lecturer was beaten severely on a toll road by several unidentified men. People relate this incident with another case where a popular moslem leader was indicted for pornography-- because a few weeks before the incident, this lecturer questioned police's evidence on that case.

We followed the case very closely, and update every progress in order to debunk any false information spreaded by social media about this case.

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https://cekfakta.tempo.co/fakta/4

This claim was made in social media in May and quickly viral. The claim was that a Moslem boarding school was burnt to the ground by communist groups. We send reporter to the area and verify it to several policemen and other sources. We found that it is true a moslem boarding school was on fire but it was because of electricity problem, not arson.

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https://cekfakta.tempo.co/fakta/7

This statement was made by the mayor or district head in Boyolali, Central Java in April, who claim Disneyland will be built in his area. After we check several sources and cross check it again with the mayor, he revise his statement and saying that a theme park will be built but not Disneyland.

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Other than that, we also conducted a fact-checking initiative in Jakarta’s election. These are several of the results:

https://pilkada.tempo.co/read/news/2016/11/28/306823669/cek-fakta-bisakah-anies-membatalkan-jalan-tol-dalam-kota-jakarta

https://pilkada.tempo.co/read/news/2016/11/25/306823208/cek-fakta-usul-penggunaan-calo-pemakaman-jakarta

https://pilkada.tempo.co/read/news/2016/11/01/306816718/cek-fakta-rebutan-kartu-pintar-murid-jakarta

https://pilkada.tempo.co/read/news/2016/10/28/306815883/cek-fakta-ide-siapa-taman-tumbuh-subur-di-jakarta

https://pilkada.tempo.co/read/news/2016/10/25/306814794/cek-fakta-jarak-antara-penduduk-kaya-dan-miskin-di-jakarta

https://pilkada.tempo.co/read/news/2016/10/21/306814105/fact-check-senyaman-apa-trotoar-jakarta

https://pilkada.tempo.co/read/news/2016/10/21/306813983/fact-check-ahok-targetkan-1-000-bus-baru-tahun-ini

In the section: METODOLOGI (method) residing on the same page with publication of the results of fact-checking, Tempo.co has adequately described how the verification process of selected claims is based on several considerations such as the relevance of the topic to the public, the existence of a factual claim, and the status of the source has already been verified. To gather this method, Tempo.co developed a cooperation with the Anti-Defamation Society of Indonesia (Mafindo) (see: http://www.turnbackhoax.id).

On the published story entitled ‘Ahok Target 1000 Bus Baru Tahun ini’, as for instance, at the first title, the editors indicated their fact-checked with word: ‘Fact Check’, so readers can easily verify this work. See: https://pilkada.tempo.co/read/813983/fact-check-ahok-targetkan-1-000-bus-baru-tahun-ini

The choices of Fact Checks themselves seem to be well covered on various social, economy and political issues and actors at local, provincial and national scopes of Indonesia.

Our policy is strictly prohibiting our staff to involve in political parties and advocacy organization. It is stated here in our factchecking channel: https://cekfakta.tempo.co/metodologi

In our media as a whole, as one of the oldest and leading mass media in Indonesia, Tempo strictly apply the Code of Ethics which stated the following:

Article 1

Indonesian journalist is independent and produces news stories that are accurate, balanced and without malice.

Article 2

Indonesian journalist adheres to professional methods in the execution of a journalistic assignment,

Article 3

Indonesian journalist always verifies information, conducts balanced reporting, does not mix facts with biased opinion, and upholds the presumption of innocence principle.

Article 4

Indonesian journalist refrains from producing false, slanderous, sadistic and obscene news stories.

Article 5

Indonesian journalist does not disclose and broadcast the identity of victims of a sexually-exploitative crime and refrains from identifying a minor who committed a criminal act.

Article 6

Indonesian journalist does not misuse his/her profession and accepts no bribe.

Article 7

Indonesian journalist has the right of refusal to protect the identity of a news source who does not wish his/her identity and whereabouts to be known, and abides by the conditions for an embargo, background and off the record information as mutually agreed.

Article 8

Indonesian journalist does not write or report news based on prejudice or discrimination against anyone on the basis of differences in ethnicity, race, color, religion, gender, and language and does not degrade the dignity of the weak, the poor, the sick, the mentally or physically disabled.

Article 9

Indonesian journalist respects the right of the news source’s private life except in the public interest.

Article 10

Indonesian journalist immediately retracts, rectifies, and corrects errors and inaccuracies in a news story accompanied with an apology to readers, listeners or viewers.

Article 11

Indonesian journalist accedes to the right of reply and the right of correction in a proportional manner.

We also have a Joint Work Agreement in the company, between PT Tempo Inti Media and PT Tempo Inti Media Harian with the Labour Union, which in Article 41 paragraph 4 defined: "Employees are prohibited from becoming caretaker of any political party or conduct activities for any political party." 

To the application form, Tempo.co has a strong policy to prohibit both company and employees from practical political activities. The policy meets the national code of ethics (managed by Indonesian Press Council) namely Kode Etik Media Siber. The outlet put Kode Etik Media Siber at the bottom of Tentang Kami of the Web, so audiences can easily verify the document.

On ‘METODOLOGI’ section, see: https://cekfakta.tempo.co/metodologi, Tempo.co clearly states, Tempo editors are required to comply with journalism code of ethics issued by the Indonesian Press Council, in particular to be always independent and impartial to all news sources. Moreover, all Tempo.co journalists should not engage in the practical political activities; being a political party boards or actively advocate on certain issues that have the potential to create a conflict of interest, including actively campaigning to support for the candidates in the politics. 

