Verifying information with a unified approach to all allegations, using intelligible professional standards, means and evidence.

Adopting a transparent checking approach without bias with or against the entities publishing such information, and not relying on verifying facts issued by one specific party and excluding others.

Selecting topics and issues based on their relevant public interest, and the extent of their spread, always disclosing the mechanism followed in selecting topics or issues to be checked.

Not to publicly, or implicitly, advertise, promote, or show any form of sympathy, support, or call for embracing the position of any party, politician, political candidates, government officials, or government entities, and commit not to support or oppose any political or religious stance whether through the selection of topics to be fact checked or through their classifications.

Clearly stating any relationship or interest that links the sources to the facts being checked, which can affect - albeit to a limited extent - the accuracy of the evidence presented.

List all the evidence used in facts validation checks, and provide relevant links when the source is available online, so that the public can verify for themselves if they wish. In cases where mentioning the source may endanger his or her personal security, some level of detail must be provided consistent with the security of the source, as well as additional supporting evidence.

Using the best appropriate primary, or secondary sources and evidence. In some cases, one official or governmental source can suffice to deny or confirm some facts. However, it is often preferable to rely on more than one source. In case of the absence of appropriate primary sources, the reasons and method of using secondary sources should be detailed clearly. Whereas in the case of electronic sources, they should be further verified by searching for other sources that enhance their credibility as they can easily be tampered with or falsified.

Provide complete and clear information on sources of funding. In the event that this cannot be made public due to safety concerns, it is obligatory to provide such information to the network as long as every effort will be made to keep such information secure at all times. In addition, the network is committed to providing a brief about the organization to the audience, with defining labels such as independent/volunteer, locally or foreign funded.

Supporters and funds providers may not have any impact on the policy of checking and correcting facts and the methodology of work, and this should be communicated clearly to the audience.

Provide detailed information about the working members of the institution/initiative and their professional backgrounds, with a clear explanation of the organizational structure and legal status. If it is not possible to provide information about individual members publicly to ensure their personal safety, it is sufficient to publish the organizational structure of the business and the various job titles of the team only.

Post a clear and specific contact address on their websites or official pages on social media, to ensure transparency and ease of communication with the editorial team that undertakes to communicate with the public where needed. This means providing a feedback address through which to communicate including all necessary guidelines and methods of communicating with the network, and specifying the time frame for the expected response.

Publish the methodology adopted in the selection of topics subject to detailed scrutiny on the special website or official page on social media. In case there is no written methodology available currently, AFCN’s current methodology would be referred to until such a time a new methodology is conceived and adopted .

Posting the approved fact checking methodology clearly and in detail on its website or official pages on social media or by using pinned posts on FB pages.

Not to decontextualize when checking the facts, and to include the entire context therein, and not to ignore any essential part thereof, and not to inappropriately decontextualize or misquote.

Updating and developing work methodologies on an ongoing basis according to updates and developments related to professional sector developments and obstacles faced.

Precision when translating from foreign languages and refrain from literal translation making sure the translation conveys the meaning accurately.

Not to pass judgments within reports that refute facts, and to avoid personal and descriptive conclusions and analyses that are not based on data, facts and information that could be difficult to ascertain.

Writing in classical formal Arabic language, free of spelling or grammatical mistakes, and to consider hiring an experienced editor to proofread all content prior to publishing.

Not to demean, defame, or slander individuals, groups, institutions, or bodies when publishing facts or checking reports, by refraining from labeling individuals or institutions.

Feedbacks are welcome and remain the author’s views, and cannot form basis that could expose the community to legal accountability.

Give the parties to any narrative or story the opportunity to clarify their positions and respond to any statement or action they believe has been wrongly attributed thereto, or in a distorted manner, and publish the response as the editorial department believes appropriate and adds new or corrects information for the benefit of the public.

Correct mistakes and post corrections based on a transparent policy, and providing a means for the public to communicate and send responses.

If an error is fundamental, and impacts the conclusions of the verification, or could be considered to contravene the checking methodology, it should be corrected accompanied by a clear message that provides an explanation of the circumstances that allowed the error to occur, then publish the correction in the same format and through the same channels as the original.

Highlight any added information after posting in writing a clear update note on the top of the same post.

Urging the public to submit checking requests, after clarifying the nature of content that can, and cannot be checked, ensuring that the public has direct access to the outcome.

Respecting the efforts and output of other fact checking institutions/ initiatives and independent fact checker/s, and not to republish or reuse any part thereof without obtaining written explicit consent or crediting the source clearly, and where possible notifying them.

Respecting all creative commons licenses for open resources and crediting them when referring to scientific references and sources that have been used.

Respecting the conditions of intellectual property rights owners, whether the material is an image, video, music, song or audio recording, when using any of them in any report.

The explicit attribution of the quotation must be made when quoting.

Continuous and effective communication with network management and members.

Participate in any projects/joint work programs or training conducted by the network to serve its members if they meet the needs of the applicant.

Participate in any dialogue sessions organized by the Arab Fact Checkers Network to exchange experiences and ideas on ways to develop the work of fact-checking.

Remain open to discuss ideas and new methodologies or necessary updates in keeping with the evolving nature of the sector.

Not to tolerate any misconduct among the community that could undermine initiatives/projects/or individuals leading to internal or external incitement that could undermine in any form or shape the fact-checking platforms and those individuals working therein.