Projects and Collaborations

The launch of the Faktograf.hr portal received financial support from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the TechSoup Foundation and the USA State Department (the project for launching Faktograf was partially financed by the U.S. Embassy in Zagreb).

The operation of the Faktograf.hr portal has over the years been financed through project grants by NED, Google’s The Digital News Initiative, the Innovation Fund (through the Mozaik veza project, BTD, Agency for Electronic Media, the European Union through the Europe for Citizens project, the European Commission (Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology), US Embassy in Croatia, Active citizens fund in Croatia, European Media and Information Fund,and through Facebook’s Third Party Fact-Checkinger programme.

Projects currently carried out by the Faktograf Association include:

Promoting enhanced media standards

The two-year project by Faktograf Association, financed by the National Endowment for the Democracy (NED) was developed with the goal of promoting and forwarding media standards, approaches to objective news and analyses, and the fight against disinformation through the work of the Faktograf.hr portal, as well as through cooperating within the regional SEE Check network.

FUNDME – Formal Association of Non-Profit Digital Media

The goal of the project is establishing a national alliance of electronic non-profit media publishers with the aim of supporting financial, managerial and advocacy capacity building of its members, fostering exchange of knowledge and experiences among them. The project will strengthen the advocacy role of CSOs in media policy and influence the development of an environment in which minority media can be established and developed to respond to the needs of their users, citizens and general public. The project is financed by the Fund for Active Citizenship in Croatia.

REDACT

The goal of the REDACT project is to understand the influence of digitalisation on the production, consumption, circulation and regulation of conspiracy theories throughout Europe, with a special emphasis on the way in which political, social and historical contexts shape the content, communities, consequences and responses to online conspiracy theories in various European regions. Through collaboration with fact-checking and disinformation monitoring organisations on a regional and European level, the ultimate goal of the project research is to provide locally relevant recommendations for these organisations, policy creators, media regulators, as well as for the internet companies themselves. Faktograf is involved in the project as a collaborating partner in Croatia and Faktograf’s executive director is involved in the project’s advisory boards. The project is headed by Clare Birchall from King’s College London, with Michael Butter from the University of Tuebingen, Elzbieta Drazkiewicz from the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Mari-Liis Madisson from the University of Tartu; and Nebojša Blanuša from the University of Zagreb (Faculty of Political Science) participating as regional team leaders. The project is financed through the CHANSE programme.

The Bigger Picture

As part of the project “The Bigger Picture”, Faktograf.hr combines fact-checking methodology with investigative journalistic work with the aim of encouraging the development of critical thinking among readers. The issues of misinformation, especially related to social crises, human rights, climate change and other current topics important for improving the general information of citizens will be addressed in the articles. The articles will be published during 2023 in the form of written and audio newsletters. The project is co-financed by the Fund for the Promotion of Pluralism and Diversity of Electronic Media.

Facts about the climate crisis – klima.faktograf.hr

The two-year project “Facts about the climate crisis – klima.faktograf.hr” is implemented by Faktograf – Association for the Informed Public as the holder in partnership with the University of Zadar. The general objective of the project is to develop and establish a verification of the accuracy of information related to the climate crisis with the aim of strengthening society’s resilience to climate disinformation and improving media literacy through understanding information on the climate crisis.

AI and Disinformation

Project “AI and Disinformation” includes a study visit to Great Britain with the aim of exchanging knowledge and technological achievements related to the use of artificial intelligence in fact-checking and strengthening cooperation in the field of countering disinformation.

This five-month project ends in March 2023, and is financed by the British Embassy Zagreb.

Decoding the Disinformation Playbook 2

Project examines the disinformation tactics used by populists to intimidate and discredit journalists covering the elections to the European Parliament in 2024. This nine-month project is a continuation of the collaborative work of a consortium consisting of the International Press Institute (IPI) as the lead organisation, and Faktograf and TAZ as partners.

As part of the project, the consortium plans to create new case studies on disinformation campaigns targeting independent journalists, as well as explore best practices for defending against attacks developed by fact-checking editorial teams and their preparedness for situations involving increased attacks, including elections or crises such as pandemics and wars. Additionally, within the project, a research tool will be developed for journalists who want to investigate the tactics, techniques, and protocols used in disinformation campaigns and attacks on media and journalists.

The sole responsibility for any content supported by the European Media and Information Fund lies with the author(s) and it may not necessarily reflect the positions of the EMIF and the Fund Partners, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and the European University Institute.

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We have been participating in the work of Facebook’s, i.e. Meta’s Third Party Fact-Checking programme since 2019. Its goal is to fight misinformation on Facebook and Instagram. Faktograf.hr continued cooperation in the programme in 2022 as well. You can read more about this in Frequently Asked Questions.

From November 2021 to January 2022, Faktograf participated in Facebook’s Accelerator programme aimed at raising the level of capacity of fact-checking organizations.

Archive:

Pro-Fact.

The project “Pro-fact: Research, education, fact-check and debunk COVID-19 related disinformation narratives in Croatia” uses a multidisciplinary and multi-sector approach in order to gain insight into the disinformation connected with COVID-19, its spread and influence on democracy and the society.

The coordinator of the project is Gong, while the partner organisations are: The Faculty of Political Science in Zagreb, The University of Dubrovnik, Faktograf.hr, and the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing. The project is financed by the European Union, and you can learn more about it at the project’s website here.

Facts about the climate crisis

The project contributes to systemic dealing with disinformation, exposing disinformation and promoting facts related to the climate crisis, and it involves research and publishing texts and in-depth interviews with relevant experts regarding the climate on the Faktograf.hr portal and, in cooperation with the SEE Check Network, publishing regional reports on the topic of climate changes. The project is financed by the U.S. Embassy in Croatia.

Decoding the disinformation playbook

The project “Decoding the disinformation playbook” aims to show how coordinated online harassment campaigns against journalists and fact-checkers are increasingly becoming an integral part of the disinformation lifecycle across Europe. Within the project, we aim to shed a light on the tactics and methods of orchestrated smear and harassment campaigns against journalists and fact-checkers and to provide evidence connecting online harassment and disinformation.

The project is an initiative designed by a three-partner consortium: the Austria-based International Press Institute (IPI), the Croatia-based Faktograf, and Germany-based TAZ and it is funded by European Media and Information Fund managed by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.