"Con Check", the Spanish News Agency podcast on misinformation, has received the award for the best data verification project in the 2024 edition of the Digital Media Americas awards, granted by the World Association of News Publishers (WAN-IFRA).
Con Check is an initiative of the agency's verification service, EFE Verifica, and the Innovation department, which explains on a weekly basis which are the most viral falsehoods in Spanish and the reasons why they have been denied by its journalists, with special attention to the American continent.
WAN-IFRA announced the winners in 13 categories, for which more than 140 projects from 69 media outlets in 17 countries throughout the Americas were submitted, during the Digital Media LATAM congress being held in Panama City (Panama), to address the challenges facing the industry in Latin America.
The podcast was created and produced by the Innovation coordinator, Javier Marín, and the head of EFE Verifica, Sergio Hernández, and the team includes the coordinator of the Agency's verification area in Latin America, Ares Biescas, and the editors in Mexico, María Julia Castañeda and Daniela Gastón in Bogotá. Audio technical coordinator Esteban Novillo is responsible for the production of 'Con Check'.
Disinformation is not a fad
"A few weeks ago we had to publish information to deny that Bill Gates was genetically modifying mosquitoes to transmit lethal diseases and reduce the world's population, especially in Latin America. This, which may seem like a joke to many, is the manipulated reality under which millions of people around the world live," Marín told EFE after receiving the award.
"Con Check" focuses on verifications of viral content, analysing messages, photos and videos that are shared on social networks or have gained relevance in public debate, as well as explanations of issues that are generating confusion in a simple and clear way.
"A reality of lies that erodes our fundamental rights and fuels hatred, which always has tragic consequences, such as those we saw in the assaults on Congresses in Brazil and especially in the USA, where 5 people died," Marín recalled.
"For this reason, in the face of those who argue that verification is a passing fad, the EFE Agency defends the opposite: it is more necessary than ever," he stressed.
EFE's first podcast in Latin America
"Con Check", EFE's first podcast in Latin America, was launched in March 2023 in Mexico, after months of pre-production in which the Commercial team in North America, the Digital Content team in Madrid, and EFEs office in that country.
Shortly afterwards, 'Con Check' was selected by Spotify to be included in the Mexican edition of "Ruta Diaria", a successful personalised playlist on the streaming platform, and has reached 10,000 weekly listeners.
Supported by the International Verification Network (IFCN) and Meta, one of the aims of 'Con Check' is to raise awareness of the EFE Verifica citizen consultation service on WhatsApp in the Spanish-speaking world, especially in Mexico and the United States.
The EFE Verifica service, born in 2019, has teams of specialised journalists both in Spain and Latin America and its activity also includes cooperation with academic institutions and international organisations in researching the behaviour of disinformers and initiatives for media literacy in society.
The Digital Media Americas Awards, one of the most important awards for American journalists, seek to recognise "innovation, strategy and creativity" of digital media projects in North, Central and South America with the help of "new tools and formats, using the latest technology or driving innovation".
