WebQoof
Who We Are
BUREAU HEADS
From reporting on ground to using technology for verifying facts, we at The Quint, try to incorporate more than
one source of information to fact-check a claim. We also rely heavily on data available on public domain to
conduct fact-checks. We also apply this principle for reporting in general, and try to verify facts even in our
opinion pieces before publishing
WebQoof has established itself as one of the leading disinformation buster in the industry. Launched in May 2017, it has built a dedicated audience who not only read our stories, but also, and most importantly, bring to our attention disinformation for us to expose.
Now, during election season, and as propaganda and hate-driven disinformation campaigns escalate, WebQoof has been on the forefront busting those and bringing the truth out in the open. The segment utilises multimedia - text, audio, video - to be more effective and in order to stand out from the rest.
The Quint has published a corrections policy and follows it diligently in accordance with the IFCN Code. Should you feel that The Quint has violated the IFCN Code, you may inform the IFCN using their complaints from here.
OUR FOUNDING TEAM
WebQoof has established itself as one of the leading disinformation buster in the industry. Launched in May 2017, it has built a dedicated audience who not only read our stories, but also, and most importantly, bring to our attention disinformation for us to expose.
Now, during election season, and as propaganda and hate-driven disinformation campaigns escalate, WebQoof has been on the forefront busting those and bringing the truth out in the open. The segment utilises multimedia - text, audio, video - to be more effective and in order to stand out from the rest.
The Quint has published a corrections policy and follows it diligently in accordance with the IFCN Code. Should you feel that The Quint has violated the IFCN Code, you may inform the IFCN using their complaints from here.
Raghav Bahl, Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief
Raghav Bahl is a media entrepreneur and investor. In addition to founding and scaling Network18, India’s leading media group, Raghav has seeded moneycontrol.com, bookmyshow.com, firstpost.com, yatra.com, among others.
Raghav started making television news capsules while still reading Economics at St Stephen’s. After an MBA at FMS Delhi, Raghav's career followed an obvious trajectory, beginning as a Management Consultant at AF Ferguson, followed by a stint at Amex. But news was a natural home for him, and he quit the cushy comforts of international banking and went on to set up Network18, among India’s top media houses. Raghav has also managed long and successful partnerships with some of the world’s leading media brands: CNBC, Viacom, BBC, Star TV, A&E, Time Warner, & Forbes.
As the audience is increasingly shifting out of television and into digital media, Raghav is now focused on scaling an innovative, digital media business – straddling content, tech, and distribution. Raghav founded Quint Digital Media Limited in 2015.
Ritu Kapur, Co-Founder and CEO
Ritu Kapur is the co-founder and CEO of The Quint, an independent news website in India. She has driven digital innovation, from The Quint's Innovation Lab to launching a fact-checking initiative, 'WebQoof' – that crowdsources and busts fake news.
Ritu has also strived to provide multiple platforms for free speech, like The Quint's citizen journalism initiative 'My Report', 'Talking Stalking' – a campaign to change the laws to make stalking a non-bailable offence and 'Me The Change' – that focuses on the rights of young women in India.
Ritu spent over two decades in broadcast as the founder of Network18, where she won awards for a docudrama series 'Bhanwar' and for 'The Citizen Journalist' show, among others. At Network18, she led programming on History TV18 and was Features Editor at CNN IBN, before she exited the company to launch The Quint.
She is on the advisory board of Oxford University’s Reuters Institute of Journalism, the World Editor's Forum at WAN IFRA and Future News Worldwide. Ritu has been recognised by Outlook Business as 'Woman of Worth 2017 – The Newsmaker.'
OUR SENIOR EDITORIAL TEAM
Raghav Bahl is a media entrepreneur and investor. In addition to founding and scaling Network18, India’s leading media group, Raghav has seeded moneycontrol.com, bookmyshow.com, firstpost.com, yatra.com, among others.
Raghav started making television news capsules while still reading Economics at St Stephen’s. After an MBA at FMS Delhi, Raghav's career followed an obvious trajectory, beginning as a Management Consultant at AF Ferguson, followed by a stint at Amex. But news was a natural home for him, and he quit the cushy comforts of international banking and went on to set up Network18, among India’s top media houses. Raghav has also managed long and successful partnerships with some of the world’s leading media brands: CNBC, Viacom, BBC, Star TV, A&E, Time Warner, & Forbes.
