Background

Disinformation helped destabilise a number of rational public spheres and is part of the Kremlin’s hybrid warfare. Many fact-checking initiatives are trying to counter it, including training, technology and collecting databases. However, the sustainability of these activities and their integration into regular media work has received relatively little attention.
This research project focused on the financial, organisational and trust sustainability of integrating fact-checking activities into media. Media professionals, researchers and experts in fact-checking from 6 countries will collect data, develop concepts and design models to test them in the sandbox environment.
As application-oriented research, the project aims at turning fact-checking into a sustainable activity for media in Eastern Europe, also in terms of business model, extending from short-term journalism work. Models and recommendations developed in the project could be replicated beyond its focus region, leveraging existing experience, and using proven media and fact-checking networks.
The project helps deepen understanding of under-researched areas such as Central and Eastern Europe as the operational focus is on Ukraine and Belarus – via subcontracting – and three EU countries: Poland, Slovakia and Bulgaria. Project outcomes are replicable beyond the focus region.