Meet the team
About AFP Fact Check
AFP Fact Check is a department within Agence France-Presse, a multi-lingual, multicultural news agency whose mission is to provide accurate, balanced and impartial coverage of news wherever and whenever it happens in the world on a continuous basis.
To tackle the spread of misinformation and disinformation online, AFP created a dedicated fact-checking and digital investigations team in 2017, inspired by our experience with the award-winning CrossCheck collaborative project for the French elections that year.
Since then, AFP Fact Check has grown to become the leading global fact-checking organisation, with more than 100 dedicated journalists in dozens of countries around the world.
AFP fact-checking journalists monitor online content in 26 languages, working with the agency’s local offices to ensure in-depth and accurate reporting that incorporates relevant cultural and political context. We fact-check in Arabic, Bahasa Indonesia, Bahasa Malaysia, Bengali, Bulgarian, Burmese, Catalan, Croatian, Czech, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hindi, Hungarian, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Serbian, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish and Thai. Articles are edited in regional hubs and the global team is managed from the AFP headquarters in Paris.
Our Staff
Global production
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, Head of Digital Investigations, Deputy Global Editor-in-Chief, France
Grégoire Lemarchand has led AFP's global digital investigation network since 2017 and its social media strategy since 2012. Previously, he worked as a sports reporter and Rome correspondent.
Julie Charpentrat, Digital Investigations Deputy Editor-in-Chief, France
Julie Charpentrat became the digital investigation deputy editor-in-chief in 2022 after more than two years investigating mis/disinformation about health issues and the Covid-19 pandemic. She has covered various beats for AFP, including business, economics, employment and family issues. She was a correspondent in San Francisco and New York and also worked as a video journalist.
Sophie Nicholson, Digital Investigations Deputy Editor-in-Chief, France
Sophie Nicholson manages the global digital investigation team and the development of AFP’s online training platform and video series. Sophie previously worked as a correspondent in Mexico City, covering Latin America. She started her career in radio and television at the BBC in London.
Elodie Martinez, Global Digital Investigations Training Coordinator, France
Elodie Martinez became the global digital investigation training coordinator in 2022. Previously, she was head of digital investigation for Latin America and Spain and prior that head of AFP's Spanish online news and social media team.
Natalie Handel, Digital Investigations 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.
Cristina Abellan-Matamoros, Digital Investigations Video Journalist, France
Cristina Abellan-Matamoros works as a video journalist for the digital investigations team. She produces videos mainly in Spanish and Portuguese but also assists with production in English and French. She joined AFP in 2019 as a producer for AFPTV Live. Before that she worked for Euronews and Storyful. She joined the digital investigations team in 2023.
Myriam Adam, Digital Investigations 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.
Roland Lloyd Parry, Climate Change Digital Investigations Reporter, France
Roland Lloyd Parry has covered climate and environment mis/disinformation for AFP since 2021. He was previously an AFP deputy global chief editor and a reporter in France, Spain, Latin America and the United States.
Julie Pacorel, Health Digital Investigations Reporter, France
Julie Pacorel specialises in mis/disinformation about health issues. Before joining the team in 2022, she worked for AFP in Marseille where she covered politics, crime and biodiversity in the Mediterranean region. She previously worked as a freelance journalist in South America for French media such as Libération.
Marie Bohner, Head of Development and Partnerships, Digital Investigations, 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.
Jacqueline Pietsch, Technical Project Manager, Digital Investigations, 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.
Valentin Porcellini, Software Engineer, AFP Medialab, France
Valentin Porcellini designs and maintains AFP Medialab's tools and participates in the EU-funded project vera.ai.
Africa
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.
Nina Lamparski, Head of Digital Investigations for Africa, France
Nina Lamparski leads the Africa digital investigation team. She joined AFP from the BBC as foreign correspondent in Vienna in 2015. Her career, which spans digital media, radio and print, has taken her to Sydney, Phnom Penh, London and Brussels.
Gaëlle Faure, Deputy Head of Digital Investigations for Africa, France
Gaëlle Faure has been the deputy head of the Africa digital investigation team since 2020. She previously worked in editing and reporting roles for French and US media organisations, with a focus on investigation and verification.
Brett Horner, Senior Africa Editor, South Africa
Brett Horner joined AFP in 2019 and helps to oversee AFP’s pan-African digital investigation operation. A seasoned journalist with 20 years’ experience, he was previously the editor-in-chief of two regional newspapers and a news website in South Africa.
