In March 2021 students from 18 EJTA-schools start fact checking with fresh energy and new inspiration. With renewed formats and more cross-national collaboration projects we hope to surprise you and keep our critical public alert on pan-European topics.
The Cigarette Manufacturers of Belgium and Luxembourg (CIMABEL) falsely claim that there is no scientific study that proves neutral packaging of cigarettes makes people smoke less. As of January 1st 2020 the packaging of cigarettes will be neutral in Belgium. The country will be the fifth in Europe that follows the trend of making its…
On August 9th, 2019 the German far-right party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) stated the following on Facebook: “The latest figures from the United Nations show that by now one in three immigrants and asylum seekers does not reach Italy via Lampedusa or Sicily, but rather comfortably on a yacht on the eastern route.” It is true that…
During the Fulbright Lifetime Achievement Award speech, President Kolinda Grabar Kitarović stated that she was born on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain. This statement provoked numerousreactions from the media and a storm of reactions on social networks.Kitarović was born in Croatia, which was part of Yugoslavia until 1991. Althoughcommunist-run, Yugoslavia was independent from Eastern Bloc…
President-elect of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen claimed the gender pay gap is at 16% in Europe. Von der Leyen tweeted this on November 4th and promised to close this gap. The claim turns out to be true. The 4th November of 2019 is Equal Pay Day. In honour of Equal Pay Day,…
On the 22nd of October an article appeared in De Standaard, a Belgian newspaper. It quoted the Flemish minister-president Jan Jambon (N-VA) who stated that Brexit already brought 42 companies and 2,000 jobs to Flanders, Belgium. Where did they get that specific number? Jambon made that comment in the Flemish Parliament earlier that day in…
The information that the Queen has signed the bill was published by the Russian news agency Interfax on September 9, 2019. It says that Queen Elizabeth II has approved the document that postpones the country’s exit from the European Union if there is no agreement with Brussels by October 31, 2019, which allows to go…
Rumours have it that the EJTA project EUfactcheck is definitely going to stop after 26 May 2019. The political debates died down, the EU elections are all over. However, we consider the rumours to be false. Why would EUfactcheck continue to exist when there are no more election campaigns? That’s the argument behind the gossip…
On the 12th of May 2019, Maltese leader of the Nationalist Party, Adrian Delia, stated in Times of Malta that the upcoming European elections are “a referendum on abortion.” He continues that every seat going to the Labour Party would be a seat in the European Parliament in favour of abortion. Malta is the only…
AWAITING ELECTION RESULTS WE REPOST OUR MOST QUOTED FACT-CHECK On March the 4th Dutch leader of the right-wing Forum for Democracy Thierry Baudet reacted to a statement by liberal politician Rob Jetten about homophobia in The Netherlands. Baudet stated on Twitter: ,,Jetten’s anger about the increased homophobia in The Netherlands is justified, but he doesn’t…
On May 21st, during a political talk show on Italian television, Silvio Berlusconi said that, under his governments, Italy reached the lowest tax to Gdp ratio in the last 20 years, getting to 39%. This is mostly true.
EUFACTCHECK is the fact-checking project of the European Journalism Training Association (EJTA) that intends to build a sustainable curriculum unit on fact-checking within a European network of Journalism schools.
Through fact-checking European political claims and trying to tackle misinformation, we want our students and our public to grow a deeper insight and interest in democratic processes, both on national and European level.
EUFACTCHECK wishes to motivate fact-based debate in the EU and to stimulate media and information literacy.
After the success of the students’ publications, the participants of EJTA’s fact-checking project EUFACTCHECK decided at the EJTA AGM in Paris (July 2019) to move on with the project and to take new steps in the academic year 2019-2020.
At the EJTA Teachers’ Conference in Dortmund (October 2019) practical details were discussed and a new publication schedule was created for autumn 2019.
By January-February 2019 a manual with guidelines and tips & tricks will be published and on 13-14 February 2020 a second Bootcamp will be organised in Ljubljana, with financial help from the Evens Foundation. This Train the Trainer will be focussing on Central Eastern European countries, but also on new participants that want to publish on the platform.
All the information about this event: nadia.vissers@ap.be
“What is this politician saying??” Did you read or hear a politician or public figure make a questionable claim? Send us an email with the claim and maybe we will fact-check it.
Please include the source (url and date) where you found the claim.
