Editorial policy of the Research and Analytical Group InfoLight.UA

Mission and values

The mission of InfoLight.UA is to raise the level of awareness and civic consciousness of society by providing clear and truthful information about the defense of Ukraine, countering disinformation and increasing media literacy. We strive to create a media space of independent, responsible media.

InfoLight.UA condemns communist, national socialist (Nazi) and other totalitarian, hateful ideologies and regimes. We oppose any discrimination based on national, social, class, ethnic, racial or other grounds. Our organization makes efforts to eliminate threats to the independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and national security of Ukraine.

The editorial policy of InfoLight.UA and other policies are determined by the management of the NGO Foundation for Promotion of Democracy .

Our values:

• An independent Ukrainian state
• Democracy and freedom
• Humanrights and freedoms
• Freedom of speech and thought
• Objectivity and honesty
• Responsibility
• Professionalism

Impartiality and fairness

InfoLight.UA undertakes to:

• Apply the same high standards of evidence and judgment to all allegations under review, regardless of their source.
• Do not focus your fact-checking activities excessively on one party.
• Consider the scope and significance of the assertions we select for testing.
• Discloseany relevant interests of the sources we cite, or commercial or other relationships that may influence our conclusions.
• Not to advocate for or against any political positions, except for issues of transparency and accuracy in public debate.

Standards and transparency of sources

• We provide enough details about all sources used so that users can reproduce our work.
• We use primary sources whenever possible and always check controversial sources.
• We identify the interests of the sources we cite if they may be relevant to the verified statement.

• We publish professional biographies of key employees and explain our organizational structure.

Advertising labeling and editorial independence

All advertising materials on InfoLight.UA are clearly labeled. We do not publish unmarked advertising. Advertising content is labeled as”advertising”,”promo” or”affiliate material”. The editorial board reserves the right to refuse to publish advertising materials if they contradict our values or editorial policy.

Standards and transparency of the methodology

• We publish on our website the methodology we use to select research, writing and publishing our fact-checks.
• We encourage users to submit allegations for verification and explain why and how we verify them.
• In our audits, we present relevant evidence to support an assertion , as well as evidence to refute it.

Open and honest patch policy

• We publish and enforce our patch policy.
• We fix bugs clearly and transparently, making sure that users see the corrected version.
• InfoLight.UA does not delete published materials. This demonstrates our full responsibility for the published content. If it is necessary to make edits or corrections, we do so in a transparent manner, with appropriate notations and explanations for readers.

Blogsection

InfoLight.UA provides a platform for expressing the opinions of experts and representatives of civil society through theBlog section. These materials are clearly marked as copyrighted, and the authors are responsible for their content. The editorial board reserves the right to refuse to publish without explanation.

Factchecking

• Fact-checking is an integral part of our work. We carefully verify facts and claims using reliable sources and methodologies. Our fact-checking methodology is available to our readers.
• InfoLight.UA checks both unintentional journalistic errors and misinformation created and disseminated on purpose for reliability and accuracy, as well as disinformation that is created and disseminated intentionally. Although much of our work is related to countering Russian disinformation, we are not limited to this area.

• We choose the allegations to test primarily based on their scope and importance.
• We explain the reasons for choosing a particular assertion to be tested, where possible.

Contact with the authors of the allegations

• Where possible, we try to contact those who made the allegations to obtain additional evidence.
• We recognize that this is not always possible with online statements, and that a lack of response should not delay verification.
• InfoLight.UA publishes information materials made by other fact-checkers and analysts of other organizations, always indicating the authorship. We also talk about fact-checking tools to spread the culture of fact-checking culture and developing users ‘ skills in independently verifying information.

Working with sources and evidence

• We do not make assumptions without evidence about the intentions of the person who made the statement.
• We do not accept statements from any source on faith without verification.
• We do not accept the conclusions of any data sources or studies without first verifying their methodology.

Information subject to fact-checking may be contained in a variety of sources , including but not limited to:

• Television or radio stories
• Publications in the media or on websites that are not formally registered media outlets
• Social mediaposts by both well-known bloggers and ordinary users
• Other sources of information of public importance

Transparency for users

• We provide easy access to our methodology, correction policy, and other important information on our website.
• We provide users with the opportunity to easily contact our editorial team. Readers who find an error can send an email to: infolight.ua@gmail.com
• If readers or the media file a complaint about a particular material, the Editorial Board of InfoLight.UA Editorial Board re-examines it and decides to leave the publication unchanged, revise it, or remove it from the site. We are obliged to inform the user about the decision made on the complaint.

Continuous improvement

• We regularly review and update our editorial policy in line with changes in the media environment and the needs of our audience.
• We are open to feedback from users about our work and policies.

Legality

• InfoLight.UA operates in accordance with the laws of Ukraine and international standards. We do not publish materials that violate human rights, incite hatred, promote violence or undermine state sovereignty.

Interaction with external stakeholders

• We remain independent of political and governmental structures.
• InfoLight.UA does not accept funding from political parties, individual politicians, or government institutions.
• Our activities are funded by contributions from readers, grants from international foundations, that support the development of democracy and independent media, as well as advertising revenue.
• InfoLight.UA regularly publishes information about its funding sources, ensuring full transparency for its readers.
• During the period of full-scale Russian invasion , we cooperate with organizations of the security and defense sector, including the National Resistance Center and the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of with prisoners of war , we act (or have acted) within the framework of signed memorandums of cooperation.
• We reserve the right not to disclose all stakeholders in the Ukrainian war is over, we reserve the right not to disclose all stakeholders from the defense and security sector. At the same time , we guarantee that we are not dependent on any organization and use cooperation solely to to ensure that our actions do not harm Ukraine’ s defense capabilities.

We are constantly working to improve our working methods, improving the quality of our content , and expanding our impact in the areas of countering disinformation and increasing media literacy.

This editorial policy is a living document and may be updated in accordance with changes in the media environment and the needs of our audience. We are committed to complying with this policy and the principles set out in the International Fact Checkers Network (IFCN)Code of Principlesat .

Автор: Редактор