VRT NWS receives international fact-checking label

“No, half of France’s nuclear powerplants are not shut down", or "Yes, China is censoring World Cup footage of supporters without mouth masks". These are some of the factchecks recently made by VRT NWS. Since 2020, the news service has been working with its own team of journalists who check statements made by politicians or topics circulating on social media for authenticity, engaging in extensive source research. And that work is paying off. VRT NWS is now an official member of the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN). This is a worldwide network of about a hundred media companies that work according to the same deontological code. 

IFCN has strict admission standards, especially in terms of transparency and construction of factchecks. Among other things, it is important that articles have clear source references. This allows every reader to check for themselves whether a fact check is correct or not, and what reasoning lies behind a review. The guidelines are based on five principles: transparency in sources, funding and methodology, impartiality, and open correction policy. You can read how VRT NWS's fact-check team works here. 

Separate page for Checks

From now on, all fact checks and stories about disinformation or online deception can also be found bundled separately on a subpage of our website. On this page you will find news articles, videos, and our popular podcast 'Het uur van de Waarheid'.  

This recognition opens doors for VRT NWS to more cooperation and journalistic research with domestic and foreign media. Next to Knack and Factcheck Vlaanderen, VRT NWS is the third Belgian fact-checking organisation to receive the recognition.