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Animal Político - El Sabueso

Organization: Animal Político - El Sabueso
Applicant: Arturo Daen
Assessor: Ramón Salaverría
Edits made by the organization after this assessment

IFCN Staff wrote:

From the applicant: 

In El Sabueso’s website, a direct link to methodology, ratings and form for comments and corrections was added. http://www.animalpolitico.com/elsabueso/

“Quiénes Somos”. http://www.animalpolitico.com/quienes-somos/ 


From the assessor: 

According to this post-assessment, the recommendation to the IFCN board upgrades to: Accept 


Conclusion and recommendations
on 18-Feb-2018 (6 years ago)

Ramón Salaverría wrote:

The first assessment (February 4, 2018) about El Sabueso - Animal Político’s compliance of IFCN code of principles was as follows:

1. Organization

Criterion #1.1 – Complete compliance

Criterion #1.2 – Complete compliance

2. Nonpartisanship and fairness

Criterion #2.1 – Complete compliance

Criterion #2.2 – Complete compliance

3. Transparency of sources

Criterion #3.1 – Complete compliance

4. Transparency of funding and of organization

Criterion #4.1 – Partial compliance

Criterion #4.2 – Complete compliance

Criterion #4.3 – Complete compliance

5. Transparency of methodology

Criterion #5.1 – Partial compliance

Criterion #5.2 – Complete compliance

6. Open and honest corrections policy

Criterion #6.1 – Partial compliance

According to this assessment, the original recommendation to the IFCN board was accept with edits.

After receiving the report from IFCN board, El Sabueso - Animal Político made some edits in order to improve its fact-checking service, including the improvements described in the box above. The assessor made a second analysis (February 19, 2018) of those improvements, which resulted in the following re-assessment:

4. Transparency of funding and of organization

Criterion #4.1 – Complete compliance

5. Transparency of methodology

Criterion #5.1 – Complete compliance

6. Open and honest corrections policy

Criterion #6.1 – Complete compliance

According to this post-assessment, the recommendation to the

IFCN board upgrades to:

Accept

on 18-Feb-2018 (6 years ago)

Ramón Salaverría recommended Accept with edits


Section 1: Organization

Criterion 1a
Proof of registration
Evidence required: Please provide evidence that the signatory is a legally-registered organization set up exclusively for the purpose of fact-checking or the distinct fact-checking project of a recognized media house or research institution.

Animal Político - El Sabueso
18-Feb-2018 (6 years ago)

About us, with link to the Articles of Incorporation / Organization: http://www.animalpolitico.com/quienes-somos/

Articles of Incorporation

AnimalPolitico: https://es.scribd.com/document/47751661/Editorial-Animal-Inscripcion

Ramón Salaverría Assessor
18-Feb-2018 (6 years ago)

Legally founded in 2010, Animal Político is one of the most renowned online native news outlets of Mexico. Beyond that, it can be described as one of the most well-known and influential brands among the Latin American online native players. Since January 2015 it runs a section called El Sabueso (‘The Hound’), focused on fact-checking.


done_all 1a marked as Fully compliant by Ramón Salaverría.

Criterion 1b
Archive
Evidence required: Insert a link to the archive of fact checks published in the previous three months. If you do not collect all fact checks in one place, please explain how the fact-checking is conducted by your organization.

Animal Político - El Sabueso
18-Feb-2018 (6 years ago)

All the fact checks are available here: http://www.animalpolitico.com/elsabueso/

Ramón Salaverría Assessor
18-Feb-2018 (6 years ago)

Animal Político publishes fact-checks about different topics and people on a relatively regular basis: throughout the last year analyzed (January 2017-January 2018), some weeks have been found with two or three fact-checks, although there were also some weeks without any fact-check. As this variability can be attributed to the normal news flow, and since Animal Político has been running its fact-checking activity uninterruptedly for more than three years now, publishing more than one fact-check monthly on average, this assessor concludes that this organization complies completely with the requirements.