Célia Lebur, Editor, France
Célia Lebur joined the digital investigation team in 2022 as editor for French-speaking countries in Africa. She began working at AFP as a general news reporter in 2012, first in Gabon and then in Nigeria, reporting extensively from countries across central and western Africa.
Tonye Bakare, Reporter, Nigeria
Tonye Bakare reports on mis/disinformation from Nigeria. A Sigma Awards for Data Journalism winner, he joined AFP from The Guardian Nigeria where he led the digital news team. He also worked with Business Eye, covering the stock market and telecommunications.
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.
Mary Kulundu, Reporter, Kenya
Mary Kulundu covers mis/disinformation in East African countries. A former reporter for top news websites in Kenya, she holds a Master's degree in Digital Journalism and has conducted research on how Kenyan newsrooms handle mis/disinformation during breaking news.
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.
James Okong'o, Reporter, South Africa
From his base in Johannesburg, James Okong'o reports on mis/disinformation spreading throughout English-speaking countries in Africa. James previously worked at PesaCheck, Africa's biggest indigenous fact-checking organisation, and as a writer and content producer for Johanniter International Assistance and Echo Network Africa in Kenya.
Fikayo Owoeye, Reporter, Nigeria
Fikayo Owoeye reports on mis/disinformation in Nigeria. He was previously a reporter with Reuters Nigeria with a focus on the economy, environment and government policies. Fikayo was also head of the business desk at TheCable online newspaper.
Asia-Pacific
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.
Rachel Blundy, Head of Digital Investigations for Asia-Pacific, Hong Kong
Rachel Blundy leads the Asia-Pacific digital investigation team. Originally from London, she worked in various reporting and digital production roles on newspapers in the United Kingdom.
Charlotte Mason, Deputy Head of Digital Investigations for Asia-Pacific, Hong Kong
Charlotte Mason helps lead the Asia-Pacific team. She joined AFP in 2018 as a reporter and editor in Paris, before covering mis/disinformation in Africa, Europe and North America. She has previously written for various media in the United Kingdom and France.
Jake Soriano, Deputy Head of Digital Investigations for Asia-Pacific, Hong Kong
Jake Soriano is deputy head of the digital investigations 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 hundreds of journalists and students in digital journalism at media conferences and universities across Asia.
Sumit Dubey, Editor, India
Sumit Dubey is an editor for the digital investigation team based in New Delhi. Prior to joining AFP in 2022, he worked with various leading Indian newspapers.
Yenni Kwok, Editor, Hong Kong
Yenni Kwok oversees coverage from the digital investigation teams in Indonesia and Malaysia. She previously worked as a journalist and editor at various international media.
Shim Kyu-seok, Editor, South Korea
Shim Kyu-seok is a digital investigation editor monitoring mis/disinformation in South Korea. Before joining AFP in 2021, he worked as a political journalist covering North Korean and South Korean domestic politics for the Korea JoongAng Daily.
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 is responsible for Thai-language output and participates in AFP’s digital investigation workshops. Prior to joining AFP 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.
Qadaruddin Shishir, Editor, Bangladesh
Qadaruddin Shishir coordinates production in Bengali. He joined AFP after working as an editor for various media in Bangladesh.
Satya Adhi, Reporter, Indonesia
Satya Adhi debunks mis/disinformation in Indonesia. Before joining AFP in 2023, he was a multimedia journalist covering general news for Indonesian news outlet Narasi.
Panisa Aemocha, Reporter, Thailand
Panisa Aemocha reports on mis/disinformation in Thailand. Before joining AFP in 2022, she covered business and politics for the BBC World Service in London.
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.
Rimal Farrukh, Reporter, Pakistan
Rimal Farrukh is a digital investigation reporter based in Islamabad, Pakistan. Prior to joining AFP, she worked as a South Asia correspondent for VICE World News.
Masroor Gilani, Reporter, Pakistan
Masroor Gilani is a digital investigation reporter who first joined AFP as correspondent Pakistan in 2003, after working at Associated Press of Pakistan and The Muslim newspaper.
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.
Clara Ip, Reporter, Hong Kong
Clara Ip is a digital investigation reporter who primarily monitors mis/disinformation in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. She joined AFP in 2020.
Chayanit Itthipongmaetee, Reporter, Thailand
Chayanit Itthipongmaetee is a digital verification journalist based in Bangkok, Thailand. Prior to joining AFP, Chayanit worked as a journalist for Coconuts Bangkok and Khaosod English.
Nisya Kunto, Reporter, Indonesia
Nisya Kunto reports on mis/disinformation in Indonesia. Prior to joining AFP in 2023, she was an engagement editor with Southeast Asia Globe and dining editor with FoodieS Media.
