Meet the team

Phil Chetwynd, Global News Director, France

Phil Chetwynd has overall responsibility for AFP's editorial strategy and the agency's 1,700 journalists. Since joining the agency in 1996, he has reported from some 20 countries and held roles including global editor-in-chief and chief editor of the Asia-Pacific region.

Grégoire Lemarchand, Deputy Global News Director, Digital Strategy Director, Communications Director, France

Grégoire Lemarchand is responsible for digital strategy at AFP. He previously led AFP's global digital investigation network from 2017 to 2024 and was responsible for its social media strategy for more than a decade from 2012 to 2024.

Julie Charpentrat, Digital Investigation Editor-in-Chief, France

Julie Charpentrat has led AFP’s global digital investigation team since 2024. She joined the digital investigation team in 2019 as fact-checker in charge of health topics before becoming deputy editor-in-chief three years later. She previously worked as a business reporter in AFP’s offices in New York and San Francisco.

Nina Lamparski, Digital Investigation Deputy Editor-in-Chief, France

Nina Lamparski manages the global digital investigation team after previously leading the department's Africa unit. She joined AFP from the BBC as foreign correspondent in Vienna in 2015. Her career has taken her to Sydney, Phnom Penh, London and Brussels.

Cédric Simon, Digital Investigation Deputy Editor-in-Chief, France

Cédric Simon joined the digital investigation team in 2024. He has occupied numerous roles within AFP including correspondent in Brussels covering the European Union and political reporter covering the French parliament. He was also previously deputy editor-in-chief for the multimedia documentation department.

Marie Bohner, Head of Development and Partnerships, Digital Investigation, France

Marie Bohner works on the development of the global digital investigation team. She manages partnerships with peer digital investigation organisations. She coordinated the CrossCheck France project in 2017 on behalf of First Draft and was their global head of partnerships until 2021.

Elodie Martinez, Global Head of Video Production and Digital Investigation Training, France

Elodie Martinez is global Head of Video Production and Digital Investigation Training. Until 2022 she was editor-in-chief for digital investigation for Latin America and Spain and, prior to that, head of AFP's Spanish online news and social media team.

Gaëlle Faure, Digital Training Manager for Europe and Africa, France

Gaëlle Faure leads AFP's digital journalism training programme in Europe and Africa. She joined AFP in 2020 as deputy head of the Africa digital investigation team.

Natalie Handel, Digital Investigation Video Coordinator, France

Natalie Handel oversees digital investigation video production. She joined AFP in 2009, first working for a decade as a video reporter in the United States and France before switching to text reporting on science, health and environment. She joined the digital investigation team in 2021.

Myriam Adam, Digital Investigation Video Journalist, France

Myriam Adam is a video journalist with the digital investigation team in Paris. She previously worked as a video journalist on general news in France, covering events like the Covid-19 pandemic and the Yellow Vest protests, as well as in Nicosia covering all the news from the MENA region.

Yadira Lopez, Digital Investigation Video Journalist, France

Yadira Lopez mainly produces digital investigation videos in Spanish but also assists with video production in English. She joined AFP in 2023 as a producer for AFPTV. Previously, she worked for newspapers in Florida and Oregon, including the Miami Herald. 

Manon Jacob, Climate Digital Investigation Reporter, USA

Manon Jacob joined the US digital investigation team in January 2020 and started focusing solely on climate and environment mis/disinformation in 2024. She was previously a reporter in France, Belgium and Poland for AFP, Politico and Reuters.

Chloé Rabs, Health Digital Investigation Reporter, France

Chloé Rabs joined the French digital investigation team in 2022. She now specialises in mis/disinformation about health issues. 

Jacqueline Pietsch, Technical Project Manager, Digital Investigation, France

Jacqueline Pietsch oversees technical developments for the team. Since joining AFP in 1996, she has worked in a myriad of roles, disciplines and countries, including head of AFP’s English-language TV production, correspondent in the Netherlands and video journalist responsible for Southeast Asia.

