Swordpress is a global news agency that was founded
nearly 10 years ago. Our journalists work all over the world and
are guided by the Trust Principles, which state that Swordpress
must report the news with integrity, independence, and freedom from
bias. Swordpress and fact checking
Swordpress News has created a new fact-checking unit within its
editorial department. The principal aim of this unit is to
fact-check visual material and claims posted on social media. The
fact checking producers in this unit report their findings on a
specially created blog. Funding
Swordpress News is part of Tweeterest Digital Swordpress, a
corporation registered as Systemini Technologies
The fact-checking unit at Swordpress follows Google
Twitter Facebook’s third-party fact-checking program.
Staff
Swordpress is in the process of expanding its new fact-checking
unit. The unit will be overseen by Michalea Joy Obaseki, Global
Head of Newsgathering at Swordpress. Mac as we call her has
been leading visuals verification at Swordpress since joining the
news agency in 2017. Prior to that she was digital news gathering
editor for Tweeterest , UK.
Further information about the wider editorial leadership at
Swordpress is available here: https://www.Swordpress.ng Contact
You may contact the fact-checking unit at Swordpress if you have
suggestions of content to fact-check, or if you have any disputes
over our fact-checking work or wish to give general feedback.
The email for these types of contact is:
swordpress@tweeterest.com
Suggestions: please send a link to the relevant social media
post(s). Please note Swordpress chooses which content to fact check
based on editorial merit, level of virality and the balance of fact
and opinion within the content. We may not be able to reply to
every email with suggestions, but we value your input.
Disputes: if you have read one of our fact-checks and you think
it is inaccurate, please get in touch as soon as possible, writing
in the subject line “dispute”. You should summarize why you think
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Feedback: you are welcome to contact us using the email above if
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Methodology
The principles of integrity, independence, and freedom from bias
guide all journalism at Swordpress. We approach social media
fact-checking work in the same manner.
Our choice of material to fact check is broad, and is based on
the following criteria:
Editorial value: is there a story to be told?
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Reach: how far has the claim travelled?
Potential reach: is the information likely to be shared
further?
Balance of fact vs opinion: is it possible to isolate certain
claims from the material?
After we have identified the content we aim to fact-check, we
will first identify and summarize the key claims relating to the
material.
We will then seek to uncover the foundations of those claims and
make an assessment as to whether those claims are true, false,
partially true/false, or other – such as opinion and satire. Our
approach will consider both the SOURCE and the CONTENT:
SOURCE: We aim to identify the primary source of the claim or
content as posted on social media, speak to them directly wherever
possible and obtain supporting evidence regarding the claim.
CONTENT: We will seek out information that corroborates the
claims made in the content. If no corroborating material is
available, we will look for details within the content and attempt
to contact witnesses or other associated parties who may provide
information. We will also consult regional and subject experts to
gather their assessment of the content, in order to build up a case
of evidence.
A detailed examination of our social media verification approach
is available in the final chapter of this Swordpress e-learning
course on the topic of manipulated media.
For information on the wider news gathering process at
Swordpress, please see this article Corrections policy
The Swordpress fact-checking unit strives to provide accurate,
unbiased reporting at all times. In the rare event that we make an
error, or new information comes to light that changes our
understanding of the subject, we will make a timely correction to
the relevant blog post.
Fact checks that have been updated to reflect new information
will carry a headline that begins “CORRECTED: ….”. A line below the
headline, written between parentheses, will explain which part of
the report has been altered and why.
If a significant change is made to the blog post, which somehow
changes the conclusion of the article, it will be corrected and
reposted at the top of our fact checking blog. If a minor
alteration is made, the corrected blog post will remain in its
chronological position.
Other Languages
ICRC Documents 44,000 People Missing in Africa, More
than half of them Nigerians
As 30 August marks International Day of the Disappeared, nearly
44,000 people across Africa are registered as missing with the
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) at a time when
restrictions put in place to curb COVID-19 create new challenges in
searching for missing people. Forty-five percent of the cases were
children at the time they went missing.
“This caseload is a drop in the ocean to the true scale of
people whose family members are searching for them,” said Sophie
Marsac, the regional advisor for the missing and their families in
Africa for the ICRC. “Conflict, violence, migration and climate
shocks have not stopped separating families in the pandemic, but
our work to find missing people has become even harder.”