For better clarification on this point, here is the list of the most recent 25 fact-checks published by El Sabueso - Animal Político with their publishing dates:

February 1, 2018

January 17, 2018

January 3, 2018

December 22, 2017

November 7, 2017

October 31, 2017

October 10, 2017

September 16, 2017

September 11, 2017

August 30, 2017

August 9, 2017

August 7, 2017

July 31, 2017

July 25, 2017

July 19, 2017

July 7, 2017

June 26, 2017

June 19, 2017

June 15, 2017

June 12, 2017

May 29, 2017

May 25, 2017

May 22, 2017

May 18, 2017

May 4, 2017


done_all 1b marked as Fully compliant by Ramón Salaverría.

Section 2: Nonpartisanship and Fairness

Criterion 2a
Body of work sample
Evidence required: Please share links to ten fact checks that better represent the scope and consistency of your fact-checking. Provide a short explanation of how your organization strives to maintain coherent standards across fact checks.

Animal Político - El Sabueso
18-Feb-2018 (6 years ago)

El Sabueso works with the same base methodology for every fact check. After the selection of the claim, which is always evaluated and chosen based on public interest, the next step is to reach the author of that claim in order to know the original source that was used. This allows us to have a fair, accurate and contrasting exercise of fact-checking in every claim.

The construction of every Sabueso follows the same structure: an open paragraph to remind the claim, the data/revelation that we used for the conclusion, and the rate. After that, we show the position of the author of the claim after El Sabueso's consult and the full explanation of our discovery with the use of full data, graphics, or interviews with experts. Also, all the sources are fully visible with the links, the files, papers or official data that we download and use during the fact check.

El Sabueso fact checked Mexican politicians from any party, any authority who managed public resources -Federal or from the states-, and actors involved in the public sphere.

  1. http://www.animalpolitico.com/elsabueso/sabueso-devaluacion-amlo-ochoa/ 
  2. http://www.animalpolitico.com/elsabueso/mancera-microbuses-sabueso-norma/ 
  3. http://www.animalpolitico.com/elsabueso/morelos-presume-baja-delitos/ 
  4. http://www.animalpolitico.com/elsabueso/delfina-gomez-desempleo-edomex/ 
  5. http://www.animalpolitico.com/elsabueso/sabueso-desaparecidos-guanajuato/ 
  6. http://www.animalpolitico.com/elsabueso/tlcan-tratado-eu-mexico/ 
  7. http://www.animalpolitico.com/elsabueso/leche-liconsa-sabueso/ 
  8. http://www.animalpolitico.com/elsabueso/sabueso-trabajadoras-del-hogar/ 
  9. http://www.animalpolitico.com/elsabueso/eruviel-transporte-publico-discapacidad/ 
  10. http://www.animalpolitico.com/elsabueso/el-sabueso-gobierno-federal-prometio-recortes-al-gasto-pero-sin-endeudar-mas-a-mexico-lo-cumplio/

Ramón Salaverría Assessor
18-Feb-2018 (6 years ago)

According to the evidences provided by the media outlet in their application to IFCN, as well as the analysis of their fact-checks made for this assessment, I conclude that Animal Político covers a variety of subjects or speakers in a fairly balanced way. Without leaving aside some other personalities, fact-checks are frequently targeted to the members of national Government, State Governors, as well as their supporting political parties. However, this tendency is deemed normal, as in every country the news scrutiny usually focuses on power holders.


done_all 2a marked as Fully compliant by Ramón Salaverría.

Criterion 2b
Nonpartisanship policy
Evidence required: Please share evidence of your policy preventing staff from direct involvement in political parties and advocacy organizations. Please also indicate the policy your organization has as a whole regarding advocacy and supporting political candidates.

Animal Político - El Sabueso
18-Feb-2018 (6 years ago)

All the staff must accept and practice the Ethics Code in order to be part of the Animal Politico’s team.

This Code is public: http://www.animalpolitico.com/codigo-de-etica/

And has this chapter:

Animal Politico does not respond to any partisan, religious, political, or any other interest that may coerce, compel, or obstruct our journalistic mission.

Journalists, collaborators, executives, and members of the editorial board are responsible to keep impartiality in order to ensure that interviews, news, and any journalistic work responds only to the public interest.

The personal points of view, feelings, or political and moral preferences of the members of the team should not prevail over the objectivity and editorial criteria of Animal Politico.

The non compliance of the Code of Ethics is translated into the cease of the labour relation.

