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Agência Lupa

Organization: Lupa
Applicant: Natalia Leal
Assessor: Sergio Lüdtke
Conclusion and recommendations
on 08-May-2019 (4 years ago)

Sergio Lüdtke wrote:

Agência Lupa is highly recognized in Brazil as a fact-checking organization. It complies with all International Fact-Checking Network requirements and strictly follows the IFCN's code of principles.

As for recommendations, we suggest that the page describing sources of funding be structured to give more transparency to the organization's accounts and that a page is created to lists the checks that have some sort of correction or update.

on 08-May-2019 (4 years ago)

Sergio Lüdtke recommended Accept


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.

Lupa
16-Apr-2019 (4 years ago)

Here is Agência Lupa's official tax certificate at the Brazilian Government (in Portuguese). The company exists since February 2016, has its own office in Rio de Janeiro and a team of 15 professionals. Here is the link to our CNPJ:

https://piaui.folha.uol.com.br/lupa/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Lupa-na-Receita-Federal-do-Brasil.pdf 

Sergio Lüdtke Assessor
08-May-2019 (4 years ago)

Agência Lupa has proved it is a legally registered organization. The organization was not registered exclusively for the purpose of fact-checking because there is not a specific code to the activity on Cadastro Nacional da Pessoa Jurídica from Receita Federal do Brasil, the government body that makes the companies legal registration. Lupa is registered as News Agency.


done_all 1a marked as Fully compliant by Sergio Lüdtke.

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.

Sergio Lüdtke Assessor
08-May-2019 (4 years ago) Updated: 4 years ago

Agência Lupa publishes fact-checks daily and sometimes more than one a day. 


done_all 1b marked as Fully compliant by Sergio Lüdtke.

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.

Lupa
16-Apr-2019 (4 years ago)

In 2018, Agência Lupa's team mainly fact-checked the leading events around the Brazilian election and the political scenario. We have covered all TV debates and many interviews with presidential candidates in real time. We have also debunked lots and lots of misinformation that was being spread on social media about them. In May, we joined the Third Party Fact-Checking Project, launched by Facebook to fight misinformation. Between August and November, we verified over 850 contents by following up to 64 politicians. We also worked closely with two universities and found a way to keep track of false news being shared on WhatsApp. Please see some links that can prove our hard work bellow. It is important to remember that, during 2018, in order to keep fairness and equality, we stuck to our 8-steps public methodology.

Presidential debate in real time:

https://piaui.folha.uol.com.br/lupa/2018/08/09/debate-band-tempo-real-2018/

Regional debates in real time:

Rio de Janeiro - https://piaui.folha.uol.com.br/lupa/2018/10/25/debate-witzel-paes-globo/

São Paulo - https://piaui.folha.uol.com.br/lupa/2018/10/25/debate-doria-franca-globo/

Debunking false news in real time:

https://piaui.folha.uol.com.br/lupa/2018/10/27/verificamos-segundo-turno-checagens-tempo-real/

Debunking false information on WhatsApp:

https://piaui.folha.uol.com.br/lupa/2018/10/17/whatsapp-lupa-usp-ufmg-imagens/

Jair Bolsonaro’s outrage:

https://piaui.folha.uol.com.br/lupa/2018/09/06/atentado-bolsonaro-tempo-real/

Jair Bolsonaro and Fernando Haddad overall performance during the entire election:

https://piaui.folha.uol.com.br/lupa/2018/10/28/tudo-sobre-bolsonaro/

https://piaui.folha.uol.com.br/lupa/2018/10/27/tudo-sobre-haddad/

All 14 presidential candidate’s promises:

https://piaui.folha.uol.com.br/lupa/2018/09/03/museu-nacional-ufrj-programas-tse/

Elected president Jair Bolsonaro:

https://piaui.folha.uol.com.br/lupa/2018/10/31/bolsonaro-primeiras-entrevistas/

https://piaui.folha.uol.com.br/lupa/2019/03/30/bolsonaro-live-ministros/

Sergio Lüdtke Assessor
08-May-2019 (4 years ago) Updated: 4 years ago

Agência Lupa's verifications cover an extraordinarily wide scope, from social media content shared by anonymous or unknown users to statements of politicians and famous figures. Reports are published considering all the sides and it does not concentrate on the same topics or characters. With the end of presidential elections, Lupa has published more verifications about the new president, but it can be considered very normal because of his relevance.



done_all 2a marked as Fully compliant by Sergio Lüdtke.

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.

Lupa
16-Apr-2019 (4 years ago)

Agência Lupa is very aware of the importance of being impartial and nonpartisan. That is why it asks its fact-checkers and employers to sign a document, agreeing with IFCN's Code of Principles. In this document, they also commit to keep themselves from getting involved with political parties and advocacy organizations while working for the company. All members of Lupa also receive an alert regarding what the direction thinks is a good public position in social media. The document is signed by employers once every year and a copy is sent to IFCN by email.