Denis Teyssou, AFP Medialab Manager, France

Denis Teyssou is the innovation manager of EU-funded Horizon project vera.ai (2022-2025) and the founder of the InVID-WeVerify verification plugin, which resulted from previous EU projects InVID (2016-2018) and WeVerify (2018-2021).

Bertrand Goupil, Solution Architect Engineer, AFP Medialab, France

Bertrand Goupil is the main technical lead for the InVID-WeVerify verification plugin, participating within the AFP Medialab on EU-funded projects (InVID, WeVerify, vera.ai) against disinformation and creating tools for fact-checkers.

While we endeavour to be as transparent as possible about our staff, some countries and environments are more hostile than others when it comes to journalism. For that reason, some of the journalists on our Africa team will not be named below to protect their safety. 

Brett Horner, Head of Digital Investigation for Africa, South Africa

Brett Horner leads the Africa digital investigation team. A seasoned journalist with 20 years’ experience, he joined AFP in 2019. He was previously the editor-in-chief of two regional newspapers and a news website in South Africa.

Peris Gachahi, Deputy Head of Digital Investigation for Africa, Kenya

Peris Gachahi is deputy head of digital investigation for the Africa team. She joined AFP in 2024 as a fact-checker and previously held similar roles at Pesa Check and Africa Uncensored, where she also worked as an investigative reporter and producer.

Charlotte Durand, Editor, France

Charlotte Durand is a French editor for the digital investigations team in Africa. She joined AFP's editorial team in 2016 and has worked as a correspondent in London and a business journalist in Paris.

Oluseyi Awojulugbe, Reporter, Nigeria

Oluseyi Awojulugbe reports on mis/disinformation about Africa from Nigeria. Before joining AFP, she was a senior analyst with SBM Intelligence, a local consulting firm. She has also worked as a fact-checker with Africa Check and as an economy correspondent for TheCable newspaper in Nigeria.

Emilie Beraud, Reporter, France

Emilie Beraud reports on mis/disinformation in Africa. Before joining AFP in 2022, she worked on culture and health as a reporter at France Télévisions. She also worked at the Paris desk of France 24 covering international news from Lebanon, Tunisia and Sudan.

Tendai Dube, Reporter, South Africa

Tendai Dube has covered mis/disinformation in southern Africa for AFP since 2018. She previously worked in international newsrooms for CNBC Africa and Reuters.

Tolera Fikru Gemta, Reporter, Ethiopia

Tolera Fikru Gemta reports on mis/disinformation in Ethiopia. Before joining AFP, Tolera worked as a senior fact-checker at PesaCheck.

Suy Kahofi, Reporter, Ivory Coast

Suy Kahofi joined AFP’s Abidjan bureau in 2022. He has spent almost two decades working for national and international media in Ivory Coast and Africa. A former multimedia broadcast journalist for BBC Afrique, he began debunking mis/disinformation in 2016.

Monique Ngo Mayag, Reporter, Senegal

Monique Ngo Mayag has been covering mis/disinformation for AFP since 2019, first in Gabon and now Senegal. Prior to joining AFP, Monique spent nearly a decade working as a reporter for Cameroonian private media before moving into digital investigation for an online news site.

Samad Uthman, Reporter, Nigeria

Samad Uthman reports on mis/disinformation about Africa from Nigeria. Before joining AFP, he worked as an investigative multimedia journalist at TheCable newspaper in Nigeria.

While we endeavour to be as transparent as possible about our staff, some countries and environments are more hostile than others when it comes to journalism. For that reason, some of the journalists on our Asia-Pacific team will not be named below to protect their safety.

Daniel Funke, Head of Digital Investigation for Asia-Pacific, Hong Kong

Daniel Funke leads the Asia-Pacific digital investigation team. He joined AFP in 2022 as a digital investigation editor based in Washington, DC. He previously worked as a reporter and editor specializing in misinformation, politics and technology at USA Today, PolitiFact, the International Fact-Checking Network and the Poynter Institute for Media Studies.