Ramón Salaverría Assessor
18-Feb-2018 (6 years ago)

Based on the same evidences indicated above, as well as a sample of links provided by the applicant, I conclude that El Sabueso - Animal Político does not, in any way, advocate in favor or against any electoral candidate. Animal Politico works under a publicly accessible Ethics Code, which is compulsory for every of its staff members. This Code prevents journalists from any partisanship.


done_all 2b marked as Fully compliant by Ramón Salaverría.

Section 3: Transparency of Sources

Criterion 3a
Sources Policy
Please share a brief and public explanation (500 words max) of how sources are provided in enough detail that readers could replicate the fact check. If you have a public policy on how you find and use sources for your fact-checking, it should be shared here.

Animal Político - El Sabueso
18-Feb-2018 (6 years ago)

El Sabueso sources are fully identify in the fact-check. Every time that we use data, we mention the source.It’s easy to verify that every paragraph includes the complete name of the source, clearly referenced.

El Sabueso provide the links to the sources, the files, papers or official data that we download and use during the fact check.

We also add graphics, audios and videos in order to explain the use of data. Each of this includes always the source.

The fact check is done in a way that we explain every data, why we choose each source, and how it was used. This has the objective that any reader can replicate the exercise.

http://www.animalpolitico.com/elsabueso/pena-nieto-aumento-salario-minimo/

Ramón Salaverría Assessor
18-Feb-2018 (6 years ago)

In its fact-checks, Animal Político provides regularly a set of links to reliable sources of data, as the readers can check by themselves the truthfulness of the analyses. 


done_all 3a marked as Fully compliant by Ramón Salaverría.

Section 4: Transparency of Funding & Organization

Criterion 4a
Funding Sources
Evidence required: Please link to the section where you publicly list your sources of funding (including, if they exist, any rules around which types of funding you do or don't accept), or a statement on ownership if you are the branch of an established media organization or research institution.

Animal Político - El Sabueso
18-Feb-2018 (6 years ago)

El Sabueso belongs to Animal Politico, a digital based media born in 2010: https://es.scribd.com/document/47751661/Editorial-Animal-Inscripcion 

Here is the ownership statement: http://www.animalpolitico.com/blogueros-blog-invitado/2015/01/28/el-sabueso-un-proyecto-para-vigilar-el-discurso-publico/ 

El Sabueso is one of the strongest bets of AnimalPolitico.com, as it's one of the main sections in the website As we will describe in further details, El Sabueso involves a great amount of teamwork: reporters, editors, multimedia, video producers and community managers are committed to the project.

The sources of income during 2017 for Animal Politico were: Training/Coaching to civil organizations or media: 15% Advisory: 10% Advertising: 45% Grants: 25% Donations: 5% Animal Politico has a donation program: https://donadora.mx/plans/animalpolitico Each month, Donadora releases the amount Animal Politico earned during the last 30 days.

Ramón Salaverría Assessor
18-Feb-2018 (6 years ago)

POST-ASSESSMENT (Feb. 19, 2018).

El Sabueso - Animal Político has included detailed information about the origin of their funding in the last year. As a consequence, assessment upgrades to complete compliance.

----

In their signatory application, Animal Político has provided some general information about their funding policy. According to their report, “the sources of income during 2017 for Animal Politico were: Training/Coaching to civil organizations or media: 15% Advisory: 10% Advertising: 45% Grants: 25% Donations: 5%”. All this information could be a bit more transparent (indicating, for instance, the organizations that awarded grants), and those details could be disclosed to the public in their Quiénes somos (‘About us’) page.

Although complete disclosure about the owners behind this news outlet is provided in that same page, little details can be found about the spending during the current year. All in all, the information about this news website’s financial structure could be somewhat expanded and improved.


done_all 4a marked as Fully compliant by Ramón Salaverría.

Criterion 4b
Staff
Evidence required: Please link to the section detailing all authors and key actors behind your fact-checking project with their biographies. You can also list the name and bios of the members of the editorial board, pool of experts, advisory board, etc. if your organization has those.

Ramón Salaverría Assessor
18-Feb-2018 (6 years ago)

A full directory of Animal Político’s journalists and staff members is available on the website. In addition, every news story and fact-check provides information about the journalists behind the news, including a link to their email and Twitter handle.


done_all 4b marked as Fully compliant by Ramón Salaverría.

