 "Faktencheck bei dpa")
Fact checking at dpa
- dpa fact checking
- Fact checking
- Verification
Together against disinformation
The Russian war against Ukraine, the Corona pandemic and migration along with conspiracy myths and targeted disinformation campaigns pose the media with major new challenges. Lies and misconceptions are widespread and these have the potential to divide society and endanger democracy.
As an independent news agency and joint venture of the German media, we see it as our task to establish and communicate standards in the fact-checking field. Our goal is to advance the fact-checking format journalistically and thus counteract the worrying social developments.
We have an independent editorial fact check team which examines potentially false allegations and produces professional fact checks. The editorial team decides on publication itself - without editorial influence from outside.
A strong team
We are a 30-strong editorial team - one of the largest fact-checking teams in the German-speaking world.
A lot of experience
We have published more than 5,000 fact checks in three languages and are constantly learning.
Certified quality
Our editorial team is a certified member of the International Fact Checking Network (IFCN).
How we work
Our independent fact check editorial team specifically takes care of possible false allegations and creates professional fact checks. The editorial team decides on the publication itself - without outside editorial influence.
Ownership structure
The German Press Agency dpa is a private limited liability company under German law (GmbH) with around 170 German shareholders (newspaper and magazine publication houses, publishers, broadcasting corporations and media groups).
No shareholder may hold up more than 1.5% of its total capital, with a maximum of 25% of share capital being held by broadcasters. This ensures that no single shareholder can exert a dominating influence on the company.
In 2021, dpa’s core company turnover (i.e. excluding subsidiaries and shares) amounted to 101 million Euros. The operating principles of the company are defined by the shareholders at their general meeting.
The managing directors and the editor-in-chief of dpa are directly responsible to the agency's supervisory board. The Supervisory Board, which consists of at least 12 and currently 18 members, represents a cross-section of shareholders ranging from regional newspapers to major broadcasting corporations and is chaired by the Chairman of the Supervisory Board.
Revenue
The dpa group of companies closed the 2022 financial year with total revenue of 165.5 million euros. As the core company of the group, Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH was able to generate a turnover of 103.2 million euros. As a result, this means a net profit of 1.2 million euros for the 2022 financial year (link to dpa Annual Report 2022 ).
dpa does not receive any subsidies or other financial contributions from the state. All income is generated on the free market. dpa is a limited liability company and operates according to purely market principles. The company fulfills its mission impartially and independently of influence and interference by political parties, ideological groups, economic or financial groups and governments.
dpa provides its services in German, English, Spanish and Arabic to customers in Germany and many other countries around the world. Among dpa's customers in Germany are the major newspaper groups and publishers as well as regional newspapers, the public broadcasters (ARD, Deutschlandfunk, ZDF), private TV companies (RTL, ProSiebenSat.1 Media) and radio stations (such as Antenne Bayern, Radio NRW) as well as online portals. dpa also supplies information services to companies (including numerous DAX-listed groups), associations, institutions and organizations from business, society, science and research.
The agencies' customers also include the federal government with its ministries, the Bundestag, Bundesrat and federal authorities, including the Federal Press Office, the Federal Office of Civil Protection and Desaster Assistance, and the Federal Office of Administration, as well as governments, parliaments and authorities in the German states. Internationally, dpa also supplies newspapers, radio and TV stations, as well as other news agencies and customers in politics and business. No single dpa customer contributes more than five percent of the dpa Group's revenues. In addition to the large group of shareholders, the large number of customers also ensures the editorial independence enshrined in the statute.
dpa and its subsidiaries cooperate with digital platforms as well as with public authorities and institutions. The cooperation partners in 2021 and 2022 were (in alphabetical order):
Platforms: Amazon (provision of news), Google (training programme; provision and preparation of data on elections), Meta/Facebook (fact-checking; news curation; provision and preparation of data on elections; cooperation on fact-checking videos for an older target group), Meta/WhatsApp (fact-checking service for citizens), Microsoft (training cooperation; provision and preparation of data on elections), TikTok/Bytedance (fact-checking), Xing/New Work (training, provision of news)
Public funding projects: Federal Foreign Office/Eastern Partnership (training with journalists in Ukraine), Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (project within the Digital Revenue Initiative DRIVE), EU Commission (European Data News Hub, European Newsroom, European Video Alliance/EVAnews platform), EU Parliament (project for fact-check graphics, content creation on current EU issues around the Conference on the Future of Europe).
