Correctiv (self-styled CORRECT!V) is a German

nonprofit A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

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

newsroom based in

Essen Essen () is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and Dortmund, as well as ...

and

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. It is run by ''CORRECTIV – Recherchen für die Gesellschaft gemeinnützige GmbH'' ("CORRECTIV – Investigations for the Society (Charitable Limited)"), which also runs the online journalism academy Reporterfabrik.' Its stated goals are to provide free, independent journalism accessible to everyone. Furthermore, the collective aims to counter disinformation to strengthen democratic structures. Correctiv counts more than 70 employees and associates and states to be the first nonprofit investigative center in Germany due to being exclusively financed by donations and fundings since 2014. The collective describes itself as an organization that is "one of the many answers to the media crisis." Correctiv publishes reports in multiple languages beside German including Arabic, English, French, Russian and Turkish, via its website and partner outlets.

History

Correctiv was initiated in January 2014 by the charitable organization "Correctiv – Recherchen für die Gesellschaft" ("Correctiv – Research for Society") based in

with an initial financial support by the Brost Foundation with a grant of €1 million per year for three years. In 2017 Reporterfabrik, an independent journalism school was founded partly by people from the Correctiv collective. Correctiv continues to host and closely work with Reporterfabrik. ''Correctiv.Lokal'', a network for joint research by local journalists, bloggers and experts, was launched in August 2018 together with the Rudolf Augstein Foundation. In May 2020, the ''Salon5'' youth editorial team was founded with the support of the Ruhr Conference of the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia and the RAG Foundation.

Organization

Correctiv is a member of the International Fact-Checking Network.

Funding

Correctiv is a nonprofit organization and exempt from taxation under German law. The funding comes largely from establishment foundations and corporations, such as the

Open Society Foundations Open Society Foundations (OSF), formerly the Open Society Institute, is an American grantmaking network founded by business magnate George Soros. Open Society Foundations financially supports civil society groups around the world, with the s ...

, Google Germany GmbH, and German Telekom, as well as membership fees and donations from the users and readers. All donations of more than €1000 are listed on the website. Despite depending on establishment foundations and corporations for most of its funding, Correctiv claims to be "nonprofit, independent and investigative".

Board of directors

David Schraven is the publisher and Jeannette Gusko the executive director.

Editorial stance

Correctiv wants "to make investigative and informative journalism affordable and accessible to media organizations throughout Germany."

Reports/Publications

Correctiv reported amongst other things on * "The System of Putin" (Dirty Money and State Collapse) * "TTIP - The Deal" (Investigative, Analytic, Interactive: All about the Free Trade) * " Flight MH17" (Searching for the truth) * "The Invisibles" (Hundreds of thousands live in Germany without papers) * "Weisse Wölfe" (A graphic investigation into the Nazi underground) * "Court Donations" (How Judges And Prosecutors Hand Out Millions Every Year With Almost No Oversight) * "Mafia in Africa" (How the mafia infiltrates the African economy) * "Mafia" (Stories about the Mafia: drugs, dirty money, murder and investigations) * "Deadly Superbugs" (An investigation of one of the largest health risks of the next decades) * "Football Doping" (Everything about Doping and Painkillers in Football) * "Generation E" (The big migration from South to North) * Couchsurfing * "Business Cheats" (How Fraudsters Turn Forged Bonds Into Cash) * "Das Olivenöl-Kartell" (The Olive-Oil-Cartell) * " CumEx-Files" * "Grand Theft Europe"

Flight MH17

Correctiv described the Flight MH17 as one of the greatest war crimes of modern times. Over several months it gathered facts, investigated in eastern Ukraine and Russia, and found witnesses to the missile launch, unveiled a clear chain of evidence that MH17 was downed by a BUK missile ground-launched by a unit of the Russian 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade from Kursk. The brigade unit operated in mid July on Ukrainian territory without displaying national emblems.

2024 AfD revelations

In January 2024, Correctiv published a report titled "Secret Plan Against Germany" () that described a meeting between AfD and CDU members and far-right elements to plan a program of forced " re-migration" of immigrants and others considered undesirable. The report led to mass demonstrations in Germany against AfD.

Awards

* 2014: Journalist des Jahres in category "newcomer" for the team of Correctiv * 2015: Grimme Online Award for their investigation "MH17 – Die Suche nach der Wahrheit" * 2015: Deutscher Reporterpreis in category "innovation" for graphic feature "Weisse Wölfe" by David Schraven and Jan Feindt * 2015: Franco-German Journalism Award for "MH17 – Die Suche nach der Wahrheit" * 2016: Deutscher Reporterpreis in category "innovation" * 2016: Journalist des Jahres in category "Team des Jahres" (Team of the year) * 2016: LeadAward in category Independent of the year * 2016: Axel Springer Preis in category "Investigation" for undercover feature "animal thieves" * 2016: Award "Innovation of the year" by '' Wirtschaftsjournalist'' magazine for developing the softwar
CrowdNewsroom
and the analysis of mutual banks "Sparkassen-Check" * 2017: ERM-Media Award for sustainable development. Award for Fabian Löhe and Annika Joeres for Correctiv * 2018: Franco-German Journalism Award for the project "searise" by Annika Joeres and Simon Jockers for Correctiv * 2018: Dr.-Georg-Schreiber-Mediaaward * 2018: Journalist award by Apothekerstiftung Westfalen Lippe for reporting on "Alte Apotheke" * 2018: Otto-Brenner-Preis for journalism for the works "Er kommt am Abend" and "Vergewaltigt auf Europas Feldern" by Pascale Müller (Correctiv) and Stefania Prandi (

BuzzFeed BuzzFeed, Inc. is an American Internet mass media, media, news and entertainment company with a focus on digital media. Based in New York City, BuzzFeed was founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti and John Seward Johnson III, John S. Johnson III to ...

) * 2018: Umweltmedienpreis by Deutsche Umwelthilfe for the project "Irrsinn der Agrarpolitik" by Justus von Daniels, Stefan Wehrmeyer and Annika Joeres for Correctiv * 2019: in feature for article "Vergewaltigt auf Europas Feldern" by Pascale Müller (Correctiv) and Stefania Prandi (BuzzFeed) * 2020: Deutsch-Französischer Journalistenpreis in the category „Multimedia“ for their reporting on tax evasion * 2023: Reporter:innen-Preis 2023 in the category of „Data Journalism“ for an investigation about the state of women's shelters * 2023: Deutscher Verlagspreis * 2023: Grimme Online Award in the category of „Recherche“ for their research on access to abortion in Germany