RTL Group | Luxembourg, 12/14/2018

RTL Group launches ‘Factory – Filtering Fakes From Facts’ initiative

In times of fake news, RTL Group is relying on the creativity of its employees to counter increasing disinformation online and strengthen the media literacy of young news consumers. Measures planned to develop new digital products and services include a virtual training program and hackathon.

RTL Group has launched a new initiative under the heading “Factory – Filtering Fakes From Facts.” In times of fake news, the group is relying on the creativity of its employees to help young news consumers understand how to use the media and obtain credible information.

An RTL Group communication says that Factory is conceived as “a creative innovation challenge aimed at talents from across all RTL Group’s departments and business units who are interested in the challenges of online disinformation and who want to help improve the media literacy skills of young news consumers.” A virtual training program and international hackathon will support participants in developing new digital products and services related to media and digital literacy. RTL Group is using the agile methods of Design Thinking for Factory, which is meant to be a cross-divisional collaboration between all RTL Group business units.

Factory is under the patronage of the RTL Group News Synergy Committee (SyCo), which consists of heads of news and other senior news executives who share their experiences with various types of information programs. The committee supported the project development of Factory in matters of content production and organization.

‘The freedom to create’ 

“Truthful and impartial reporting is at the heart of what we do at RTL Group,” says Bert Habets, CEO of RTL Group. “And it becomes more important day by day, as we all face the massive growth of online disinformation. Tackling this huge problem and promoting media literacy calls for new digital solutions. This is exactly what we are aiming for with our Group-wide innovation challenge ‘Factory – Filtering Fakes from Facts.’ It is a fantastic initiative which also brings together some of our key priorities: fostering collaboration across our Group, pushing for new training programs and giving our talent what they want: the freedom to create.”

Every day, news organizations across RTL Group invest time, resources and a lot of energy in providing reliable and quality information to their audiences. However, news sources are more diverse and more accessible than ever before. On the internet, anyone can spread news, which can lead to disinformation and the polarization of society, because there is often a lack of a critical mindset when consuming information on social media or when news recommendations come from friends.

RTL Group believes that its role as a media organization goes beyond commitment to responsible reporting: It sees itself as part of the solution for tackling disinformation and wants to “create a generation of informed news consumers.” With the Factory innovation project the aim is to bring talents within the Group closer together and foster innovation in the field of media and digital literacy.