EBU launches Spotlight fact-checking network

Run by the EBU’s Eurovision News service, Spotlight includes 18 EBU members and incorporates the Alliance for Facts project previously coordinated by Radio France with France Télévisions, France Médias Monde, TV5Monde and INA – effectively merging the two initiatives. 

Key features of the Eurovision News Spotlight network include collaboration on cross-border fact-checking and sharing best practices on a dedicated member-only platform.  

Participating members will have access to intelligence and information on tools and workflows to enhance their open-source intelligence and fact-checking capabilities.  

The network will provide courses, tutorials and interactive discussions for members – led by Eurovision News in collaboration with the EBU Academy – to expand their fact-checking and OSINT skills.   

The network will also produce materials to strengthen the reporting of all EBU members and raise public awareness about misinformation and ways to counter it.  

“In a digital-first world, we face a worsening crisis of inaccurate, false and synthetic information that tests our certainty of truth and reality,” said Liz Corbin, Director of News at the EBU.  

“We invite all EBU members and partners to contribute to this powerful collective defence against misinformation as a vital part of public service media's mission to deliver trusted news to all people.”  

The Spotlight network now includes Eurovision News and public broadcasters ORF (Austria), RTBF (Belgium), Czech Television (Czech Republic), Yle (Finland), Radio France, France 24, Radio France Internationale, France Télévisions, TV5MONDE (France, Belgium, Switzerland, Monaco, Canada), Deutsche Welle (Germany), ZDF (Germany), LRT (Lithuania), RTVE (Spain), Sveriges Radio (Sweden), SVT (Sweden), SRF (Switzerland), BBC (United Kingdom) and Radio-Canada.