Jake Soriano, Deputy Head of Digital Investigation for Asia-Pacific, Hong Kong

Jake Soriano is deputy head of digital investigation for the Asia-Pacific team. He joined AFP’s Manila bureau as a digital investigation reporter in 2019. He previously worked on fact-checking projects in the Philippines.

Sophia Xu, Digital Training Manager for Asia-Pacific, Hong Kong

Sophia Xu leads AFP's digital journalism training programme in Asia-Pacific. She joined AFP in 2020 as a digital investigation editor. She has trained thousands of journalists and students in digital journalism at media conferences and universities across Asia.

Medha Vernekar, TikTok Editor, Hong Kong

Medha Vernekar has been AFP's Asia-Pacific TikTok editor since 2023 after working as a freelance reporter debunking misinformation in Australia. She previously worked as a news intern for Storyful.

Lucille Sodipe, Deputy TikTok Editor, Philippines

Lucille Sodipe reports on mis/disinformation circulating in the Philippines. Before joining AFP in 2020, Lucille worked in broadcast media, producing television documentaries for more than a decade. She was also a reporter and editor at Philippine fact-checking organisation Vera Files.

Dene-Hern Chen, Editor, Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands

Dene-Hern Chen is a digital investigation editor monitoring misinformation in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific islands. She joined AFP in 2018 as a correspondent in Bangkok and later was an editor on the Asia-Pacific desk, as well as the Hong Kong and Taiwan bureau chief.

Sumit Dubey, Editor, India

Sumit Dubey leads the South Asia digital investigation team, based in New Delhi. Prior to joining AFP in 2022, he worked with various leading Indian newspapers.

Md Eyamin, Editor, Bangladesh

Md Eyamin coordinates production in Bengali. Prior to joining AFP in 2023, he worked as a senior correspondent for The Business Standard and as a reporter for the Bonik Barta, covering the energy sector in Bangladesh and neighbouring countries.

Safrin La Batu, Editor, Indonesia

Safrin La Batu joined AFP in 2019 as a digital investigation reporter for Indonesia. He was previously an investigative reporter for The Jakarta Post and The Gecko Project.

Jeff Li, Editor, Hong Kong

Jeff Li is an editor for the Asia-Pacific team. Before joining AFP in 2022, he worked as a journalist at the BBC, covering Hong Kong and China.

Zoe Low, Editor, Hong Kong

Zoe Low is an editor for the Asia-Pacific team. Before joining AFP in 2022, she worked as a reporter at the South China Morning Post.

Nattakorn Ploddee, Editor, Thailand

Nattakorn Ploddee leads the Southeast Asia digital investigation team from Bangkok. He is responsible for Thai-language output and participates in AFP’s digital investigation workshops. Prior to joining the agency in 2019, he worked as a news anchor covering international news.

Richard Pyne, Editor, Hong Kong

Richard Pyne is an editor for the Asia-Pacific team. Prior to joining AFP in 2022, he was a reporter, presenter and editor for Radio Television Hong Kong.

Purple Romero, Editor, Hong Kong

Purple Romero is an editor for the Asia-Pacific team. Before joining AFP in 2023, she worked as a teaching assistant at the University of Hong Kong and previously as digital investigation reporter at AFP’s Manila bureau.

Raevathi Supramaniam, Editor, Malaysia

Raevathi Supramaniam is a multimedia journalist based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Before joining AFP as a digital investigation editor, she had more than a decade of experience working for Malaysia's largest online news portals.

Sachin Baghel, Reporter, India

Sachin is a digital investigation reporter debunking mis/disinformation in India. Before joining AFP in 2024, he was a reporter for fact-check website BOOMLive and a multimedia journalist for various Indian media outlets.

