By Ronny Rojas
Twelve fact-checking organizations, including Noticias Telemundo, came together to combat misinformation during the presidential campaign and bring verified content in Spanish to Latinos in the United States.
The project, called FactChat, and coordinated by the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) of the Poynter Institute, is the first collaborative effort between verification organizations in English and the two main Hispanic news networks in the country: Noticias Telemundo and Univision Noticias.
Noticias Telemundo will publish daily verification articles produced by the allied media and will produce its own original content through the new T Verifica section.
[Follow our coverage of the 2020 presidential elections]
Our mission is to verify the accuracy and veracity of the statements made by politicians, public officials and other figures who occupy an important space in the public discussion of the country.
“We want to continue serving the Hispanic community, informing them of things as they are so that they have tools that can help them make decisions at such an important electoral time and where Latinos play a key role,” said Maria Luisa Tabares, director of digital content for Telemundo News.
Noticias Telemundo and Univision Noticias will produce their own news and will also translate verifications from nine partners who publish in English: Politifact, USA Today, The Dispatch, Lead Stories, FactCheck.org, AFP, The Washington Post Fact Checker, Check Your Fact, MediaWise and Science Feedback.
The information will be available not only on the web pages, but it will be even more accessible to the public through a WhatsApp chatbot, with which they can interact to receive verifications in Spanish of the matters that interest them most.
To subscribe, you can do so by clicking here or registering the number +1 (727) 477-2212 and writing "Hello" in the first message.
This system, developed by Turn.io, is free for all WhatsApp users and can be used in English and Spanish.
“Working together, the verifiers have more power and impact. We cannot let fake news take center stage in these elections, ”
said Cristina Tardáguila, IFCN deputy director.
The Noticias Telemundo verification platform will monitor and deny the false news and rumors that most affect the Latino community in the United States, and that circulate on social networks.
We aim to be allies of our readers to provide them with reliable and quality information that allows them to make informed decisions about the most critical aspects of their lives.
[T Verifica, the data verification platform of Noticias Telemundo is born]
“Having our own verification section is one more step in the mission of accompanying Spanish-speaking people in their daily lives.
We want them to be prepared to identify false and misleading information that we all constantly receive from different sources, ”added Tabares.
We want to do this work with your collaboration.
If you receive information about which you doubt or want to suggest topics, data or statements to verify, you can write to us at the email:
ronny.rojas@nbcuni.com
The collaborative project FactChat will run until the day of the inauguration of the president-elect, in January 2021.