Journalistic mission
dpa journalists are free and independent in their reporting. We are committed to truth and facts and not to political parties, religious or cultural beliefs, industry or other interest groups.
The dpa editorial team works according to the principles laid down in the dpa statute and is independent of world views, business enterprises and governments. The editorial staff and management are equally bound by this.
Clause 5, paragraph 2 of the dpa articles of association states: "The enterprise carries out its task impartially and independently of influence and interference by political parties, ideological groups, economic or financial groups and governments."
It is a principle of journalism at dpa to provide the facts and cover relevant stories, leaving readers to draw their own conclusions.
Editorial organisation
The German Press Agency (dpa) was founded in 1949 and is one of the world's leading independent news agencies. dpa supplies media, companies and organizations with editorial services. These include texts, photos, videos, graphics, radio reports, online services and other formats.
Around 1,000 dpa journalists work at 54 locations in Germany and 95 abroad. In addition to the main German service as the agency's core product, dpa offers 12 regional services that are managed from seven outlying desks. As an internationally active agency, dpa reports in a total of seven languages, including German, English, Spanish and Arabic. Every day, around 1,100 reports are published in the main German service and the 12 regional services, and around 950 photos are published in the dpa picture service.
dpa journalists research facts, carry out interviews and follow news developments closely. They analyze complex issues in line with the strict guidelines on impartiality as laid down in the dpa Statute. Every news item published has been read and edited by at least two dpa journalists. Accuracy is always given priority over speed.
Trust and veracity are of paramount importance to the German Press Agency. The dpa business model is based on clients being able to have complete faith in the reliability of the agency. The few editorial errors which do nevertheless occur are carefully checked and corrected in a transparent manner.
The dpa fact-checking unit is an editorial department of the Deutsche Presse-Agentur.
A dpa fact check is essentially a claim check. “Is this statement accurate” or “Is this really the case?” - we use basic questions like these to examine the credibility of topical and socially-relevant assertions. When choosing subjects for fact-checking, dpa focusses on contentious issues. In other words, the claim must be something that a lot of people are talking about or else the subject is a controversial one.
Ideally, a dpa fact check comprises a "claim", an "evaluation" and "the facts". The format is designed to ensure as much clarity as possible. What exactly has been claimed? How does dpa evaluate this assertion? On what facts is dpa’s assessment based? If possible, the findings include a clear conclusion, setting out whether the claim is true or not true. Broader ratings such as "mostly true" or "mostly false" are also possible.
The selection of topics for fact checks is by no means limited to political issues. Staff working in various departments at dpa check claims from the world of business, science, panorama and other fields relevant to everyday life.
As an organization, dpa is also strictly non-partisan. It is not bound by any denomination or ideology and is also financially independent. We choose the topics for our fact checks in line with this premise. Social or political attitudes are not the decisive factor for us, but only the spirit of German Basic Law. We do not issue voting recommendations either and have no links with any political or other organizations that could endanger our independence.
Journalists at the Deutsche Presse-Agentur write their fact checks as openly as possible and thus give an account of their research and working methods. This means, for example, that all public information used in the texts is linked. The aim of the fact checks is to enable readers to take the links and go through the fact checking procedure themselves where possible. They can then form their own opinion based on facts. Naturally, purely comment pieces cannot be fact checked.
topics that are boiling over in social networks or play a role in the media, such as statements by politicians. People can suggest topics and allegations directly to us via WhatsApp and e-mail. But we also monitor the social networks ourselves and participate in the Meta and Tiktok fact checking programmes. We check claims that we consider socially relevant or potentially dangerous.