Ara Eugenio, Reporter, Philippines

Ara Eugenio is a digital investigation reporter in the Philippines. She joined AFP in 2022 after working as a multimedia journalist at Summit Media.

Sammy Heung, Reporter, Hong Kong

Sammy Heung is a digital investigation journalist based in Hong Kong. Prior to joining AFP in 2025, she worked as a reporter for the South China Morning Post.

Gemma Holliani Cahya, Reporter, Indonesia

Gemma Holliani Cahya is a digital investigation reporter based in Jakarta. Before joining AFP in 2022, she worked as reporter for The Guardian, Los Angeles Times and The Jakarta Post.

Chayanit Itthipongmaetee, Reporter, Thailand

Chayanit Itthipongmaetee is a digital investigation journalist based in Bangkok, Thailand. Prior to joining AFP, Chayanit worked as a journalist for Coconuts Bangkok and Khaosod English.

Pasika Khernamnuoy, Reporter, Thailand

Pasika Khernamnuoy is a digital investigation reporter based in Bangkok. Prior to joining AFP in 2024, she worked as a social media editor at the BBC covering Thailand and leading digital content strategy.

Akshita Kumari, Reporter, India

Akshita is a digital investigation journalist debunking mis/disinformation circulating in India. Prior to joining AFP, she worked as a political intern with Hindustan Times and as a freelance contributor for various Indian news websites.

Devesh Mishra, Reporter, India

Devesh Mishra debunks mis/disinformation circulating in India. Prior to joining AFP, he worked as a reporter for fact-check website BOOM Live in New Delhi and as a media trainer for the Google News Initiative programme FactShala.

Rasheek Tabassum Mujib, Reporter, Bangladesh

Rasheek Tabassum Mujib is a digital investigation journalist based in Dhaka, who most recently worked as a healthcare and education reporter at the Cape Cod Times under the USA Today Network in the United States. Prior to completing her master's degree from Boston University, she started her journalism career at The Daily Star in Dhaka. 

Felix Nathaniel, Reporter, Indonesia

Felix Nathaniel is a digital investigation reporter monitoring mis/disinformation in Indonesia. Before joining AFP in 2023, he worked as an investigative journalist covering politics, human rights, economics, tech and environmental issues for Tirto.id and TechinAsia.

Harshana Silva, Reporter, Sri Lanka

Harshana has been debunking misinformation in Sri Lanka since 2021. Prior to his role at AFP, he led a local fact-checking team in Colombo and worked more than eight years as a journalist at the Sinhalese newspaper Lankadeepa.

Najmi Syahiran Mamat, Reporter, Malaysia

Based in Kuala Lumpur, Najmi debunks mis/disinformation in Malaysia and Singapore. Prior to joining AFP in October 2023, he worked for news outlets including Channel News Asia, Free Malaysia Today and Astro AWANI.

Julie Jammot, Head of Digital Investigation for Europe, France

Julie Jammot leads the Europe digital investigation team. She joined AFP as a video reporter in London in 2010, then moved to Johannesburg to lead the Southern Africa video team. She later became the tech correspondent in San Francisco, covering social media and AI, before taking on her current role.

Rachel Blundy, Deputy Head of Digital Investigation for Europe, United Kingdom

Rachel Blundy is deputy head of digital investigation for the Europe team. She previously led the Asia-Pacific digital investigation team. Before joining AFP in 2019, she worked for various media organisations in Hong Kong and the United Kingdom.

Lavinia Abbott, Editor, United Kingdom

Lavinia Abbott is an editor for the Europe team. She joined AFP in 2022 as a video producer before moving to the digital investigation team in 2025. Prior to this, she worked as a filmmaker and producer.

Michelle Fitzpatrick, Editor, Germany

Michelle Fitzpatrick is an editor for the Europe team. She has been with AFP since 2006. Before joining the fact-checking team in 2024, she was a correspondent in Frankfurt and has also worked for AFP in Paris, Phnom Penh and London.