Safrin La Batu, Reporter, Indonesia
Safrin La Batu debunks and reports on mis/disinformation in Indonesia. Prior to joining AFP in 2019, he was an investigative reporter with The Jakarta Post.
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.
Joseph Olbrycht-Palmer, Reporter, Australia
Joseph is a digital investigation reporter based in Sydney. He joined AFP from Storyful, where he covered global breaking news with a focus on Ukraine, Iran and South America.
Moses Ompusunggu, Reporter, Indonesia
Moses Ompusunggu reports on mis/disinformation in Indonesia. Before joining AFP in 2018, he worked as an environment and political journalist at The Jakarta Post.
Lakna Paranamanna, Reporter, Sri Lanka
Lakna Paranamanna is a digital investigation reporter in Colombo. Before joining AFP in 2019, she worked as a reporter for Sri Lanka's Daily Mirror and various other English language newspapers.
Lucille Sodipe, Reporter, 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.
Kate Tan, Reporter, Australia
Kate Tan is a digital investigation reporter based in Sydney. She joined AFP from Storyful and previously worked as a tennis correspondent in Beijing.
Tommy Wang, Reporter, Hong Kong
Tommy Wang debunks mis/disinformation circulating in China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. Prior to joining AFP in 2023, he worked on Chinese fact-checking projects.
Europe
Bronwen Roberts, Head of Digital Investigations for Europe, France
Bronwen Roberts leads the Europe team. Since joining AFP in 1998, she has been a journalist, editor and bureau chief, including in South Africa, Hong Kong, Paris and Afghanistan. She joined the digital investigation team in 2020.
Juliette Montesse, Deputy Head of Digital Investigations for Europe, United Kingdom
Juliette Montesse is the deputy head of the Europe team. A journalist with AFP since 2010, she was previously a Paris court reporter and a Paris suburbs correspondent before joining the digital investigation team in 2020.
Estelle Péard, Editor and Digital Training Manager for Europe, France
Estelle Péard has worked for AFP since 2010. Before joining the Europe digital investigation team as an editor in 2021, she was an economics correspondent in Germany, a reporter covering social conflicts in France and a news editor.
Jastinder Khera, Editor, Austria
Jastinder Khera is an editor for the Europe team based in Vienna, having previously worked there for AFP's text news wire. Before joining AFP in 2018, he worked at the BBC, including as a producer on some of its main radio news programmes and on BBC World TV.
Laura Mannering, Editor, Spain
Laura Mannering has worked as an editor for the Europe team since 2021. She joined AFP in 2012 as an editor for the Asia-Pacific news desk and was later bureau chief for Hong Kong and Taiwan for four years. She previously worked for newspapers and magazines in the UK.
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.
Jennifer O'Mahony, Editor, Spain
Jennifer O'Mahony joined the Europe team as an editor in July 2023. She previously worked at AFP from 2013-2018 as an editor and West Africa correspondent. She has also worked as a documentary producer and investigative journalist for the BBC and Channel 4.
Eva Wackenreuther, Editor, Austria
Eva Wackenreuther is responsible for coverage in German. Before joining AFP in 2020, she worked as a reporter and co-founded a fact-checking blog.
Robert Barca, Reporter, Czech Republic
Robert Barca reports on mis/disinformation in Slovakia. Before joining AFP in 2020, he worked as an online editor at the Slovak weekly .týždeň, as a reporter at Denník N and as a reportage photographer for various media outlets. He is also involved in training for AFP.
Théophile Bloudanis, Reporter, Greece
Théophile Bloudanis reports on mis/disinformation in Greece and Cyprus. Before joining AFP's digital verification team in 2022, he worked as a journalist for the Swiss local newspaper Le Journal du Jura and for AFP as a photographer.
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.
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.
Marion Dautry, Reporter, Serbia
Marion Dautry is a journalist covering Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Before joining AFP in 2020, she worked as a freelance correspondent for French and English-speaking media covering the news in the Western Balkans.
Till Eichenauer, Reporter, Germany
Till Eichenauer reports on mis/disinformation in German-speaking countries. Before joining AFP in 2023, he was a reporter for the Märkische Allgemeine Zeitung and worked for newspapers and radios in Eastern Europe and Kazakhstan.
Ivan Fischer, Reporter, Croatia
Ivan Fischer joined AFP in 2023 as a fact-checker in Croatia. Prior to that he spent a decade as a reporter and analyst at Jutarnji list, covering science, technology and foreign policy. He also hosted weekly shows on science and technology on Croatian public radio.
