Table of Contents
WHAT IS OUR PURPOSE?
We are here to build trustworthy, credible health information. We also aim to prevent people from falling prey to fake news, misinformation, disinformation or myths about health – on internet or otherwise.
WHAT DO WE PUBLISH?
We publish 3 types of content as below:
- Fact Check of fake medical news, opinion, claims etc. across all medical beliefs and practices
- Answers to various health related question – in text and in video
- Expert Advice on various physical and mental health issues including diet, mental health, healthy habits etc.
WHAT WE DO NOT PUBLISH?
We do not publish any content which is not related to health OR does not have a potential to hurt the health of an individual or community
We do not publish any advocacy in favour of any expert, brand, medical procedure, medical practice or medical beliefs.
We do not publish NEWS of any kind, including health (including launch of products, services etc.)
We do not publish any Sponsored Content. Read our Advertising Policy Here.
HOW DO WE FACT CHECK? OUR FACT CHECKING METHODOLOGY
Fact Checking exercise for a particular content in THIP.Media is done through involvement of 2 different teams – an internal editorial team that excels in primary and secondary research AND an external supporting team of certified health professionals that add their analysis and thereby an additional layer of expertise on top of the content.
Since health is a matter of grave importance for many, we do not risk analyzing a content only on the basis of tools but depend on expert doctor opinion and credible research papers and sources while fact checking a content.
In case of a difference of opinion between two doctors or two research materials, we publish both point of view with due credit to the source.
Also, keeping in mind that health situations, is a matter of interpretation based on medical beliefs, practices or evolving knowledge, we try to bring in views from experts from multiple practices, wherever possible, and refer to as many relevant medical research as possible.
Fact Check Process
How Do we select a story for Fact Check?
THIP works on breaking medical misinformation occurring due to the following reasons:
a) Misinformation due to lack of medical help and age old cultural superstition
b) Misinformation due to rumors spreads through social media and other mediums using internet (Facebook pages and messaging apps like WhatsApp)
c) Misinformation due to lack of updated knowledge or enough knowledge about different medical practices or beliefs
THIP’s Internal Editorial Team tracks mainstream and social media for possibly dubious information, propaganda and suspiciously viral posts.
THIP Medical Review Team constantly communicates with patients across multiple geographies and identifies superstitions plaguing the rural, underprivileged sections of the society. They, in turn, pass on these knowledge to the internal editorial team who take it up for fact check.
Since medical misinformation has a potential to exist in the underbelly of the society and yet not be viral, we also invite our readers to raise their doubts to us. For the same we maintain a exclusive, easy to remember, special mobile number as our WhatsApp channel where users can forward their questions, doubt or dubious messages. The number is +91-85078-85079
We DO NOT select any content for fact check that falls outside the purview of health.
How do we do our research and investigation?
There are different methodologies adopted for different stories but we try to maintain a standard operating procedure for the stories we identify.
We break down suspicious content into two types –
a) News or claims of new invention, miracle, cure, Govt notifications
b) Opinion related to diet, medicinal value of substances, procedures, conspiracy theories
Once material for a fact check is decided upon, our fact check team does a thorough secondary research on the claim or opinion.
At the onset, we try identifying the source of the generating information including location related to the news or opinion. This help us understand the bias (eg. local superstition, medical beliefs) behind the information and investigate further.
In case of a news, our Fact Check Team performs fact check by reaching out to the person or the entity and seek evidence to support the claim. We first seek the claimant’s reaction, if possible. Our Fact Check Team also reaches out to relevant officials, institutions to understand the truth of the matter. We also cross-verify findings of primary research against multiple news reports, official declarations, expert opinion, past references of similar nature etc.
For opinion pieces, we refer to any research or authentic sources published regarding the matter.
Involvement of Experts: Once the Fact Check Team verifies the source and basic authenticity of the material, it is then further passed on to be reviewed by a certified medical professional (Medical Review Team) from the relevant genres. Most materials on THIP are cross verified with comments from the members in the Medical Review Team.
If required, Fact Check Team seeks further opinion and comment on the matter from external medical professionals or people associated with medical research in the relevant domain.
Fact Checking Tools: The investigation (fact check) is done using Google Reverse Image Search, InVid, Stalkscan, Foller.me, Whois and similar other tools. We provide screenshots and hyperlinks where possible within our stories pointing to the source of information and evidence used to reach a conclusion so that readers can themselves track authenticity.
