• Priority Area Boosting Fact-checking Activities in Europe
• Funding Round / Action Types 1st Funding Round – Scale-up Projects
• Year 2022, 2023
• Country Bulgaria
• Project Status Ongoing

In September 2022, one of Bulgaria’s most influential CSOs in the domain of EU policies – the European Institute Foundation – and the broadcaster that traditionally is the most trusted media brand – the Bulgarian National Radio – launched a joint project for a more trustworthy media landscape.
This one-year first-of-its-kind EMIF-supported project in Bulgaria aims to widen the scope of the fact-checks conducted by BNR and boost their visibility among radio audiences, particularly among social groups that are most vulnerable to disinformation.
The initiative builds on the work and increases the capacity of BNR’s Fact-Checking Team – the first such specialised unit in a public media outlet. This project will enable the team to utilise digital tools and platforms to check facts more effectively, analyse content and images, monitor the disinformation ecosystem, and discover the linkages between websites that disseminate misleading information. The fact-checkers will have the opportunity to learn from and adopt the best practices of local and international experts in investigative journalism, fact-checking, artificial intelligence, and the mechanisms through which disinformation works on social media.
Along with the Sofia-based team, EI and BNR will seek to engage in this project over 30 regional reporters and newsmakers, who will conduct fact-checks of statements on key themes that could be misleading to listeners and readers. The regional journalists will attend training sessions on fact-checking, image and video content verification, and assessing the credibility of sources of information.
This project aims at actively engaging listeners of BNR’s regional and specialised programs in a public conversation on disinformation and critically assessing news content. To this end, thematic radio rubrics will be produced to allow various audiences to participate with opinions and questions on-air and online.