If you would like to suggest a topic for a fact check, you can write directly to the editors at faktencheck@dpa.com.
The dpa fact checks - like all news agency texts - are created with the utmost care, balance and accuracy. Nevertheless, we cannot of course rule out errors. Credibility is dpa's highest asset. Every error is therefore corrected immediately, honestly and as transparently as possible when it becomes known. This means stating in detail what was misreported and what the change actually is, or whether new information has been added. In the case of a substantial change or reassessment, it is also explained how the error occurred. Only spelling, grammar or character errors as well as errors in formatting are corrected without explanation. Every dpa fact check contains a reference to the day on which the reproduced state of knowledge was current, in the form "Status: Date". Even if we add new information to a fact check, we make this clear in a note.
Beyond this, errors are discussed internally, lessons learned from them and we of course also address any instances where our standards have not been adhered to. Correction requests are monitored by the fact-checking team and in a first step discussed between author and editor. The next step of the multi-stage procedure is discussing the issue among several team members or throughout the whole team. If deemed necessary, the news chief or even the editor-in-chief are involved and external experts on the matter in question are asked for advice or for a decision.
In the case of major errors this can lead to the retraction of a bulletin. In appropriate cases, dpa also offers its customers a detailed run-down on how the error came about and how the corrections were made. Readers who consider a fact check to be misleading can write to us directly via this email address faktencheck@dpa.com. The team will deal with any criticism it regards as justified and, if necessary, act accordingly up to and including correction.
The dpa fact-checking team is currently in the application process for the European Fact-Checking Standards Network (EFCSN). The EFCSN Code of Standards is decisive for this.
If you are convinced that a dpa fact check violates the standards of the EFCSN, the organization can be called in. The process is explained here .
All journalists at dpa are experts in carrying out accurate research. All the team members have specialized knowledge of format and standards of dpa fact checking. The staff write fact checks themselves or edit the fact checks of other colleagues. In addition, the members of the dpa fact checking team act in an advisory capacity to all the other editorial offices.
TERESA DAPP heads dpa's fact-checking editorial team. She previously worked as a foreign correspondent in London for two years and reported on Berlin's political scene as a federal correspondent for five years. Dapp studied history, politics and sociology in Berlin and Brussels.
STEFAN VOSS built up dpa's fact-checking team and heads the verification department at the Deutsche Presse-Agentur in Berlin. He worked as a foreign correspondent in Ukraine and Russia for more than 10 years and speaks fluent Russian. Before joining the verification department, Voss headed the editorial politics department. He studied history, Slavic studies and political science.
SEBASTIAN FISCHER is in charge of the background and facts department. As a journalist specialized in documentation, his fields include editorial and special research. His areas of expertise also cover databases and online research. Fischer studied information science, classical philology and German studies.
JAN LUDWIG has been working as a fact checker for dpa since 2019. His areas of expertise include internet archiving and geolocation techniques. Ludwig studied philosophy and history in Dresden and Paris and graduated from the Henri Nannen School of Journalism. In 2015, he was awarded the CNN Journalist Award.
DIRK WITTENBERG is team leader of the dpa fact checking department. Among other things, he ensures that editorial standards are maintained and coordinates the daily tasks of the editorial team. His areas of responsibility also include the evaluation of statistical data, social media monitoring and geolocation. Wittenberg studied cultural anthropology, political science and history.
ALEXANDRA STOBER is an editor in the graphics department. She is responsible for researching and evaluating both data and facts as a basis for graphics. In addition, she writes explanatory texts on various subject areas for dpa's main German-language service and children's news. Stober studied journalism and political science (diploma) and completed a traineeship at Westdeutscher Rundfunk during her studies.
MARC FLEISCHMANN is an editor in the background and facts department in Berlin. Active in the media industry for more than 20 years, he is an expert on net world topics and worked for the German-based Netzeitung and Bild.de website. After studying sociology with a focus on communication and media in Bamberg, he completed a traineeship at a daily newspaper.
