the candidates offer to voters” (FATPREN 2021).
Daniela Monje (interview, August 2021), professor
of communication in Argentina and member of
the Political Economy of Communication Working
Group of the Latin American Council of Social
Sciences (CLACSO), highlighted the importance of
the proposal:
It is a campaign that brings together journalists
from Argentina against bad practices of
disinformation. There is a base document,
released a few weeks ago, from different
organizations, both union and university
organizations, that seeks in some ways to reduce
the levels of aggression and hatred, which are
forms of production of disinformation.
FACT CHECKING
CHEQUEADO
In Argentina, there are two verification initiatives,
with the more well-known one being Chequeado.21
The project was created by the foundation La Voz
Pública. The goal is to contribute to improving the
quality of public debate by offering facts and data
to support the formation of opinions.
The project checks statements made by
politicians, businesspeople, and public figures, and
content circulating on social media. The group also
conducts investigations into specific themes (such
as government performance on certain topics, like
economics) and carries out analyses regarding
disinformation related to certain topics. In the
context of the pandemic, for example, Chequeado
published texts exploring and refuting misleading
messages on various topics, such as scientifically
proven treatments and miraculous cures.
Chequeado has created a feature on its
website called “Explicador,” which it uses to
provide information of public relevance on diverse
topics, such as public health, elections, and the
Argentian economy. Chequeado has created
channels for receiving requests for fact checking
from the community, called “Chequeado Coletivo”
(Collective check).22 It has also developed projects
to give greater visibility to corrected information,
such as “Museo de la Desinformación” (Museum
of disinformation),23 a webpage where the biggest
untruths spread in the country during the last
view to automating the production process and
seeking new ways to interact with audiences. In
2019 Chequeado led a coalition of more than onehundred media outlets, called Reverso, that was
active during the electoral process.
The agency has also developed initiatives in
the area of media education. It conducts training
with journalists and communicators to teach factfinding and fact-checking techniques. It promotes
educational initiatives for citizens in general, with
a focus on young people. Materials are made
available, online and on social media, to teach
people how to check information. Chequeado has
developed projects presented in the form of specific
episodes and themes. During the pandemic, for
instance, content was created for teachers to use
with primary- and secondary-school students.
During the 2021 legislative elections, a project
was launched to support teachers in working
with teenagers and young people who were
going to vote for the first time. Chequeado has
also created a course that covers fact checking,
data journalism, and feminist economics, aiming
to approach these themes from the perspective
of fighting gender inequalities. It has established
partnerships with international organizations,
such as UNESCO, to act on the theme of
disinformation.
decade are collated, together with the facts that
refute them.
Another one of Chequeado’s action fronts is what
the project team calls innovation. Technological
resources are tested and implemented with a
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Latin America and the Caribbean – 9 4