Anna Hollingsworth, Reporter, Finland
Anna Hollingsworth reports on mis/disinformation in Finland. 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.
Petros Konstantinidis, Reporter, Greece
Petros Konstantinidis reports on mis/disinformation in Greece and Cyprus. Before joining AFP in 2022, he worked as news editor at Eleftherostypos.gr and for France 24 in Paris. He also works as an investigative reporter for the Greek daily newspaper TA NEA.
Matúš Krčmárik, Reporter, Slovakia
Matúš Krčmárik covers mis/disinformation in Slovakia. Before joining AFP in 2023 he was foreign news reporter and editor at Slovak daily SME where he headed foreign news desk for eight years.
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).
Ladka Mortkowitz, Reporter, Czech Republic
Ladka Mortkowitz reports on mis/disinformation in the Czech Republic. Before joining AFP in 2020, Ladka worked as a reporter for various international media including Bloomberg News and The New York Times. For the past two decades she has reported from Prague, Paris and Berlin.
Natalia Sawka, Reporter, Poland
Natalia Sawka is a journalist covering Poland and has been working with AFP since 2019. Before that, she worked at the Polish daily newspaper “Gazeta Wyborcza,” covering national news. She is also involved in training for AFP.
Charlotte Steenackers, Reporter, Belgium
Charlotte Steenackers reports on mis/disinformation in the Netherlands. Prior to joining AFP in 2022, she was a freelance journalist in Lebanon and Brussels. She also worked with Reuters and Le Soir.
Katarina Subasic, Reporter, Serbia
Katarina Subasic joined the digital verification team in 2020 as a fact-checker covering Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina. She has been working for AFP since 1998 as news reporter and editor covering Serbia and the Western Balkans.
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).
Katharina Zwins, Reporter, Austria
Katharina Zwins reports on misinformation and disinformation in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. 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.
France
Emilie Beraud, Reporter, France
Emilie Beraud reports on mis/disinformation in France. Before joining AFP in 2022, she worked as a culture, then health reporter at France Télévision. She also worked at the Paris desk of France 24 covering international news from Lebanon, Tunisia and Sudan.
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 a economics correspondent in Washington D.C.
Juliette Mansour, Reporter, France
Juliette Mansour reports on mis/disinformation in France. Before joining AFP in 2020, she worked on investigation and verification for the fact-checking desks Le Vrai du Faux at franceinfo and Les Décodeurs at Le Monde; and covered global news for the web service of Le Parisien.
Claire-Line Nass, Reporter, France
Claire-Line Nass reports on mis/disinformation in France. Before joining the AFP in 2021, she worked in the fact-checking team at the French newspaper Libération and covered various topics linked to mis/disinformation.
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.
Latin America and Spain
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.
Leila Macor, Head of Digital Investigations in Spanish and Portuguese, Uruguay
Leila Macor is head of AFP's digital investigation teams for Latin America and Spain, covering mis/disinformation in Spanish, Catalan and Portuguese. Since joining AFP in 2005, she has also worked as editor for the Latin America desk in Montevideo and correspondent for the West and East coasts of the United States.
Sonia González, Spanish Editorial Coordinator, Spain
Sonia González is an editorial coordinator for the Spanish language team based in Madrid, as well as editor for the blog in Catalan. Prior to joining AFP’s digital verification team in 2019, she worked at AFP’s regional desks, graphics and online services in Madrid, Montevideo and Paris.
Anella Reta, Portuguese Editorial Coordinator, Uruguay
Anella Reta is an editor and editorial coordinator for the Portuguese language team. 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 verification team in 2019.
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.
Miguel Bravo, Editor, Mexico
Miguel Bravo is an editor for the Spanish language team, based in Mexico. He has worked debunking mis/disinformation at AFP since 2019. Previously, he was a reporter for several Mexican media outlets, specialising in fields such as government, health and economics.
Denise Mota, Editor, Uruguay
Denise Mota is an editor for the Spanish and Portuguese language teams. Before joining AFP in 2021, she worked as editor at Brazilian investigative news outlets.
Maria Clara Pestre, Editor, Brazil
After several years as a digital investigation reporter, Maria Clara Pestre is now an editor for the Portuguese language team in Brazil. Before joining the verification team in 2019, she worked at Reuters’ Portuguese-speaking service and Globo.com’s technology website.
Ana Prieto, Editor, Argentina
Ana Prieto is an editor for the Spanish language team based in Buenos Aires. She was previously AFP's digital investigation reporter in Argentina, worked as a fact-checker at Radio Ambulante and contributed to several media outlets in the region, including Revista Ñ, Orsai, Univision and El Nuevo Herald.