Files Attached
picture_as_pdf Política Lupa para f... (491 KB)
Sergio Lüdtke Assessor
08-May-2019 (4 years ago) Updated: 4 years ago

There are no evidence on the content publishes on its website that Agência Lupa has endorsed any time a candidate, political parties or advocacy organizations.

The document attached in this assessment is proof that Lupa preventing staff from direct involvement in political parties and advocacy organizations. But that information is not published on the Lupa's website and I recommend that it be done.


done_all 2b marked as Fully compliant by Sergio Lüdtke.

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.

Lupa
16-Apr-2019 (4 years ago)

All sources of information are revealed on our articles - except when a life is at risk. We always use hyperlinks on our texts so our readers can fact-check us anytime they want. Most of our work is based on public data. When we debunk content that is being shared on social media, we make sure to show the false information was actually running on those platforms and the amount of shares it had when we started working on it. This printscreen, however, never exposes a user by it's name or picture.

Sergio Lüdtke Assessor
08-May-2019 (4 years ago) Updated: 4 years ago

There are abundant links to the original sources on the Lupa's reports and that allows the users to repeat the way of investigation and to draw their own conclusions. The links are highlighted and the text describes what is in each link most of the times. This policy is described in the section "Como a Lupa faz suas checagens?" - https://piaui.folha.uol.com.br/lupa/2015/10/15/como-fazemos-nossas-checagens/                                                                                                     


done_all 3a marked as Fully compliant by Sergio Lüdtke.

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.

Sergio Lüdtke Assessor
08-May-2019 (4 years ago) Updated: 4 years ago

Agência Lupa describes clearly its sources of funding and offers some figures as the organization's annual budget on the page "Como funciona o modelo de negócios da Lupa?". There is no specific information about spending or figures to each one on the main funding sources. 

https://piaui.folha.uol.com.br/lupa/2015/10/15/como-funciona-nosso-modelo-de-negocios/


done 4a marked as Partially compliant by Sergio Lüdtke.

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.

Lupa
16-Apr-2019 (4 years ago)
Sergio Lüdtke Assessor
08-May-2019 (4 years ago) Updated: 4 years ago

12 authors and key actors behind the fact-checking project are clearly listed on the website, with an illustration instead of a photo, and their bios and roles.


done_all 4b marked as Fully compliant by Sergio Lüdtke.

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

Lupa
16-Apr-2019 (4 years ago)

1. For email contact:

There is an orange banner on our homepage: "Fale com a redação no lupa@lupa.news

On our "Quem somos" section: http://piaui.folha.uol.com.br/lupa/quem-somos/

2. For social media contact:

All social media is on our homepage header: www.lupa.news

3. For address:

At the bottom of our "Quem somos" section: http://piaui.folha.uol.com.br/lupa/quem-somos/

4. Other contacts:

At the bottom of every article, we ask two questions:

a) Was this article useful? (Esse conteúdo foi útil?, in Portuguese)

Answers are grades from 1 to 5

b) Do you agree with the conclusions obtained in this article? (Você concorda com o resultado desta checagem?, in Portuguese)

Answers are yes or no

Files Attached
e-mail contact.png (324 KB) other contacts.png (49 KB) social media on head... (386 KB)
Sergio Lüdtke Assessor
08-May-2019 (4 years ago) Updated: 4 years ago

There are several points of contact for interaction between readers and the staff of Agência Lupa. Users are invited to suggest checks on the homepage and report pages and they can also evaluate the fact-checks made by the Lupa team. Readers are stimulated to use Messenger and email to communicate with the Lupa as well.


done_all 4c marked as Fully compliant by Sergio Lüdtke.

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.

Sergio Lüdtke Assessor
08-May-2019 (4 years ago) Updated: 4 years ago

The Lupa's website provides a step-by-step explanation of its methodology, explains what is on focus on the verification and what is not, and describe clearly what represents each label used by the team to reinforce the verification result.


done_all 5a marked as Fully compliant by Sergio Lüdtke.

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.

Sergio Lüdtke Assessor
08-May-2019 (4 years ago) Updated: 4 years ago

Readers can send claims to fact-check to the Agência Lupa's staff. There is a section that explains what is checkable, it provides links to the methodology page and to a form to the users send their suggestions. 


done_all 5b marked as Fully compliant by Sergio Lüdtke.

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.

Sergio Lüdtke Assessor
08-May-2019 (4 years ago) Updated: 4 years ago
Lupa describes clearly on a specific page on its website its correction policy and how readers can ask for corrections. 

done_all 6a marked as Fully compliant by Sergio Lüdtke.

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

Sergio Lüdtke Assessor
08-May-2019 (4 years ago) Updated: 4 years ago

Lupa describes clearly its correction policy but it has not a public page listing all corrections made. The examples provided are in line with Lupa's correction policy.


done_all 6b marked as Fully compliant by Sergio Lüdtke.