MARKUS BERGMANN is an editor at dpa-infocom, responsible for online offerings of the German Press Agency. He is in charge of live tickers and news blogs for major events, breaking news and elections. Bergmann studied journalism, English and American studies in Dortmund, worked for various newspapers and did a traineeship at the Main-Post (Würzburg) during his studies.
SIMON SCHRAMM is an editor with the fact check team. He learned his journalistic craft as a local reporter in Munich and then attended the German School of Journalism. He is passionate about research and meticulously pursuing the answer to the question: Is this true? He studied political science, sociology and media law in Munich; internships at the AZ, dpa Munich, SZ, taz and in the investigative department of the newspaper die Zeit.
VERONIKA VÖLLINGER is editor of the fact-checking team at dpa-infocom. One aspect of her work there is research on disinformation spread on Telegram. Völlinger studied political science and was trained at the Henri Nannen School.
ARNE BECKMANN is an editor and developer in the fact checking team. He has a particular interest in so-called synthetic media - photos, audios and videos that have been distorted using artificial intelligence techniques. Arne studied media informatics and after a subsequent traineeship worked for several years at numerous private radio stations.
LISA DUCRET works as a multimedia editor at the visual desk and in the fact checking editorial department of the Deutsche Presse-Agentur. She completed her master's degree in Cultural Journalism at the Berlin University of the Arts and later gained widespread experience in the news sector, namely at the TV station, the French news agency AFP, at the organization Correctiv and through her traineeship with a focus on multimedia at dpa.
JACQUELINE ROTHER is an editor at dpa-infocom. She has been part of the digital editorial team of the Deutsche Presse-Agentur since 2017. During that time, she has also written for dpa’s panorama and media departments and dpa children's news. Before that, she worked for different media in the Rhineland and was a daily newspaper trainee. Rother studied politics and sociology in Bonn and Eastern European studies in Berlin. During longer stays in Bulgaria, Georgia and Russia, she carried out several journalistic researches and projects.
TOBIAS SCHORMANN is an editor in the fact checking team of dpa-infocom. He was previously chief of staff at dpa-Themendienst, dpa's consumer and advice editorial department, for several years. He underwent a traineeship there. He studied German and political science in Hamburg and Berlin.
ROLAND SIEGLOFF started working as a trainee at Germany's smallest independent daily newspaper "Emder Zeitung" at the age of 19. Later he studied in Frankfurt/Main and Lille (France). After working as a dpa journalist in Frankfurt and Mainz, he was employed as a correspondent in Brussels. After ten years as a dpa editor in Hamburg and Berlin, Roland returned to Brussels, where he coordinates the fact-check team for the Benelux countries.
ELLEN DE GREEF studied both law and journalism. She has been part of dpa's fact checkteam in Brussels since summer 2020. Before that, she received journalistic training at the Belgian newspaper De Standaard with a focus on business reporting and online.
DIETER EBELING joined dpa in 1969. Since then he worked for many years as a correspondent in Munich, Paris, Nairobi, Brussels, Hamburg, London and Berlin. For a decade Dieter was deputy editor-in-chief of dpa. Even In retirement, he remains true to journalism. Based in the town of Trier, he supports the fact check team in Brussels.
CLAIRE POEL studied journalism at the Hogeschool in Utrecht in the Netherlands with a year abroad in Denmark. EU issues are her speciality. Claire has been working as a fact checker in the dpa Brussels team since the beginning of 2021.
SARA MAGNIETTE studied journalism and media studies in Brussels (Belgium) and Bradford (UK). After gaining her master's degree, she worked for radio and television stations and various news agencies. Following three years as a foreign correspondent in The Hague, she joined the dpa fact check team in Brussels as an editor in spring 2021.
KIAN BADRNEJAD has been working as a fact checker for dpa since 2021. Prior to that, he worked as a reporter for the political and investigative magazines at Norddeutscher Rundfunk radio where he also did a traineeship in 2013. At dpa, he verifies, researches and also writes reports. He also set up the WhatsApp fact check and fettlesnew formats for the messenger service. Badrnejad read Iranian studies, communication science and political science in Bamberg and speaks Persian as well as German and English.