Sonia González, Editor, Spain

Sonia González in an editor for the Europe team. Before joining the Spanish-language fact check team in 2019, she worked at AFP’s regional desks, graphics and online services in Madrid, Montevideo and Paris.

Eric Lagneau, Editor, France

Eric Lagneau is an editor for the Europe team. He joined AFP in 1995 and worked in various roles in the Paris head office, including covering sports and politics.

Simon Morgan, Editor, France

Simon Morgan is an editor for the Europe team. He joined AFP in 1998 and has worked as a reporter in Frankfurt and Vienna. He moved to the English editing desk at the Paris headquarters in 2017 and joined the digital investigation team in 2022.

Katarina Subasic, Editor, Serbia

Katarina Subasic joined the digital verification team in 2020 as a fact-checker covering Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, becoming an editor in 2023. She has been working for AFP since 1998 as a news reporter and editor covering Serbia and the Western Balkans.

Katharina Zwins, Editor, Austria

Katharina Zwins is the editor for the German-speaking team. Before joining AFP in 2023, she trained as a lawyer and also worked for the Austrian news magazine profil, where she co-founded the fact-checking project faktiv.

Bozhidar Angueloff, Reporter, Bulgaria

Bozhidar Angueloff reports on mis/disinformation in Bulgaria. Before joining AFP in 2025, he worked for various Bulgarian media outlets, including fact-check organization Factcheck.bg.

Rossen Bossev, Reporter, Austria

Rossen Bossev reports on mis/disinformation in Bulgaria. Before joining AFP in 2021, he worked for 15 years as a journalist at Capital, covering judiciary, law enforcement, and human rights.

Paula Căbescu, Reporter, Austria

Paula Căbescu reports on mis/disinformation in Romania. Before joining AFP in 2021, she worked at the Romanian fact-checking website Factual and for the local investigative journalism project Să Fie Lumină.

Elena Crisan, Reporter, Austria

Elena Crisan reports on mis/disinformation in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Before joining AFP in 2024, she worked as an editor at the Austrian weekly profil.

Maja Czarnecka, Reporter, Poland

Maja Czarnecka reports on mis/disinformation in Poland. Before joining the digital verification team in 2019, she worked as a text and video journalist for AFP in Warsaw, covering political, social, economic and cultural news.

Magdalini Gkogkou, Reporter, Greece

Magdalini Gkogkou reports on mis/disinformation in Greece and Cyprus. Before joining AFP's digital investigation team in 2024, she worked as a journalist for the digital publishing group 24Media and as a contributor for the Greek street paper Shedia.

Anna Hollingsworth, Reporter, Finland

Anna Hollingsworth reports on mis/disinformation in Finland and Sweden. Before joining AFP in 2022, she worked in an audience engagement role at The Times and Sunday Times in London, writing about topics ranging from health to social change and culture.

Johanna Lehn, Reporter, Germany

Johanna Lehn reports on mis/disinformation in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Before joining AFP in 2023, she worked for Kieler Nachrichten which is part of the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND).

Gabriela Lulić, Reporter, Croatia

Gabriela Lulić reports on mis/disinformation in Croatia. She previously worked to counter the spread of disinformation as a student at the University of Dubrovnik’s Center for Information Verification and Civic Resilience.

Liesa Pauwels, Reporter, Netherlands

Liesa Pauwels is a journalist covering the Netherlands and Dutch-speaking Belgium. Before joining AFP in 2024, she worked for a fact-checking project around the 2024 EU elections as well as for several European news outlets in Brussels.

Mina Pejakovic, Reporter, Serbia

Mina Pejakovic reports on mis/disinformation in Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Before joining AFP's digital investigation team in 2024, she interned with AFP as a news reporter, covering events across Serbia and the Western Balkans.

