What do we evaluate?
We only follow verifiable statements from ministries, deputies, and state secretary
(Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning, Agency of Youth and Sports, Ministry of
Information society and administration), Mayors, young councilors in 10 municipalities, and Young
MPs (Youth Club of MPs in Assembly). Such statements are made on facts in various forms,
press releases, public documents, numerical information, a person’s past actions
(voting on laws or statements), or historical events. Any summary of the assessment can only
apply to these statements, not to the overall expression of politicians.
On what basis do we evaluate?
Based on publicly available information, mainly from primary sources. Databases, statistics,
press releases, and published information of state, non-governmental, and private institutions.
All sources used to assess the veracity of statements is inserted through a hyperlink in the
statement verification text. If it is not possible to find a publicly available source, we also
consult professional topics with analysts working in the field.
We only judge whether he was telling the truth, the false, or whether his claim was misleading.
What do we not evaluate?
Political statements, value judgments, and predictions of the impact of some measures.
(Example: Government action XY is good because it will increase employment.)
Who evaluates?
The selection of factual statements from the discussions is made by the Youth team, then the
selection is checked by the Project Coordinator and Senior project advisor. The initial processing
of the verification of factual statements, the search for the necessary relevant sources and the
concept of the verification text are compiled by the member of the youth team, then the
processing is checked and supplemented by the Project Coordinator and Senior project advisor.
Verification of the statement, therefore, passes the control of at least 3 people. More complex
statements, as well as statements made by the public or politicians, are reviewed and
approved by the entire project team.
Our work (greenmonitor.mk)
– We make sure that decisions on the verification of politicians’ statements are
impartial, balanced, and non-purposeful;
– We only verify statements that meet the property of relevance and factuality;
– We present the results of the work in a way that is understandable, accurate and
purposefully does not favor one politician, person or party over the other
– We verify factual statements primarily on the basis of publicly available data or on the
basis of information obtained through a request or statement
Resources used
The work of the Green Monitor project consists in confronting individual factual statements
of politicians with relevant and publicly available data and statistics. However, due to the
the limited capacity of the team and because it is a pilot project, we are unable to verify all
important statements made by politicians. The basic idea behind the whole Green Monitor
project is that we control politicians in a way that everyone with internet access, basic
analytical skills and abilities, a general overview, and, above all, time can do. It is time
consuming to find information that politicians operate on that is a common reason why
people do not allow themselves to verify statements on their own.
Symbols
FALSE
UNDER MONITORING
TRUE
