Correctiv (self-styled CORRECT!V) is a German nonprofit investigative journalism newsroom based in Essen and Berlin. It is run by CORRECTIV – Recherchen für die Gesellschaft gemeinnützige GmbH ("CORRECTIV – Investigations for the Society Charitable Limited"), which also runs the online journalism academy Reporterfabrik.[1]

Correctiv
Founded2014
FounderDavid Schraven
TypeNon-profit
FocusInvestigative journalism
Location
Area served
Abuse of power, corruption, environment, education, health, social justice, right-wing extremism, religious extremism
MethodFoundation and member supported
Key people
David Schraven (publisher), David Crawford (senior reporter)
Employees
70
Volunteers
>500
Websitecorrectiv.org/en

It’s stated goals are to provide free, independent journalism accessible to everyone. Furthermore the collective aims to counter disinformation to strengthen democratic structures.[2][3]

Correctiv counts more than 70 employees and associates[4] and states to be the first nonprofit investigative center in Germany due to being exclusively financed by donations and fundings since 2014. The collective describes itself as an organization that is "one of the many answers to the media crisis."[3] Correctiv publishes reports in multiple languages beside German including Arabic, English, French, Russian and Turkish, via its website and partner outlets.

History

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Correctiv was initiated in January 2014 by the charitable organization "Correctiv – Recherchen für die Gesellschaft" ("Correctiv – Research for Society") based in Essen with an initial financial support by the Brost Foundation with a grant of €1 million per year for three years.[5]

In 2017 Reporterfabrik, an independent journalism school was founded partly by people from the Correctiv collective. Correctiv continues to host and closely work with Reporterfabrik.[6]

Correctiv.Lokal, a network for joint research by local journalists, bloggers and experts, was launched in August 2018 together with the Rudolf Augstein Foundation.[7]

In May 2020, the Salon5 youth editorial team was founded with the support of the Ruhr Conference of the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia and the RAG Foundation.[8]

Organization

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Correctiv is a member of the International Fact-Checking Network.[9]

Funding

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Correctiv is a nonprofit organization and exempt from taxation under German law. The funding comes largely from establishment foundations and corporations, such as the Open Society Foundations, Google Germany GmbH, and German Telekom,[10] as well as membership fees and donations from the users and readers. All donations of more than €1000 are listed on the website. Despite depending on establishment foundations and corporations for most of its funding, Correctiv claims to be "nonprofit, independent and investigative".[3]

Board of directors

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David Schraven is the publisher and Jeannette Gusko the executive director.[11]

Editorial stance

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Correctiv wants "to make investigative and informative journalism affordable and accessible to media organizations throughout Germany."[3]

Reports/Publications

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Correctiv reported amongst other things on

  • "The System of Putin" (Dirty Money and State Collapse)[12]
  • "TTIP - The Deal" (Investigative, Analytic, Interactive: All about the Free Trade)[13]
  • "Flight MH17" (Searching for the truth)[14]
  • "The Invisibles" (Hundreds of thousands live in Germany without papers)[15]
  • "Weisse Wölfe" (A graphic investigation into the Nazi underground)[16]
  • "Court Donations" (How Judges And Prosecutors Hand Out Millions Every Year With Almost No Oversight)[17]
  • "Mafia in Africa" (How the mafia infiltrates the African economy)[17]
  • "Mafia" (Stories about the Mafia: drugs, dirty money, murder and investigations)[18]
  • "Deadly Superbugs" (An investigation of one of the largest health risks of the next decades)[19]
  • "Football Doping" (Everything about Doping and Painkillers in Football)[20]
  • "Generation E" (The big migration from South to North)[21]
  • Couchsurfing[22]
  • "Business Cheats" (How Fraudsters Turn Forged Bonds Into Cash)[23]
  • "Das Olivenöl-Kartell" (The Olive-Oil-Cartell)[24]
  • "CumEx-Files"[25]
  • "Grand Theft Europe"[26]

Flight MH17

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Correctiv described the Flight MH17 as one of the greatest war crimes of modern times. Over several months it gathered facts, investigated in eastern Ukraine and Russia, and found witnesses to the missile launch, unveiled a clear chain of evidence that MH17 was downed by a BUK missile ground-launched by a unit of the Russian 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade from Kursk. The brigade unit operated in mid July on Ukrainian territory without displaying national emblems.[27] [28]

2024 AfD revelations

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In January 2024, Correctiv published a report titled "Secret Plan Against Germany" (German: "Geheimplan gegen Deutschland") that described a meeting between AfD and CDU members and far-right elements to plan a program of forced "re-migration" of immigrants and others considered undesirable.[29][30] The report led to mass demonstrations in Germany against AfD.[31]

