VRT NWS gets European quality label for fact-checks

EFSCN represents factcheckers in discussions on combatting disinformation with European governments and technology companies. To be recognised, editors must meet strict admission standards, including independence, transparency and journalistic quality. Among others, it is important that articles have clear source references. Each reader can thus check for themselves whether a factcheck is correct or not and what reasoning lies behind an assessment.

Since 2020, the VRT news service has worked with a check editorial team: journalists dedicated to factchecking and image verification. They check statements made by public figures or things circulating on social media for authenticity, carrying out extensive source research.

The recognition opens doors for VRT NWS to more international cooperation and journalistic research with domestic and foreign media. After Knack, VRT NWS is the second Belgian news outlet to receive the recognition from EFCSN. Earlier, VRT NWS also achieved the global quality label of the IFCN (International Fact-Checking Network).

Factcheck marathon ahead of elections

From the 27th of May to election day on the 9th of June, VRT NWS is organising the first ‘factcheck marathon of the low countries’. The check editors will then fact-check statements made by politicians during the campaign for the regional, federal and European elections in cooperation with seven other editors from Flanders, French-speaking Belgium and the Netherlands. You can read the results of that factcheck marathon on the VRT NWS website and app, but also in the election programmes on radio, TV and on social media.