BERND BERGMANN has been part of dpa's fact check team since summer 2022. He studied political science in Hanover and worked as a freelancer for the Oldenburgische Volkszeitung newspaper (now OM-Medien) in Vechta during his studies. Bergmann also completed his traineeship there. He then helped to set up the OM-Online news portal and was responsible for the online and social media offerings.
DAAN NICOLAY studied philosophy at the University of Antwerp, with a semester abroad in Berlin and a focus on political and linguistic philosophy. He gained his first journalistic experience during an internship at MO magazine. He has been working for dpa's Benelux fact check team since September 2021.
JITKA MARKS studied history in Utrecht and Netherlands-Germany studies in Nijmegen and Münster. She wrote for the Dutch weekly De Groene Amsterdammer, among others, and has been part of dpa's Benelux fact check team since summer 2022.
KATHARINA LEIDNER studied political science in Munich. She later did a traineeship in radio and worked at a radio agency. Since the end of 2022, she has been an editor in dpa's fact checking team.
Notice:
Our employees are not permitted to hold paid or prominent positions in political parties, governments as well as state institutions and companies controlled by the state. They are not to take political sides on behalf of dpa-Faktencheck and may not accept gifts, services or other benefits that go beyond ordinary social customs.
dpa’s fact-checking team is certified both by the European Fact-Checking Standards Network (EFCSN) and by the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) . The EFCSN is an association of European fact check organizations. The IFCN is part of the Poynter Institute in Florida/USA.
dpa’s fact-checking team works in accordance with the IFCN’s principles and the EFCSN’s Code of Standards and Ethics .
These stipulate that the certified media
are committed to impartiality and fairness
disclose and explain their sources
disclose their business model and ownership structure
make their editorial standards and working methods transparent
correct mistakes in their fact checks openly and honestly
If readers of a dpa fact check are convinced that it violates the criteria of IFCN and/or EFCSN, both institutions can be involved. The relevant IFCN contact address can be found here . You can contact EFCSN here .
The current list of all IFCN-verified fact-checkers worldwide can be found here .
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Questions and answers about fact checks at dpa
Using fact checks, dpa is able to verifiy key claims of public interest. The name of the journalistic format is actually somewhat misleading - no hard facts are checked, but claims are assessed on the basis of researchable and verifiable facts. Overall social relevance and whether the topic is being talked about out in the public domain are decisive. For its main national German-language wire, dpa only checks allegations using the fact-check format if they are considered to be relevant and of interest to the general public. We naturally want to avoid drawing attention to false claims through the wide reach of dps reporting. Opinions and subjective assessments are generally taboo for dpa fact checks. Only what can be verified or refuted is checked.
The fact check at dpa has its own specific format. As a rule this consists of three elements: The claim, the evaluation and the justification for the assessment, i.e. the factual part. We try to make the factual situation clear in the headline or at least in the teaser of a text. This prevents people from dwelling on the assertion even if they do not read the whole text. Our aim is to formulate the fact checks as transparently as possible so that readers can understand the assessment. That is why all sources accessible on the internet are linked. As a rule, archive links ensure that the sources remain accessible even if entire websites or certain contents on pages are deleted. If, for example, experts, spokespersons or politicians tell us something directly, so that we cannot link the statements, we name them explicitly as sources. We do not carry out fact checks based solely on anonymous sources.
We start out by asking ourselves if the claim is something that can be checked. Is it perhaps a mere opinion or subjective, possibly ambiguous or just poorly formulated? At this point we apply the four-eyes principle which requires that two individuals agree that any action is necessary. Only then does the research begin. To refute a claim or decide that it is genuine we bring to bear all our professional journalistic skills.