Cecília Sorgine, Editor, Brazil
After several years as a digital investigation reporter, Cecília Sorgine now works as an editor for the Portuguese language team in Brazil. Before joining the verification team, she worked for AFP's Portuguese text and multimedia services.
Magdalena Advis, Reporter, Chile
Magdalena Advis is a 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.
Sofía Barragán, Reporter, Argentina
Sofía Barragán is a digital investigation journalist in Buenos Aires. Before joining AFP in July 2023, she worked as a SEO writer in Ámbito Financiero.
Adrià Laborda, Reporter, Spain
Adrià Laborda is a digital investigation reporter working in Spanish and Catalan, based in Barcelona. Before joining AFP in February 2021, he worked as a reporter at the regional public broadcaster in Catalonia and as an editor for local media in Barcelona.
Martín Rachinsky, Reporter, Argentina
Martín Rachinsky is a digital investigation journalist based in Buenos Aires. He has reporting experience with online news media and worked as radio producer for several radio stations in Argentina.
Natalia Sanguino, Reporter, Spain
Natalia Sanguino is a digital investigation journalist based in Madrid. She has been working for AFP for more than 15 years, during which she was also an editor for the Spanish multimedia service, editing text, graphics and videos.
Manuela Silva, Reporter, Uruguay
Manuela Silva is a digital investigation journalist and a writing professor at the University of Montevideo. Before joining AFP in 2021, she worked at a regional agency and a national fact-checking project.
Ernesto Tovar, Reporter, Peru
Ernesto Tovar is a digital investigation journalist for the Spanish service. He worked for AFP between 2014-2016 in Venezuela, and then returned to AFP in 2020 in Lima as a freelance journalist, becoming a full-time fact-checker in 2023. He has worked for almost two decades for news outlets like Dow Jones, Univision, El Universal or El Economista, covering topics such as economy, politics, sports or international news.
Tomás Viola, Reporter, Argentina
Tomás Viola is a digital investigation journalist based in Buenos Aires. Before joining AFP in January 2023, he worked for several years as a consultant and writer in the field of art and culture before deciding to specialize in journalism.
Middle East
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, the journalists working on the Middle East team will not be named to protect their safety.
North America
Arthur MacMillan, Head of Digital Investigations for North America, USA
Arthur MacMillan leads the U.S. digital investigation team. He originally joined AFP as an editor in Hong Kong in 2007. As a correspondent, he has reported from numerous countries, including Iran, South Africa, Iraq and Pakistan, as well as the United States.
Marisha Goldhamer, Deputy Head of Digital Investigations for North America, USA
Marisha Goldhamer oversees output from Canada and coordinates journalists in Montreal and Washington D.C. Marisha joined AFP in 2003, working on the multimedia desk and the agency's social media presence.
Juan Ignacio Berro, Editor, Mexico
Juan Ignacio Berro is an editor focused on mis/disinformation circulating in the United States in Spanish. He joined AFP in 2021 as a digital investigation reporter in Uruguay where he previously worked as a journalist at El Observador, one of the country's biggest newspapers.
Daniel Funke, Editor, USA
Daniel Funke joined AFP as a digital investigation editor in 2022 after working as a reporter and editor at USA Today, PolitiFact, the International Fact-Checking Network and the Poynter Institute for Media Studies. Daniel has expertise in online mis/disinformation, verification, politics and technology.
Rob Lever, Editor, USA
Rob Lever joined the US digital investigation team in 2021 after working a variety of posts in AFP's Washington D.C. bureau. He joined AFP in 1992 and has worked as an economics reporter, Americas desk news editor, and the technology-media reporter-editor.
Nahiara S. Alonso, Reporter, USA
Nahiara S. Alonso debunks mis/disinformation circulating in the United States in Spanish. She joined AFP in 2022 after working as a financial reporter in Spain at El Pais and Newtral.
Valentín Díaz, Reporter, Mexico
Valentín Díaz debunks mis/disinformation circulating in the United States in Spanish. He joined AFP in 2022 after working as a digital coordinator for El Comercio in Ecuador.
Manon Jacob, Reporter, USA
Manon Jacob covers mis/disinformation, including debunking myths about climate change. She joined AFP in 2018 as part of the agency's journalism fellowship programme. She previously worked for Reuters and Politico Europe.
Bill McCarthy, 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.
Natalie Wade, Reporter, USA
Natalie Wade joined AFP as a member of the NABJ fact-check fellowship in 2021 and debunks mis/disinformation on a wide variety of topics in the United States.