Criterion 4c
Contact
Evidence required: Please link to the section where readers can get in touch with the organization.

Animal Político - El Sabueso
18-Feb-2018 (6 years ago)
Ramón Salaverría Assessor
18-Feb-2018 (6 years ago)

The authors of fact-checks are clearly disclosed, providing accessible means of contact (usually, their Twitter handle); this allows readers to send corrections to the journalists, if needed.


done_all 4c marked as Fully compliant by Ramón Salaverría.

Section 5: Transparency of Methodology

Criterion 5a
Detailed Methodology
Evidence required: Please link to a section or article detailing the steps you follow for your fact-checking work.

Ramón Salaverría Assessor
18-Feb-2018 (6 years ago)

POST-ASSESSMENT (Feb. 19, 2018).

El Sabueso - Animal Político has included a clear, easy-to-find link to their fact-checking methodology page. As a consequence, assessment upgrades to complete compliance.

---

Animal Político provides enough details of how they proceed with fact-checks. However, there is room for improvement on the accessibility to that key information: we recommend to put it into a permanent and easy-to-reach page. Today the details about their fact-checking methodology are somewhat hidden into an old and hard-to-find page from January 2015. That relevant information should be more accessible.


done_all 5a marked as Fully compliant by Ramón Salaverría.

Criterion 5b
Claim submissions
Evidence required: Please link to the page or process through which readers can submit claims to fact-check. If you do not allow this, please briefly explain why.

Animal Político - El Sabueso
18-Feb-2018 (6 years ago)

Animal Politico is a digital media with a special communication with readers through social media. In Mexico is not common that media outlets answers to the readers, they only post their news. That’s why the readers recognise easily that it is possible to have a dialogue with Animal through social media. We try to ask for claims through our website adding an email in the fact checks published, but we quickly understood that we obtain better results if we make it in Twitter and Facebook. We have the mail elsabueso@animalpolitico.com but we receive more claims and suggestions in social media. 

Our followers: PájaroPolítico (Animal Político) Facebook: 1,280,697 Twitter: 1,750,050 ElSabueso Facebook: 15,260 Twitter: 25, 032

Ramón Salaverría Assessor
18-Feb-2018 (6 years ago)

Animal Político shows very clear and accessible means of contact to fact-checkers, that allow readers to send their claims.


done_all 5b marked as Fully compliant by Ramón Salaverría.

Section 6: Open & Honest Corrections Policy

Criterion 6a
Corrections policy
Evidence required: Please link to the page with your policy to address corrections. If it is not public, please share your organization's handbook.

Animal Político - El Sabueso
18-Feb-2018 (6 years ago) Updated: 6 years ago

Animal Político has an internal manual which makes clear what to do in case of corrections. The document includes step by step how Animal Politico makes corrections and there is a version for El Sabueso. https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1T1UkYJk0oDMfwazkK8RCmXydBAAViNRIRL0UmjFkyhM/edit#slide=id.g28cfd01284_0_123 

The manual explains: Animal Politico / El Sabueso publish the full letter or message sent by the interested party; if a correction it is made, we add an Editor Note in the top of the text. We add an answer from the editorial team when it’s necessary and in social media we publish that a correction it was made. 

Ramón Salaverría Assessor
18-Feb-2018 (6 years ago)

POST-ASSESSMENT (Feb. 19, 2018).

El Sabueso - Animal Político has included an easy-to-find online form for corrections. As a consequence, assessment upgrades to complete compliance.

---

In their application, Animal Político provided two examples (1, 2) of corrections to fact-checks. These examples demonstrate their will to be transparent with corrections. However, they don’t have any page that displays somewhere in their website –preferably in their fact-checking section– their correction policy. This minor deficiency should be corrected.


done_all 6a marked as Fully compliant by Ramón Salaverría.

Criterion 6b
Examples of corrections
Evidence required: Please provide two examples of a correction made, or correction requests handled, in the past year.

Ramón Salaverría Assessor
18-Feb-2018 (6 years ago)

Missing


done_all 6b marked as Fully compliant by Ramón Salaverría.