Cotejo Info

Cotejo is the first fact checking initiative in Venezuela founded on June 27, 2016. It is a project of the civil association Medianalisis that studies and promotes democratic and independent journalism in Venezuela. Cotejo analyzes and unmasks public discourse and contributes with better information for Venezuelans. “We want to make visible how the government lies, how it falsifies data, its own data, because it is information that they provide and then contradict each other,” explains Andrés Cañizález, one of the founders of this initiative that operates in the interior of the country, in the city of Barquisimeto, 280 kilometers west of the country's capital. As indicated in its name, this digital medium seeks to contrast, review, and compare the public discourse of actors and institutions. This project that arose in conversations with the Medianalisis Civil Association, dedicated to consultancy that generates good journalistic practices, enriches the informative proposal by incorporating data journalism to talk about issues as current and sensitive as the diaspora. "Given that there are no official figures in Venezuela and that many spokespersons, including the attorney general, deny that there is an exodus, when one of the media outlets we monitor publishes official data in a certain country, we make a note about that country." Colombia displaced the United States as the first country that received the most Venezuelans in 2017, it was one of the first analyzes of the #CotejoDiaspora section. They also have a database of Murdered Women.  Among the highlighted sections is the Catalina Index, which evaluates the rate of inflation weekly by following the increase in the price of a Catalina (a type of sweet bread) and a café con leche, a traditional snack of the region. The Regional Matches are maintained where the public discourse of the different regions of the country is analyzed; Brief Comparisons, for chronicles and news that unmask public discourse on political, economic, health, food and education issues. In-depth Comparison: Data journalism and fact checking that highlight the problems that affect the country. Due to the opacity of data in Venezuela, Cotejo privileges the use of databases from international organizations, NGOs and universities in the country in their investigations. From there they build their own databases. Cotejo.info works in networks with journalists and alliances with regional and national media to expand information dissemination. They have a Director and a Deputy Director, a General Editor, an Editorial Coordinator, a Web and Content Administrator and a social media manager.