OKO.press is a Polish

investigative journalism Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years rese ...

website created on 15 June 2016. The name is a

word play Word play or wordplay (also: play-on-words) is a literary technique and a form of wit in which words used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement. Examples of word play include puns, phonet ...

on ''oko'', Polish for ''eye'', and an

abbreviation An abbreviation (from Latin ''brevis'', meaning ''short'') is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method. It may consist of a group of letters or words taken from the full version of the word or phrase; for example, the word ''abbrevia ...

for "Ośrodek Kontroli Obywatelskiej" (''Centre for Civic Control''). OKO.press is funded by a mix of individual donations and grants, with no revenue from advertising. The site aims to promote democratic values,

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

and transparency of government by publishing fact-finding, research and analysis. In 2020, the website received the

Index on Censorship Index on Censorship is an organization campaigning for freedom of expression, which produces a quarterly magazine of the same name from London. It is directed by the non-profit-making Writers and Scholars International, Ltd (WSI) in association w ...

journalism award.

Creation

OKO.press was founded in June 2016, through the Fundacja Ośrodek Kontroli Obywatelskiej "OKO" editors originating from the Polish media company

Agora The agora (; grc, ἀγορά, romanized: ', meaning "market" in Modern Greek) was a central public space in ancient Greek city-states. It is the best representation of a city-state's response to accommodate the social and political order of t ...

, as a non-profit investigative journalism website. The founding chief editor was , former deputy chief editor of ''

Gazeta Wyborcza ''Gazeta Wyborcza'' (; ''The Electoral Gazette'' in English) is a Polish daily newspaper based in Warsaw, Poland. It is the first Polish daily newspaper after the era of "real socialism" and one of Poland's newspapers of record, covering the g ...

'' and the founding deputy chief editor , formerly of ''Gazeta Wyborcza'' and ''

Polityka ''Polityka'' (, ''Politics'') is a centre-left weekly news magazine in Poland. With a circulation of 200,050 (as of April 2011), it was the country's biggest selling weekly, ahead of ''Newsweek''s Polish edition, ''Newsweek Polska'', and ''Wpr ...

''. ''OKO.press'' journalists initially included journalists from ''Gazeta Wyborcza'', ''Polityka'',

TVN TVN may refer to: * TVN (Australian TV channel), a former horse racing channel * Televisión Nacional de Chile, a public broadcaster * TVN (Indonesia), a former television station; predecessor of Rajawali Televisi * TVN (Norway), or TVNorge, a comm ...

, and from the Agora regional news station Tok FM. The website is financed through individual donations and grants. In 2019, its income consisted of 80% individual donations and 20% grants. 93% of the readers are from

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

, the rest are mainly from

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Editorial line

OKO.press describes its aims as

fact-checking Fact-checking is the process of verifying factual information, in order to promote the veracity and correctness of reporting. Fact-checking can be conducted before (''ante hoc'') or after (''post hoc'') the text is published or otherwise dissem ...

of public debate, and stimulating discussion of important themes in the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

. It states that it promotes democratic values, human rights and government transparency. OKO.press says that it follows twelve fact-checking principles modelled on the

project

PolitiFact PolitiFact.com is an American nonprofit project operated by the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Florida, with offices there and in Washington, D.C. It began in 2007 as a project of the ''Tampa Bay Times'' (then the ''St. Petersburg Times'' ...

. According to , OKO.press was created in the context of a government that was successively removing checks and balances that protected citizens' rights and state institutions from government oppression, and it was intended to be independent of political parties and independent of the

Committee for the Defence of Democracy The Committee for the Defence of Democracy, CDD ( pl, Komitet Obrony Demokracji, ''KOD'') is a Polish-born civic organization and NGO which among its goals includes promoting the European values, especially democracy, rule of law, and human ...

. OKO.Press has debunked far-right conspiracy theories on Islam in Europe. Academic historian and OKO.press commentator

Adam Leszczyński Adam Janusz Leszczyński (born 26 November 1975, Warsaw) is a Polish historian and journalist, associate professor at the Institute for Political Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Works *''Skok w nowoczesność: Polityka wzrostu w krajac ...

debunked far-right politician

Robert Winnicki Robert Artur Winnicki (born 18 July 1985) is a Polish politician who has been a member of the Sejm since 2015. He heads the National Movement political party. Before entering politics, Winnicki worked as a journalist. He served as a chairman of ...

's comments on Islamic colonisation in 2016. In 2017, deputy editor Bianka Mikołajewska fact-checked a right-wing commentator Tomasz Łysiak's statements that the national independence march did not have tens of thousands of far-right extremists and fascists marching. On review of photographic evidence, Mikołajewska debunked Łysiak's statement, showing significant prevalence of far-right slogans and symbols such as the Nazi flag, Polish eagle, and

celtic cross The Celtic cross is a form of Christian cross featuring a nimbus or ring that emerged in Ireland, France and Great Britain in the Early Middle Ages. A type of ringed cross, it became widespread through its use in the stone high crosses er ...

. These two instances of debunking far-right propaganda on Islam exhibits an association with peace journalism. OKO.press has been including on Duke University Reporters’ Lab list of fact checkers. Widely popular in Poland, in 2020 it was ranked seventh amongst the most authoritative web portals, and first within the new online brands.

International response

OKO.press has an international reputation as an "acclaimed", "well-known investigative journalism outlet".

Lawsuits

Between 2018 and 2020 seven vexatious lawsuits by politicians, companies, and business people have been filed against OKO.press. In reaction to the 2 April 2020 publication of the article ''It is better to avoid the museum. What Minister Gliński did with the memory of the Second World War'' ( pl, Muzeum lepiej omijać szerokim łukiem. Co Minister Gliński zrobił z pamięcią o II wojnie światowej), a lawsuit was filed against OKO.press. The founder and editor-in-chief of OKO.press, Piotr Pacewicz, described the lawsuit as an attack on the freedom of the press and media.

Awards

In December 2016, the deputy chief editor of OKO.press, Bianka Mikołajewska, was awarded the 2016 award for "courage in facing new challenges and journalistic accuracy" and "good, hard journalistic work in sticking to the facts ... rather than repeating their interpretation". In early 2020, OKO.press was shortlisted for the Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards, along with

Hong Kong Free Press Hong Kong Free Press (HKFP) is a free, non-profit news website based in Hong Kong. It was co-founded in 2015 by Tom Grundy, who believed that the territory's press freedom was in decline, to provide an alternative to the dominant English-languag ...

, SOS Médias Burundi and Venezuelan journalist Marco Ruiz Silvera. On 16 April 2020, ''Index on Censorship'' named OKO.press as the winner, justifying its choice for OKO.press being "one of the first free investigative journalism and fact-checking websites in Poland", for its journalistic work " avingthe way for other news sources to follow suit", "fighting for immunity from government propaganda", and being "crucial in an environment sliding further and further into authoritarianism and censorship". In September 2020, OKO.press received the Equality Crowns media award from

Campaign Against Homophobia Campaign Against Homophobia (actual name: ''Kampania Przeciw Homofobii'', abbreviation: ''KPH'') is a Polish gay rights organisation, which aims to promote legal and social equality for people outside the heteronorm. It was founded in Warsaw in Se ...

for "analyzing the events concerning the LGBT community in Poland carefully and with dedication".

References

External links

* {{Official website Fact-checking websites Internet properties established in 2016 Polish news websites Watchdog journalism 2016 establishments in Poland