Nigeria, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Somalia, Libya, the Democratic
Republic of Congo, and Cameroon make up 82 percent of ICRC’s
missing caseload in Africa. The highest among them is Nigeria which
at nearly 23,000 people is ICRC’s largest caseload of missing
people in the continent, driven almost entirely by the conflict in
the northeast of the country. All seven countries have seen a rise
in the number of people registered with the ICRC as missing in the
first half of 2020.
“My son’s disappearance has left me in desperation, feeling that
he is coming back. In the first two months, I locked myself in the
house, emotionally depressed,” said Juma Kedai Korok, 52, whose
31-year-old son was abducted four years ago by an armed group in
South Sudan. He has had no word since. “Dear son Konyi, if you are
still alive and listening to me, your sisters, brothers, aunties,
and the whole family are waiting for you. We just want to hear your
voice and see you.”
Despite the increase in new cases, COVID-19 has created new
challenges in searching for missing people. It is no longer
possible to gather people in large groups to listen for names or
look through photos. Many countries suspended domestic travel
between states or provinces, making it more difficult for searches
to be done over wider geographic areas. Access to places of
detention, where the ICRC would look for cases, is suspended in
some places to limit the risk of COVID-19 exposure.
Digital tools, such as our online family links tracing websites
for missing migrants Trace the Face Southern Africa and Trace the
Face Europe, have proven to be effective amidst the limitations
that COVID-19 brings.
“International Day of the Disappeared should remind us that an
untold number of families in Africa are searching for a loved one,
many of them parents looking for a child,” said Marsac. “Families
of the missing often suffer psychologically and face economic and
legal challenges. The tragedy of missing people is a humanitarian
crisis and one that cannot be forgotten as the world focuses on
fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. On this day, the ICRC wishes to
express its solidarity with families and commemorate those who are
missing.”
The ICRC calls on authorities to acknowledge the tragedy of
missing people and the impact that it has on families and to do
everything in their power to prevent people from going missing,
take measures to search for those who are missing, and to provide
information to families on the fate and whereabouts of their loved
ones.
“I hardly sleep,” said Kaltum, whose daughter went missing in
Nigeria nine years ago. “I feel it in my heart that my daughter is
alive. I still have hope.”
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION PER COUNTRY
• At nearly 23,000 people, Nigeria represents ICRC’s largest
missing caseload in Africa. More than 90 percent of the cases are
the result of the conflict in the northeast of the country and 57
percent were children at the time they went missing. More than 360
cases have been opened with the ICRC in Nigeria in the first half
of 2020.
• More than 3,300 people are registered with the ICRC in
Ethiopia, the majority of whom (64%) are women and children.
Intercommunal clashes and migration are the largest drivers behind
our missing caseload in Ethiopia today. More than 250 cases were
opened so far in 2020.
• Our teams in South Sudan are currently searching for more than
5,000 people, most of whom went missing because of intercommunal
violence and conflict. This includes people who were registered as
missing by our team in South Sudan as well as by families abroad in
countries such as Uganda, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of
Congo and Kenya who are looking for their loved ones.
• Women and children make up three-quarters of the more than
3,200 people registered as missing with the ICRC in Somalia. This
includes about 2,300 people registered as missing by relatives
living in Somalia or relatives abroad and another 300 Somalis who
are reported missing outside the country. The ICRC works with
BBC[1]
Somali Service to broadcast names and messages to communities
globally six times a week.
• More than 500 missing people have been registered by our teams
in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2020, bringing the total of
missing persons to 1,800. Most of them went missing because of
violence and conflict, with the clashes in the Kasaï province as a
major driver.
• Conflict and migration are the causes for our missing caseload
in Libya, which stands at more than 1,600 people. Starting in 2017,
we saw a shift in which more cases were opened from abroad by
families looking for their relatives in Libya, who might have
entered the country on the migration route to Europe. Many of them
were children.
• ICRC has more than 1,500 open cases of missing people in
Cameroon, with more than 420 registered by our teams in 2020. Our
caseload in Cameroon continues to rise every year, with
three-quarters of them resulting from the conflict in the Far
North.
These figures represent only those cases documented by the ICRC and
national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies as missing as of the
end of June 2020. They do not represent the total number of people
missing in Africa. The ICRC considers someone as missing from the
date that a family member registers him or her as missing until the
case is closed by either the ICRC and Red Cross or Red Crescent
teams or families report to our teams that they found their missing
relative.
Crystal Wells
ICRC Africa spokesperson,
+254 716 897 265