Awards

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  • 2014: Journalist des Jahres in category "newcomer" for the team of Correctiv[32]
  • 2015: Grimme Online Award for their investigation "MH17 – Die Suche nach der Wahrheit"[33][34][35]
  • 2015: Deutscher Reporterpreis in category "innovation" for graphic feature "Weisse Wölfe" by David Schraven and Jan Feindt[36]
  • 2015: Franco-German Journalism Award for "MH17 – Die Suche nach der Wahrheit"[37]
  • 2016: Deutscher Reporterpreis in category "innovation"[38][39]
  • 2016: Journalist des Jahres in category "Team des Jahres" (Team of the year)[40]
  • 2016: LeadAward in category Independent of the year[41]
  • 2016: Axel Springer Preis in category "Investigation" for undercover feature "animal thieves"[42]
  • 2016: Award "Innovation of the year" by Wirtschaftsjournalist magazine for developing the software CrowdNewsroom and the analysis of mutual banks "Sparkassen-Check"[43]
  • 2017: ERM-Media Award for sustainable development. Award for Fabian Löhe and Annika Joeres for Correctiv[44]
  • 2018: Franco-German Journalism Award for the project "searise" by Annika Joeres and Simon Jockers for Correctiv[45]
  • 2018: Dr.-Georg-Schreiber-Mediaaward[46]
  • 2018: Journalist award by Apothekerstiftung Westfalen Lippe for reporting on "Alte Apotheke"[47][48]
  • 2018: Otto-Brenner-Preis for journalism for the works "Er kommt am Abend" and "Vergewaltigt auf Europas Feldern" by Pascale Müller (Correctiv) and Stefania Prandi (BuzzFeed)[49]
  • 2018: Umweltmedienpreis by Deutsche Umwelthilfe for the project "Irrsinn der Agrarpolitik"[50] by Justus von Daniels, Stefan Wehrmeyer and Annika Joeres for Correctiv
  • 2019: Nannen Prize [de] in feature for article "Vergewaltigt auf Europas Feldern" by Pascale Müller (Correctiv) and Stefania Prandi (BuzzFeed)[51][52]
  • 2020: Deutsch-Französischer Journalistenpreis in the category „Multimedia“ for their reporting on tax evasion[53]
  • 2023: Reporter:innen-Preis 2023 in the category of „Data Journalism“ for an investigation about the state of women’s shelters[54]
  • 2023: Deutscher Verlagspreis[55]
  • 2023: Grimme Online Award in the category of „Recherche“ for their research on access to abortion in Germany[56]

