Fact-Checkers at Code for Africa

About the Role:

The successful candidates will join PesaCheck’s transnational fact-checking team working as part of a network of locally-based fact-checkers in 18 African countries. The team is responsible for helping the public separate fact from fiction, using a range of journalistic techniques and digital verification tools.

Your core duty is to produce long form fact checks and investigate questionable content on social media, on mainstream media and utterances/claims by public figures. You will also, from time to time, collaborate with PesaCheck media partners and/or Code for Africa’s digital innovation teams on other special projects.

Responsibilities: 

• Proactively monitor various local/regional public sources, from mainstream media to social media and chat apps, to detect misleading or malign content, such as hate speech.
• Analyse public statements/manuscripts for factual errors, logical flaws, and significant omissions to determine their classification as misinformation or another form of misleading content.
• Examining the sources mentioned in selected public statements/manuscripts and, where necessary, identifying additional documents and/or sources to help determine whether PesaCheck should classify the content as misinformation or as another form of misleading or malign content.
• Producing ‘explainer articles’ that outline why a specific public statement/manuscript has been classified as misinformation or another form of malign content. Your articles will be based on substantive desktop research and interviews, accurately distilling relevant information into explanations that are easily understandable by ‘ordinary’ audiences, and that are substantiated by tangible evidence.

The successful candidates will work as part of a multinational and multilingual team using digital collaboration tools to create content for a global audience and international media partners. Candidates must have demonstrable journalistic or investigative research experience and excellent writing skills. Bilingual applicants will have an advantage.

Required:

• 3+ years of proven experience in journalism or research, preferably on a fact-checking desk.
• Excellent research, numeracy, and analytical skills to break down complex issues for a range of audiences.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to manage high work volumes within tight deadlines while maintaining consistency and accuracy.
• Strong news literacy, critical thinking skills, and a keen sense of accuracy and truth.

Preferred: candidates who are able to demonstrate the following will have an advantage:

• Experience in transnational multilingual digital newsrooms
• Understanding of fact-checking, disinformation, and digital tools for fact-checking
• Familiarity with mining and handling large datasets
• Strong decision-making and exceptional presentation skills

Language and Location Requirements:

• Location: Anywhere in Africa.
• Languages: English, French
• Preferred but not required: Arabic, Portuguese, Somali