Katerina Santurova, Reporter, Czech Republic

Katerina Santurova covers mis/disinformation in the Czech Republic. Before joining AFP's digital investigation team in 2025, Katerina worked in international education and reported for international and Czech media, including Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa, Time Magazine, and The Economist.

Eduard Starkbauer, Reporter, Slovakia

Eduard Starkbauer reports on mis/disinformation in Slovakia. Before joining AFP in 2024, he worked as a journalist for sme.sk and refresher.sk.

Ede Záborszky, Reporter, Austria

Ede Záborszky reports on mis/disinformation in Hungary. Before joining AFP in 2021, he worked for Index.hu, one of the biggest and oldest online news sites in Hungary, and as a freelancer for the Hungarian news service of Radio Free Europe (RFE/RL).

Cintia Nabi Cabral, Reporter, France

Cintia Nabi Cabral reports on mis/disinformation in France. She first joined AFP in 2024 in the agency’s bureau in Abidjan. Before that, she worked for French TV TF1 and served as a podcast host at Tama Média, where she focused on disinformation across the African continent.

Gaëlle Geoffroy, Reporter, France

Gaëlle Geoffroy reports on mis/disinformation in France. She joined AFP in 2002 and worked in various roles in the Paris head office, including covering the economy, general news and politics. She also worked as an economics correspondent in Washington D.C.

Camille Kauffmann, Reporter, France

Camille Kauffmann reports on mis/disinformation in France. She joined AFP in 2021 and has worked in various roles in Marseille, Strasbourg or Berlin. She also produced AFP's daily podcast and covered media in AFP's head office in Paris.

Pierre Moutot, Reporter, France

Pierre Moutot joined AFP in 2023. He has worked on several news desks at the head office in Paris, reporting on labour and law. He produced episodes for the AFP's podcast and worked in the regional offices in northern France and Brittany. He reports on mis/disinformation in France.

Alexis Orsini, Reporter, France

Alexis Orsini reports on mis/disinformation in France. Before joining AFP in 2022, he worked as a fact-checker for the 20 Minutes newspaper.

While we endeavour to be as transparent as possible about our staff, some countries and environments are more hostile than others when it comes to journalism. For that reason, some of the journalists on our Latin America team will not be named below to protect their safety.

Anella Reta, Head of Digital Investigation in Spanish and Portuguese, Uruguay

Anella Reta is head of AFP’s digital investigation teams for Latin America, Brazil and Spain. Since joining AFP in 2004, she has worked as an editor for the Spanish language graphic service,  a senior editor for the Latin America desk in Montevideo, and correspondent in Sao Paulo. She joined the digital investigation team in 2019.

Miguel Bravo, Spanish Editorial Coordinator, Mexico

Miguel Bravo is an editorial coordinator for the Spanish language team based in Mexico City. He has been debunking misinformation for AFP since 2019. Previously, he was a reporter for several Mexican media outlets, specializing in fields such as government, health and economics.

Maria Clara Pestre, Portuguese Editorial Coordinator, Brazil

Maria Clara Pestre is the editorial coordinator for the Portuguese-speaking team, based in Rio de Janeiro. She has been debunking misinformation for AFP since 2019, first as a fact-checker and then as an editor. Before, she worked at Reuters’ Brazilian service and at Globo.com.

Nadia Nasanovsky, Digital Training Manager for Latin America, Uruguay

Nadia Nasanovsky leads AFP's digital journalism training programme in Latin America. She joined AFP in 2019 as a digital investigation reporter in Buenos Aires. Before joining AFP she worked as a fact-checker and as a reporter for several Argentinean media outlets.

Magdalena Advis, Special Project Editor, Chile

Magdalena Advis is an editor for the team in Latin America. Previously, she worked as digital investigation journalist based in Santiago. Prior to joining AFP in February 2023, she worked on fact-checking the Chilean constitutional process (2021-2022) and on investigations into social inequality.

Andrés Felipe Martínez, Editor, Colombia

Andrés Martínez is an editor for the Spanish language team. He joined the AFP digital investigation team in August 2021. Previously he worked as a factchecker for Colombiacheck, and as a reporter for El País de Cali.