As the audience is increasingly shifting out of television and into digital media, Raghav is now focused on scaling an innovative, digital media business – straddling content, tech, and distribution. Raghav founded Quint Digital Media Limited in 2015.
Ritu Kapur, Co-Founder and CEO
Ritu Kapur is the co-founder and CEO of The Quint, an independent news website in India. She has driven digital innovation, from The Quint's Innovation Lab to launching a fact-checking initiative, 'WebQoof' – that crowdsources and busts fake news.
Ritu has also strived to provide multiple platforms for free speech, like The Quint's citizen journalism initiative 'My Report', 'Talking Stalking' – a campaign to change the laws to make stalking a non-bailable offence and 'Me The Change' – that focuses on the rights of young women in India.
Ritu spent over two decades in broadcast as the founder of Network18, where she won awards for a docudrama series 'Bhanwar' and for 'The Citizen Journalist' show, among others. At Network18, she led programming on History TV18 and was Features Editor at CNN IBN, before she exited the company to launch The Quint.
She is on the advisory board of Oxford University’s Reuters Institute of Journalism, the World Editor's Forum at WAN IFRA and Future News Worldwide. Ritu has been recognised by Outlook Business as 'Woman of Worth 2017 – The Newsmaker.'
We have some of the best minds in the industry, who have honed their craft for years, and today, are leading a
fearless newsroom. They work with reporters, news desk writers, fact-checkers, and video producers to ensure we
fulfil our commitment of fearless and transparent journalism.
Sanjay Pugalia, President and Editorial Director
WEBQOOF TEAM
Kritika Goel, Associate Editor
Sanjay Pugalia, President and Editorial Director
Sanjay is Editorial Director with The Quint and Quint Hindi. He has spent more than three decades in print,
television, and digital journalism.
Rohit Khanna, Managing Editor
Rohit has worked for 30 years as producer & editor in electronic & digital media, and as director & writer in
fiction. He is a two-time Ramnath Goenka Award winner.
Shelly Walia, Executive Editor
A journalist for over 10 years in print and digital media, Shelly is a news buff with a soft corner for the
written word and podcasts.
Nishtha Gautam, Editor, OpEd
Nishtha is a former academic who conceptualises and executes the daily plan of hosting expert commentary on The
Quint.
Poonam Agarwal, Editor Investigation
Poonam is an award-winning investigative journalist with over 15 years of experience.
Aditya Menon, Associate Editor
Aditya is a political journalist with over 10 years of experience. His areas of focus include elections,
communalism, and regional politics.
Riniki Sanyal, Associate Editor
Riniki is a journalist with more than eight years of experience. She steers stories on Education and
International Affairs as Associate Editor at The Quint.
Eshwar Gole, Associate Editor
Eshwar is a journalist with over four years of experience in television and digital media. He works as Associate
Editor for The Quint.
Monica Sarup, Senior Editor, Research
Monica has over 20 years of experience across media. She works as Senior Editor for The Quint.
Vaishali Sood, Editor – Health
Vaishali is an award-winning journalist with 20 years of experience across media. She works as Health Editor for
The Quint and as Editor for Quint’s health vertical FIT fit.thequint.com
Vakasha Sachdev, Associate Editor, Legal
Vakasha is a dual-qualified lawyer, who has practiced at law firms in London and Bangalore. He handles legal
reportage, analysis, and review at The Quint.
Namita Handa Jolly, Editor, My Report
Namita is a journalist with more than 12 years of experience across print and digital media. She is Editor of
The Quint’s citizen journalism platform, 'My Report' – A community that actively participates and generates
local, user-generated news content.
Medha Chakrabartty, Associate Editor, Audience Engagement
Medha is Social Media Head at The Quint. She handles the Audience Engagement team and supervises all things
social – from content to strategy to analysis.
Kritika Goel works as a multimedia journalist at The Quint and relies on multimedia elements to narrate stories.
She has a deep rooted interest in politics and development issues.
Email: kritika.goel@thequint.com
Divya Chandra, Deskwriter
Email: kritika.goel@thequint.com
Divya Chandra is a multimedia journalist at The Quint. She has a keen interest in education related stories. She
enjoys debunking viral videos, images and text and likes to go beyond the obvious.