We always share publicly all the sources we used in fact checking a claim. Those references usually are written at the bottom of our fact checking articles.

Sources that can be used for this purpose has to publish facts that can be verified independently, and belong to a credible and authoritative institution on the matters. We also use more than two sources each time. We stated our policy and methodology for fact-checking here:

https://cekfakta.tempo.co/metodologi 

Overall, in each of the current articles, Tempo.co references its work of fact-checks to its published stories by typing the title of the previous stories at the bottom or in the middle of the current story, namely: BACA REFERENSI/REFERENSI as can be seen in the attachment. 

This policy helps readers to follow the past story or the relevant published facts. However, links to the first data such as contacts of the sources or link to the official government reports that allow readers to look at the first-hand information are not fully available. Also, on the METODOLOGI section, I did not find a description of why Tempo.co apply this policy. 

Since Tempo is part of a larger corporation, here is the link to our shareholders information: https://korporat.tempo.co/tentang/struktur_saham We stated our source of funding in the last paragraph here: https://cekfakta.tempo.co/metodologi 

On the Tempo Media Group link (a mother of Tempo.co): https://korporat.tempo.co/about/structure_saham, I can see the number of shares and their sharing ownership of Tempo and it can be confirmed that from 6 parties, no one holds a majority share. However, there is no special report on the composition of Tempo.co ownership. To the METODOLOGI link mentioned, as a profit company, the Tempo.co financing comes primarily from advertising and circulation, however there is no further detail regarding this issue that available for public. 

This iniative will be conducted by Mr Untung Widianto: http://earthjournalism.net/directory/untung-widyanto He will be supervised by Mr. Wahyu Dhyatmika: https://www.icij.org/journalists/wahyu-dhyatmika/ We also explained the person behind of factchecking initiative here: https://cekfakta.tempo.co/metodologi

By name, all Tempo.co editorial members are listed online (see: https://www.tempo.co/about). In particular, the link: https://cekfakta.tempo.co/metodologi inform Untung Widianto, a senior journalist who responsible for the fact-checking work. His work is supervised by Wahyu Dyatmika, senior editor of Tempo magazine. Unfortunately, there is no their full bio available directly at the Tempo.co portal. To access their profile, public have to open the separate links: http://earthjournalism.net/directory/untung-widyanto & https://www.icij.org/journalists/wahyu-dhyatmika/. 

In each of the factcheck articles, we include an email where people can submit their correction or additional info about the article in a special email: cekfakta@tempo.co.id We also stated our contact information at the bottom of every page: https://www.tempo.co/kontak Address: Gedung Tempo, Jalan Palmerah Barat No.8, Jakarta Selatan 12210 Telepon: +62.21.7255645 dan +62.21.7255650 Email: red@tempo.co.id

Public can contact the organization on the issues of fact-checking through various rooms: by mail to Tempo.co: Gedung Tempo, Jl. Palmerah Barat No.8, Jakarta Selatan, Indonesia 12210; by phone to +62.21.7255645 and +62.21.7255650 or by e-mail to: red@tempo.co.id. The information on this matter is obviously provided in the Web. 

Our fact checking methodology is stated here: https://cekfakta.tempo.co/metodologi In that section, we explain how we choose our issue/hoax to be debunked or verified, and how do we do it. First we need to check the validity of the claim, making sure it was indeed said or stated by public officials or viral on social media. After that, we check open sources to get the public data and then verify it ourselves by interviews and observation to the field. Since we are also operates as newsroom, it gives us a benefit, because we can send trained and qualified reporters as fact-checkers to check claims or false information. Our work is also closely related to TurnBackHoax.id. We have a link in our frontpage to enable users who wants to report hoax to TurnBackHoax.id website. We also have access to their dashboard, so we can choose which information/claims to be verified based on our priority.  

The fact checking methodology of Tempo.co is clearly stated by textual format here: https://cekfakta.tempo.co/metodologi. In this section, the outlet explains step by step its process of fact-checking works. Moreover, the description is also accompanied by the explanation of five marking choices of the fact-checking result. 

We puts our email in the end of every fact check articles so readers can send their claims at cekfakta@tempo.co.id We are also working together with TurnBackHoax.id that provide the links in our frontpage, where audience can submit claims to be checked at https://www.turnbackhoax.id/lapor-hoax/ 

The outlet provides generic link for public to send comments and critics over the fact-check works to: cekfakta@tempo.co.id. However, there is no statistical report on the frequency of reader submitted fact-checks. In addition, with turnbackhoax.com, the outlet provides online form where reader can submit claims to be checked at: https://www.turnbackhoax.id/lapor-hoax/ 

As verified members, we adhere to Indonesian Press Council correction policy which is stated at http://dewanpers.or.id/pedoman/detail/167/pedoman-pemberitaan-media-siber It regulates that every complaint about content has to be responded and check professionally and thoroughly. Once it is established that we made a mistake, we have to issue a correction and apologize. 

The outlet adheres to Indonesian Press Council correction policy (See: http://dewanpers.or.id/pedoman/detail/167/pedoman-pemberitaan-media-siber) that among other regulates when a mistake found, a newsroom has to issue a correction and apologize.

https://dunia.tempo.co/read/1020730/mantan-duta-besar-norwegia-disebut-selingkuhi-wanita-indonesia

https://nasional.tempo.co/read/776298/soal-pemeriksaan-sunny-di-kasus-reklamasi-ini-tanggapan-kpk

In both examples, we added correction at the bottom of the article, including when and why the articles was corrected. To complain about an article, readers only need to notify us via social media, or directly via email or phone, and we will assign an editor to look into the matter and correct the article accordingly if we found mistake in our part.

Temo has clearly applied its corrections policies