- Priority Area Boosting Fact-checking Activities in Europe
- Funding Round / Action Types 1st Funding Round – Urgent Actions
- Year 2022
- Country Latvia
- Project Status Completed
Re:Baltica is a non-profit organisation that produces investigative journalism in the public interest in the Baltic region and beyond (often Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and other ex-USSR countries). As a classical investigative journalism non-profit, it raises funds for investigations, conducts and produces them (in case it’s audiovisual, like documentaries or TV shows) and gives our work away without a paywall on our website in Latvian, Russian and/or English. For each project, we have a set of media partners (TV, radio, online, press) which amplify the impact. Re:Baltica have a separate unit called “Re:Check”, which works exclusively with fact-checking and combating the spread of disinformation/misinformation.
Re:Baltica monitored social networks and fact-checked debates before the Latvian parliamentary elections in Oct 2022. It verified the outcomes of previous promises and examined the track record of leading contenders. It checked the disinformation about the elections and identified the spreaders. The findings of pre-election fact-checking were distributed not only via traditional media outlets, but were presented in a visually attractive format which is friendly to social networks. Statistics show their reach was bigger than for articles alone.
Re:Baltica especially targeted a cohort of females who prefer Instagram to politics, and the younger generation by developing special products for them. We have gone from 0 to almost 5000 followers on Instagram during this project. In addition, Re:Baltica kept their English audience informed with a dedicated newsletter.