Email: divya.chandra@thequint.com
Himanshi Dahiya, Deskwriter
Email: divya.chandra@thequint.com
Himanshi Dahiya is multimedia journalist with keen interest in understanding political, social and cultural
dynamics of the society. A photographer on the run, she manages to capture a story or two when not in the
newsroom.
Email: himanshi.dahiya@thequint.com
Sonal Gupta, Consultant
Email: himanshi.dahiya@thequint.com
A student of literature and mass communication, Sonal Gupta seeks to turn the thoughts inside her head into
coherent words. Running on caffeine and memes, her favourite part of fact-checking is uncovering local stories.
Email: sonal.gupta@thequint.com
Abhilash Mallick, Consultant
Email: sonal.gupta@thequint.com
Abhilash works as multimedia journalist and fact-checker. He is currently pursuing a year-long fellowship with
Facebook, that focuses on tackling health misinformation around COVID-19.
Email: abhilash.mallick@thequint.com
Email: abhilash.mallick@thequint.com
Though headquartered in New Delhi, The Quint has bureaus across the country – in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, and
Chennai. This enables us to identify local stories and allows us to do ground fact-checks, that originate from
remote corners of the country.
Suresh Mathew – Bureau Chief Mumbai
Arun Dev – Bureau Chief, Bengaluru
Ishadrita Lahiri – Senior Correspondent, Kolkata
Smitha TK – Senior Correspondent, Chennai
We have a team of entertainment reporters and desk writers in Mumbai, who work in tandem with the 'WebQoof' team, to make sure what reaches you, is just verified news.
OUR REPORTERS
Suresh Mathew – Bureau Chief Mumbai
Arun Dev – Bureau Chief, Bengaluru
Ishadrita Lahiri – Senior Correspondent, Kolkata
Smitha TK – Senior Correspondent, Chennai
We have a team of entertainment reporters and desk writers in Mumbai, who work in tandem with the 'WebQoof' team, to make sure what reaches you, is just verified news.
We have a team of nine reporters who specialise in investigative and multimedia ground reporting – fact-checking
from the ground is an important aspect of their work. Their beats range from caste, communalism, gender to
education, cyber policy, the law, and civic issues. Among them Aishwarya Iyer, Asmita Nandy, Sushovan Sarkar,
Anthony Rozario, Shadab Moizee, Kaushiky Kashyap, Ankita Sinha, Vaibhav Palnitkar and Mythreyee Ramesh. The 'My
Report' team, which focuses on citizen journalism, has two reporters.
Our health team has three reporters, led by a senior editor. This team also has a major focus on fact-checking and
busting myths being circulated on health issues, treatments, and cures.
OUR NEWS DESK
Small but an efficient team of four copyeditors and six desk reporters. These news mavericks churn out news
stories, 24x7.
OUR SOCIAL MEDIA TEAM
Has six members who works across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp, Snapchat, and Telegram as audience
engagement specialists. They work round the clock, along with the 'WebQoof' team, to identify fake news online.
By the way, if your family WhatsApp group is buzzing with those fake forwards, you can send it our 'WebQoof' team at 9643651818 and we will send back fact-checked, credible content.
VIDEO TEAM
Our super cool team of video editors focuses on content ranging from explainers, stand-ups, news videos, debunking videos, and a lot more.
Tridip Kanti Mandal – Sr Creative Director
Divya Talwar – Sr Creative Director
Padmini Vaidyanathan – Sr Creative Director
Our Video team comprises 12 VT editors, three camerapersons and four producers.
Our graphics team has six fabulous illustrators
PODCAST TEAM
Fabeha Syed – Multimedia Producer
Shorbori Purkhayastha – Sr Producer Podcast
METHODOLOGY
By the way, if your family WhatsApp group is buzzing with those fake forwards, you can send it our 'WebQoof' team at 9643651818 and we will send back fact-checked, credible content.
Our super cool team of video editors focuses on content ranging from explainers, stand-ups, news videos, debunking videos, and a lot more.
Tridip Kanti Mandal – Sr Creative Director
Divya Talwar – Sr Creative Director
Padmini Vaidyanathan – Sr Creative Director
Our Video team comprises 12 VT editors, three camerapersons and four producers.
