Eufactcheck, an initiative of the European Journalism Training Association (EJTA) fights misinformation in the run-up to the 2019 EU elections. Journalism students from all over Europe fact-check claims made by politicians and others and rate them. Our focus is not to debunk fake news or disinformation but to give correct information to the reader.
At a press conference on July 11, 2018, the European Commission stated: “Foods within the European Union are traceable all along the supply chain.” This assertion is partly true. This was a response to Thilo Bode, founder of the non-governmental organization Foodwatch, which fights for consumer protection; he had questioned the president of the European…
In recent years, public media in Spain have been questioned because they are commonly accused of serving particular political tendencies. In the case of the Catalan public broadcasting, the claim arrived to the Committee on Petitions of the European Parliament in January 2019. Two complainants accused the Catalan public television (TV3) and radio station (Catalunya…
According to an article posted by the Dutch newsblog ‘De Dagelijkse Standaard’ on the 1st of February 2019, The Netherlands is the country in Europe that welcomes muslims the most. The claim turns out to be mostly false. The information comes from a report by Pew Research Center that posted the results of their research…
On June 24, 2018, speaking on France Culture, the toxicologist André Cicolella claimed that “80% of the total load of endocrine disruptors comes from food.” While plausible, this figure has yet to be substantiated.
According to a November report of the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, the number of suicides in Greece increased by forty per cent between 2010 and 2015, as a result of the economic crisis. This is mostly true.
On the 3rd of February 2019, several newspapers including Metro reported that more weed farms with Dutch characteristics were being discovered in countries across Europe. The articles were written due to the report from the investigative journalism programme Reporter Radio on Dutch radio station NPO Radio 1. The claim seems to be mostly true. In…
On January 23, during an Italian talk show, Luigi Di Maio (deputy prime minister and minister of Labour and Social Policies) declared that, according to a report by Istituto Cattaneo, the cabinet led by Giuseppe Conte is the most popular in Europe. Actually, this is not precise. The report Lo strano caso del consenso al…
The Dutch newspaper Trouw published an article on February 1st about import tariffs of 100 percent on Serbian products like milk. According to Trouw, this is problematic, since the imposed tariffs are – according to the EU – a direct violation of the regional Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA). Our findings suggest this is…
In an article posted the 27th of November 2018 the Belgian newspaper De Tijd claimed that the health damages by road traffic related air pollution costs the European Union around 62 billion euros a year. This claim turned out to be mostly true. “From a study done by European Public Health Alliance (EPHA) it turns…
The Natracare brand of organic skin protection claims on its website that conventional menstrual pads are made of “90% plastic”. An unverifiable figure, but likely. “Did you know conventional menstrual pads are made up of 90% plastic materials?!” The brand Natracare, a pioneer in organic sanitary pads, uses this astounding figure to appeal to…