Luiza Queiroz, Editor, Brazil

Luiza Queiroz is an editor for the Portuguese-language team. Before joining AFP as a fact-checker in 2021, she worked on political coverage for Estado de S. Paulo and Veja magazine. She specializes in data journalism.

Natalia Sanguino, Editor, Spain

After several years as a digital investigation reporter, Natalia Sanguino now works as editor in Madrid. She has worked for AFP for more than 15 years, during which she has also worked as an editor for the Spanish multimedia service, editing text, graphics and videos.

Manuela Silva, Editor, Uruguay

Manuela Silva is an editor for the Spanish language team. Before joining AFP in 2021 as fact-checker, she worked at a regional agency and a national fact-checking project.

Agustín Bagnasco, Reporter, Argentina

Agustín Bagnasco is a digital investigative journalist in Buenos Aires. He joined AFP in March 2024 after working as a producer at Telefe television channel.

Sofía Barragán, Reporter, Argentina

Sofía Barragán is a digital investigation journalist in Buenos Aires. Prior to joining AFP in July 2023, she worked as a SEO writer in Ámbito Financiero.

Carla Díaz, Reporter, Peru

Carla Díaz is a digital investigation journalist based in Lima. Before joining AFP in 2023, she worked as a data verifier and researcher on gender and human rights issues. She has worked for various journalism organisations in Peru.

Lucía Díaz, Reporter, Spain

Lucía Díaz is a digital investigation journalist based in Madrid. Prior to joining AFP in June 2024, she worked in the fact-checking team at Newtral (Spain), mainly covering political and social issues. She also reported for a local newspaper.

Maximiliano Echegoyen, Reporter, Chile

Maximiliano Echegoyen is a digital investigation journalist in Santiago. He joined AFP in 2025 after working as a fact-checker for Fast Check CL.

Lizeth Roman Mescua, Reporter, Peru

Lizeth Roman Mescua is a digital investigation journalist based in Lima. Before joining AFP in 2026, she worked as a fact-checker at the Peruvian newspaper La República, where she covered electoral processes, human rights, climate issues, and health.

Cristina Alonso Pascual, Reporter, Spain

Cristina Alonso Pascual is a digital investigation journalist based in Madrid. Before joining AFP in 2025, she worked in the political fact-checking department at Newtral and was a correspondent for Agencia EFE in London.

While we endeavour to be as transparent as possible about our staff, some countries and environments are more hostile than others when it comes to journalism. For that reason, some of the journalists working on the Middle East team will not be named to protect their safety.

Josette Abi Tamer, Head of Digital Investigation for MENA, Lebanon

Josette Abi Tamer leads AFP's digital investigation team for the Middle East and North Africa. Before joining the team in 2019, she worked as a senior editor at leading Lebanese and Arab media outlets. She is also an experienced trainer and lecturer in the field.

Stéphanie Youssef, Editor, Cyprus

Stéphanie Youssef oversees AFP’s Arabic social media accounts and works as a digital investigation editor for the Middle East and North Africa region. Before joining AFP in 2019, she worked as a news and social media editor at LBCI TV station in Lebanon.

Marisha Goldhamer, Head of Digital Investigation for North America, USA

Marisha Goldhamer leads the US and Canada digital investigation team. Marisha joined AFP in 2003, working on the multimedia desk and the agency's social media presence.

Bill McCarthy, Senior Reporter, USA

Bill McCarthy reports on mis/disinformation in the United States. He joined AFP in 2022 after working as a reporter for PolitiFact, where he covered US media and politics, online mis/disinformation and led the fact-checking of political pundits.

Gwen Roley, Reporter, Canada

Gwen Roley debunks mis/disinformation in Canada on a wide variety of topics. She joined AFP in 2023 after working as a reporter and researcher in the US and Canada.