Communications Support Program

As targeted harassment and efforts to intimidate fact-checkers worldwide rise, verified signatories to IFCN’s Code of Principles can now turn to a Crisis Communications Management Playbook, specially created for their needs. 

The document, developed in partnership with crisis communications specialists from Allison + Partners, is exclusively available to verified signatories in English, French, Arabic, Spanish, and Brazilian Portuguese. More languages are going to be available upon need and interest.

It was made possible by collaborating with fact-checkers in the community, IFCN’s working group against harassment, partnering with A+P, and getting Meta’s financial support. 

“The contents of the IFCN crisis communications playbook served as an important basis and as a guide for the creation of Lupa’s compliance booklet for the Elections,” said Agência Lupa’s Flávia Campuzano, who’s leading the Brazilian fact-checking initiative’s preparations to counter 2022 election falsehoods. 

“Fact-checking social media content and defending the truth often means facing organized campaigns that will do anything, including harassing fact-checkers, to defend and further their hidden interests,” said Marilín Gonzalo of Spanish fact-checker Newtral. “The IFCN guide will undoubtedly be an obligatory reference and a support that will help us to do our job better.”

In addition, fact-checkers have access to the best practices manual for handling crisis communications issues resulting from the fight against mis- and disinformation. We wrote the guide, also available in five languages, after conducting region-specific workshops for the global fact-checking community. 

Meta’s Journalist Safety Guide offers fact-checkers further protections online.  

Please request access to all resources under the IFCN Communications Support Program by emailing info@ifcn.org.