Our graphics team has six fabulous illustrators
Fabeha Syed – Multimedia Producer
Shorbori Purkhayastha – Sr Producer Podcast
The process of fact-checking ranges from ground reporting, to calling various stakeholders and authorities to
verify facts, reverse searches and analysing various parts of a message for a detailed response.
We have sent our reporters on the ground many times to verify news stories and thus preventing misinformation from spreading. One of the examples was at the time of the Kathua rape case. Our reporter traveled to Kathua, J&K to verify bring out the facts. We also rely on personal interaction with concerned parties to verify messages pertaining to them. For instance: Various messages about government schemes – when the details are not available on government websites – we write/call the Ministry for clarification.
Since the messages that we receive range from text messages to videos, the way we handle it differs.
For photographs:
We have sent our reporters on the ground many times to verify news stories and thus preventing misinformation from spreading. One of the examples was at the time of the Kathua rape case. Our reporter traveled to Kathua, J&K to verify bring out the facts. We also rely on personal interaction with concerned parties to verify messages pertaining to them. For instance: Various messages about government schemes – when the details are not available on government websites – we write/call the Ministry for clarification.
Since the messages that we receive range from text messages to videos, the way we handle it differs.
Some pictures can be identified that they have been tampered with by doing a simple google reverse search. As the
result shows similar images, they can be identified if they are fake or not. Secondly, closer look at photographs
help in analysing aspects of the picture which reveal details that help in checking the authenticity of the image.
For instance: Details in pictures like billboards, location play a role in verifying.
For videos:
Verifying videos can be tricky but both the audio and the video, play a role in verifying it. For instance: A
message was circulating on social media that claimed that a raid was conducted on a dhaba near Delhi and the
condition of the kitchen was extremely poor and unhygienic. But on watching the video we found it to be false.
What helped us verify it was: The audio. People in the video were talking in Punjabi while the video was claimed
to be of Haryana. Afterwards, using the language as a clue, we found the same video online. It was not just from a
different location but was also quite old.
For text:
For texts we take the cues and look for the information online then further analyse the source and verifying the
piece bit by bit.
There are different methodologies adopted for different stories but we maintain a policy of not just relying, blindly, on popular sources of information until we ourselves are sure about the information that we put forward for our readers.
This is the link to our 'WebQoof' section, where we stack all the stories that we debunk: https://www.thequint.com/news/webqoof
CORRECTION POLICY
There are different methodologies adopted for different stories but we maintain a policy of not just relying, blindly, on popular sources of information until we ourselves are sure about the information that we put forward for our readers.
This is the link to our 'WebQoof' section, where we stack all the stories that we debunk: https://www.thequint.com/news/webqoof
To err is after all human! Own up to any error quickly and completely. Be transparent when correcting a factual
error. Therefore, as a professional organization, while our endeavour is to work with utmost flawlessness and
accuracy, we are also mindful of the fact that mistakes need to be corrected promptly. Corrections,
clarifications, and retractions should be noted online and printed in the next available issue, in a regular,
consistent space that is easy for the reader to find in the front of the publication or, in the case of a Web
site, the home page.
Serious factual errors should be admitted and corrected at the first opportunity, subject to legal advice where appropriate. No Team Member is allowed to commit the Company to an admission of error, correction, or apology without reference to the Department Head. The Department Head along with the Company lawyers must be consulted about the wording of corrections and clarifications to determine their suitability.
It is our policy to correct significant errors as soon as possible. Any amendment should be notified at the bottom of an article. If a retraction is necessary, this should be accompanied by an explanation as to why this was felt to be necessary, subject to the approval and discretion of the Editor-in-Chief and senior editors."
You can reach us at editor@thequint.com.
CONTACT US
Serious factual errors should be admitted and corrected at the first opportunity, subject to legal advice where appropriate. No Team Member is allowed to commit the Company to an admission of error, correction, or apology without reference to the Department Head. The Department Head along with the Company lawyers must be consulted about the wording of corrections and clarifications to determine their suitability.
It is our policy to correct significant errors as soon as possible. Any amendment should be notified at the bottom of an article. If a retraction is necessary, this should be accompanied by an explanation as to why this was felt to be necessary, subject to the approval and discretion of the Editor-in-Chief and senior editors."
You can reach us at editor@thequint.com.
You can contact The Quint's fact-checkers 'Team WebQoof' at webqoof@thequint.com or through our
Facebook and Twitter pages.