References

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  1. ^ "Impressum – Reporterfabrik" (in German). Retrieved 2024-01-20.
  2. ^ "Über uns". Correctiv.org. Retrieved 9 July 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d "About Correctiv". Corrrectiv. Retrieved 2015-08-21.
  4. ^ "Unser Team". Correctiv.org. Retrieved 9 July 2024.
  5. ^ Caroline O'Donovan (17 July 2014). "Germany is getting a data-centric nonprofit newsroom and hoping to build new models for news". NiemanLab. Harvard University. Retrieved 2015-08-21.
  6. ^ "Reporterfabrik". Reporterfabrik.org. Retrieved 9 July 2024.
  7. ^ "Correctiv gründet Netzwerk für kollaborativen Lokaljournalismus" (PDF). correctiv.org. 2018-08-30. Retrieved 2018-08-30.
  8. ^ "Correctiv startet Jugendredaktion "Salon5"". correctiv.org (in German). 2020-05-14. Retrieved 2023-05-01.
  9. ^ Humprecht, Edda (2020-03-15). "How Do They Debunk 'Fake News'? A Cross-National Comparison of Transparency in Fact Checks" (PDF). Digital Journalism. 8 (3): 310–327. doi:10.1080/21670811.2019.1691031. ISSN 2167-0811.
  10. ^ "Finances". correctiv.org. Retrieved 2023-07-20.
  11. ^ "Board". Correctiv. Archived from the original on 2016-08-04. Retrieved 2018-08-03.
  12. ^ "The System Of Putin". correctiv.org. Retrieved 2019-05-09.
  13. ^ "Das TTIP-Dossier". correctiv.org (in German). 2015-04-15. Retrieved 2019-05-09.
  14. ^ "Fllug MH17 | MH17 – Hauptgeschichte – English". Retrieved 2019-05-09.
  15. ^ "Correctiv –– Recherchen für die Gesellschaft". correctiv.org. Retrieved 2019-05-09.
  16. ^ "Weisse Wölfe – correctiv.org". weisse-woelfe-comic.de. Retrieved 2019-05-09.
  17. ^ a b "Who gets money from judges and prosecutors?". correctiv.org. 2014-09-15. Retrieved 2019-05-09.
  18. ^ "Restituiti villa e denaro all'imprenditore Pelliccioni". correctiv.org (in German). 2018-05-15. Retrieved 2019-05-09.
  19. ^ "Deadly Superbugs". correctiv.org. 2014-11-27. Retrieved 2019-05-09.
  20. ^ "Doping in football". correctiv.org. Retrieved 2019-05-09.
  21. ^ "generatione.correctiv.org | Generation E – Hauptgeschichte – English" (in German). Retrieved 2019-05-09.
  22. ^ "Correctiv | Couchsurfing" (in German). Retrieved 2019-05-09.
  23. ^ "Business Cheats". correctiv.org. 2014-09-04. Retrieved 2019-05-09.
  24. ^ "Das Olivenöl-Kartell |" (in German). Archived from the original on 2009-07-17. Retrieved 2019-05-09.
  25. ^ "Correctiv – Investigative. Independent. Non-profit". cumex-files.com. Retrieved 2019-05-09.
  26. ^ "Grand Theft Europe - A cross-border investigation". correctiv.org. 2019-05-07. Retrieved 2019-05-09.
  27. ^ "Flight MH17". Correctiv. Retrieved 2015-08-21.
  28. ^ ""Correctiv" und MH17 – eine Analyse". WIR!. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-08-21.
  29. ^ "Secret plan against Germany". correctiv.org. 2024-01-15. Retrieved 2024-01-21.
  30. ^ "Geheimplan gegen Deutschland". correctiv.org (in German). 2024-01-10. Retrieved 2024-01-21.
  31. ^ "Germany sees second day of large protests against far right – DW – 01/21/2024". dw.com. Retrieved 2024-01-21.
  32. ^ Begründung der Jury 19 December 2014, retrieved 19 June 2015.
  33. ^ "Grimme Online Award 2015. Ausgezeichnete Infos und Unterhaltung". Archived from the original on June 19, 2015. Retrieved November 12, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link). tagesschau.de, 19 June 2015.
  34. ^ Grimme Online Award: „Tagesspiegel"-Chef für Newsletter ausgezeichnet. In: Der Tagesspiegel, 18 June 2015.
  35. ^ "Grimme Online Award 2015 – Preisträger". Archived from the original on December 8, 2015. Retrieved July 10, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  36. ^ "Deutscher Reporterpreis 2015: Fünf Auszeichnungen für die Zeit". Meedia GmbH & Co. KG. 2015-12-08.
  37. ^ Saarländischer Rundfunk (2015-07-01). "Deutsch-Französischer Journalistenpreis (DFJP) 2015 verliehen – Auszeichnung auch an Cartooning for Peace" (PDF). Deutsch-Französischer Journalistenpreis.
  38. ^ Reporterpreis 2016 - Das sind die Preisträger In: Spiegel Online, 6 December 2016.
  39. ^ "Deutscher Reporterpreis 2016 in Berlin verliehen". Reporter-Forum e. V. 2016-12-02.
  40. ^ Medium Magazin (2016-12-23). "Das sind die Journalisten des Jahres 2016". medium magazin für Journalisten.
  41. ^ "Die Preisträger Hauptkategorie Online Independent des Jahres". Leadacademy für Medien e. V. Retrieved July 9, 2024.
  42. ^ "Axel-Springer-Preis für "Die Tierdiebe" von Correctiv und "FAKT"". MDR Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk. 2016-05-02.
  43. ^ Marc Bartl: „Stefan Baron für sein Lebenswerk ausgezeichnet: Gabriele Fischer ist 'Wirtschaftsjournalistin des Jahres'". kress NEWS, 21 December 2016.
  44. ^ Gerhard Schmücker, HfWU. "Pressedienste & Social Media ERM-Medienpreis". Hochschule für Wirtschaft und Umwelt Nürtingen-Geislingen.[permanent dead link]
  45. ^ Deutsch-Französisches Jugendwerk (2018-07-04). "Deutsch-Französischer Journalistenpreis 2018 verliehen". Deutsch-Französisches Jugendwerk DFJW.[permanent dead link]
  46. ^ AOK Bayern (2016-05-02). "Dr. Georg Schreiber-Medienpreis der AOK Bayern". GKV-Netzwerk. Archived from the original on 2019-11-12.
  47. ^ Apothekerkammer Westfalen-Lippe (2018-04-24). "Fünf Beiträge zu Pharmazie und Apotheke ausgezeichnet". Apothekerkammer Westfalen-Lippe.
  48. ^ Pharmazeutische Zeitung online (2018-04-24). "Journalistenpreis: Platz eins für Recherche zum Zytoskandal". Mediengruppe Deutscher Apotheker GmbH.
  49. ^ "Otto Brenner Stiftung zeichnet zum 14. Mal herausragenden Journalismus aus". 2018-10-18.
  50. ^ "Deutsche Umwelthilfe e. V.: Die Preisträger".
  51. ^ "Nannen Preis 2019: Das sind die Nominierten in den einzelnen Kategorien". Meedia Newsletter. Meedia GmbH & Co. KG. 2019-05-09.
  52. ^ "Die Nannen-Preisträger 2019". Deutschlandfunk. 2019-05-28. Archived from the original on 2019-06-03.
  53. ^ "Virtuelle Vergabe des Deutsch-Französischen Journalistenpreises (DFJP)". Deutsch-Französischer Journalistenpreis e.V. Retrieved 9 July 2024.
  54. ^ "Reporter:innen Forum". Reporter:innen-Forum e.V. Retrieved 9 July 2024.
  55. ^ "Die Preisträger 2023". Deutscher Verlagspreis. Retrieved 9 July 2024.
  56. ^ "Grimme Online Award". Grimme-Institut Gesellschaft für Medien, Bildung und Kultur mbH. Retrieved 9 July 2024.

Further reading

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