These tools include the classic verification steps: checking the identity of a source, cross-checking with official statistics, researching people mentioned in a claim, searching for an original video or interview. Wherever possible, we substantiate our conclusion with at least two independent sources. We rely on primary sources, namely documents and studies, etc., and not on third-party reports. We point out in our texts any conflicts of interest known to us which could play a role in the context of the fact check. If necessary, we contact the authors and those who are spreading the claim in order to clarify any remaining questions.
New digital research methods also play an important role. These include techniques and tools such as reverse image searches, consulting nternet archives, geolocation and chronolocation, i.e. the determination of the place and time of recording, or the examination of image material with special software. For example, we can check whether a photo has been manipulated or whether a video really shows what the headline promises.
We do not always arrive at a clear verdict at the end of the fact check. If claims refer to people, we try to question them directly. If we cannot clarify all points despite intensive research, we will mention this in the fact check.
Many topics are simply too complex to be assessed according to a rigid scheme. In case of doubt, we are more interested in a correct and understandable classification than in a possibly misleading assessment. Readers should be able to grasp the truth of a verified claim by means of the fact check and understand the context of a controversial issue in order to form their own opinion based on facts and figures.
The fact checking team at dpa is obliged to link to all publicly available information used in the texts. This enables readers to follow the steps for themselves, for example, whether certain figures or facts were actually published in an official document. However, dpa journalists obtain some of their information through direct contact with politicians, authorities, companies or celebrities which is not publicly documented and available for viewing. In these cases, the dpa fact checks point out the origin of the information in a transparent way.
For questions and comments you can reach us at faktencheck@dpa.com.
The trigger for a fact check is not the political or party affiliation of a source. In accordance with the dpa statutes, fact checks are not directed against a specific party or political orientation. What matters is the allegation itself and its social impact. There is no proportional distribution of the fact checks according to the party affiliation of the source. It may well be however that politicians and parties who repeatedly attract attention through false or misleading allegations are checked more frequently.
As a news agency, speed is part of our business. However diligence always comes before speed. Some topics are so complex that a fact check can only be published after several checks and consultations have been made with experts. If the topic is highly relevant socially however, the fact check will remain relevant even after some time has passed. Naturally, some topics are so complex that a fact check is not a useful format since it scarcely enables an insightful assessment. dpa provides information on significant controversies or events in its ongoing reporting, but does not publish a fact check in such cases.
No. The Deutsche Presse-Agentur checks each of its news items for truth, content and origin with the utmost care before publication. The fact check differs from dpa's regular reporting by using the special format and the posed question "Is this true?".
dpa is an independent and privately-organized news agency that is fully financed on the free market. The media pay dpa for its content and for the right to use and publish this news in their own offerings. In order to safeguard this business model for the benefit of its customers, dpa does not make most of its content freely available on the internet.
Editorial independence is essential for dpa as a whole as well as for the dpa fact check. Neither our cooperation partners nor the funders of funding projects have any influence on our content, such as the selection of the claim checked or the results of the check. This is the only way journalism can be credible. In addition, we focus on transparency and mark, for example, when a fact check was created as part of the cooperation with Meta. In the news wore, too, customers are made aware of cooperations when dpa reports on partners.
Getting in touch with the dpa fact check team
Have you come across a claim about something in the public interest that you think the Deutsche Presse-Agentur should be examining by conducting a fact check? If this topical issue is important to you, do not hesitate to contact us at the following mail address:
In order to do this the following information is essential
What is the topic and what is the claim about?
Who made the claim (please provide a link to a public document/website/video/post)?
Please answer specifically: Why do you think this claim is so relevant nationally that it warrants dpa investigation?
What impact would it have in your view if dpa did not carry a fact check on the proposed topic?
Please note: Opinions and subjective claims are generally out of bounds for dpa fact checks. We can only check claims that can be verified or may have been falsified - even if the conclusion is often more complex than "right" or "wrong".
Of course, you can also send us tips on any inaccuracies you may suspect in our fact checks and pass on other suggestions by contacting us at faktencheck@dpa.com.
You can also suggest a topic via WhatsApp at +49 160 3476409.
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