Rodriguez Katsuva is a journalist, fact-checking trainer, editor, and co-founder of the Congo Check website.
Can you tell us about your activities?
Congo Check's activities mainly involve fact-checking in the Democratic Republic of Congo, but we are also expanding our activities to the Central African Republic. By 2021, we hope to expand into five other countries on the continent. At the same time, we have developed Congo Check Academy, a center specializing in journalism. We offer ongoing journalism training to professionals on new tools for producing, processing, and disseminating information. Finally, we will soon be launching our own 24/7 news radio station.
When did you launch Congo Check? In what context? What were the motivations behind such a project?
We launched Congo Check in 2017 in the DRC, in the middle of an election year. It was a difficult context because elections in the country are marred by the manipulation of public opinion and politicians. These periods are also very difficult for the country, as we see many massacres involving knives and many deaths among the population, particularly in the city of Beni. Many fake photos of these massacres circulated during this period: photos taken in other countries were used to illustrate the situation in the DRC. This was a way of concealing the gravity of the events unfolding in the country. Finally, many international media outlets, which are the most widely followed in the country, made mistakes in their coverage of information coming out of the DRC. We wanted to create a Congolese media outlet, made by Congolese people and for Congolese people, which would restore the truth about the real situation in the country.
How do you manage the fact-checking process? How are you organized? How do you choose which information to check?
In our work, we focus mainly on information disseminated digitally. We have developed several methods to detect false information:
- We now have 23 journalists who are responsible for monitoring traditional media as well as social media. As soon as information that appears to be false is published, we share it in our virtual newsroom. After approval by the editorial team, we assign a journalist who is more of an "expert" on the subject to verify the accuracy of the information. We then disseminate and share the verified information widely.
- Our readers and our communities on social media can also write to us to draw our attention to false information published on the web.
- A year ago, we signed a partnership agreement with Facebook. Thanks to this partnership, Facebook sends us potentially false viral content, which we then process.
You launched Congo Check two years ago. Where are you today? Has your team grown? Do you have a larger readership?
There were three journalists when we created the media outlet, and today there are 23 of us. We have also gained visibility. We receive more than 14,000 visits per day and are read by public institutions, the presidency, embassies, etc. We are in high demand for our work, even though we have received threats on several occasions. The truth is uncomfortable, and it is important to note that since the election period, our politicians have increasingly used fake news to attack the opposition. Fake news is used as a weapon in a battle for public opinion.
Do you collaborate with other entities that also do fact-checking?
We work closely with Africa Check, a pioneer in the field of fact-checking in Africa, which has advised us, provided training, and shared many opportunities with us.
You recently won the Francophone Media Innovation Award. What does that mean to you?
This award, presented by the International Organization of La Francophonie, represents an achievement. It is a true recognition of our work, our progress, and all the sacrifices we have made. It also represents a challenge: we were chosen from among all the countries in the competition, so we must work hard to restore the image of the media in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This award also strengthens our autonomy. We have never received any help from the government and we don't want any because we want to remain independent.
What are your sources of funding?
All of our income comes from Congo Check membership fees and our own funds invested when we launched the business. We have subsequently developed partnerships with entities that have no influence in the DRC in order to maintain our independence. For example, we have a partnership with Facebook, for whom we verify information posted on the platform.
What are your ambitions for the future?
We want to become the leading fact-checking agency in the Democratic Republic of Congo. We also want to develop partnerships between Congo Check Academy and French universities to "certify" our training and diplomas, as we want to enable young professionals who have not had academic training in journalism to pursue this career.
Reliable information can save lives, so we want to continue saving lives in the days to come.