How do we write reports and reviews?
We rate our fact check findings in scale of 1 to 5 and label them as – False, Mostly False, Half True, Mostly True, True. The stamps used to denote the ratings is as below:
We try to present verified facts in a simple, precise and question-answer format. We try to maintain a similar format for all our fact check content pieces for easier readability.
We try to add a Table of Content to fact check reports, especially stories that involve longer explanations so that users can easily navigate to the answer they are looking for.
Our Fact Check Team refrain from general editorial opinion outside what the fact suggests and leave the medical opinion to medical experts in our Medical Review Team, and external medical experts.
Wherever possible, we try to put expert opinion in videos to increase credibility and reach.
Publishing, Promotion and Feedback
We take a lot of effort in promoting our content. After publication of a fact checked report, we send it across to medical professionals, fact checkers and subscribers across the world through our newsletter. We also translate the content into multiple regional languages, and in multiple content formats (eg. Image, Video). This helps a particular content piece to reach out to maximum audience.
We also closely monitor feedback from our audiences through comments on social media.
Because of the nature of the content, any correction request is sought only through email at [email protected] along with supporting research documents, if possible.
If an error is brought to our notice, we examine it thoroughly and, if necessary, effect an update or correction in accordance with our correction policy.
UPDATION POLICY
Medical Science is a constantly changing field with researches happening across multiple genres in multiple locations. Hence we accept that every piece of information is subject to change. We make active efforts to periodically review every piece of information and keep them updated. Last update date is mentioned on every article.
However, when a new research finding changes the result of an old fact check article, we DO NOT change the rating of the article keeping the time context in mind. We add an extra paragraph below the article, wherever possible, to update readers about the new findings.
CORRECTION POLICY
While we make all the efforts to keep our content relevant and up to date, we value feedback and encourage readers to send request for corrections.
Because of the nature of the content, any correction request is sought only through email at [email protected] along with supporting research documents, if possible.
In case we receive any complaint regarding the inaccuracy of our content, we immediately put it on hold and determine the facts. Once the facts have been examined, we take a considered decision and appropriately respond to the feedback. Depending on the authenticity and magnitude of the mistake/error, we remove/edit the published information or duly inform the reader in case the original content does not qualify as a mistake and our bases for arriving at such a decision.
However, in most situations, we do not delete a content. We use STRIKE THROUGH to apprise the readers of the changes.
Depending on the critical nature of the correction request, we take 3 to 7 days to correct the mistake, if any. We also put the updated date in the content page whenever we post an update. Post that we appropriately respond to the feedback.
Corrections in typographical errors, misspellings, grammatical errors or minor changes which are not considered significant by editors are not usually noted.
NON PARTISANSHIP POLICY AND NO INFLUENCE POLICY
We are determined not to let any individual or business objective overdo our editorial mission of providing credible health content. Hence, it is important for us to ensure that our team and content is free from any bias.
Non Partisan Individuals
THIP.Media is the only venture of THIP Healthtech Pvt Ltd. We are funded privately by our directors, none of whom have any political affiliation. None of our Internal Editorial members are affiliated to any political party or any health/medical organization.
However, we recognize individual THIP employees may have political opinion of their own. While we prohibit them from official affiliation to any political party or health organization, we do not hold them back from discussing or expressing their support or beliefs in public forums including social media, so long as they do not use their THIP affiliation. Editorial employees are strictly discouraged to use their work at THIP to represent or counsel candidates or officials at public events or in the media.
We do not track political or medical affiliation of our external expert review team. Being volunteer participants to THIP’s mission, we have limited say or control on the political activities of such members. However, their comments are strictly monitored by the members of the Internal Editorial Team.
Uninfluenced Content
THIP Media answers ONLY health/medical queries and fact checks news and claims related to health. We do not deal with content political in nature. Wherever, the claimant is a political party or person with political affiliation, we fact check the merit of the content and support it with relevant research, expert quotes etc.
Any content, answer and fact check is done by fact checking experts and certified medical professionals. And each piece of content goes through the review desk of more than one person to remove bias, if any.
No content on THIP advocates any company, person, treatment methodology or medicine brand. We stand by our ethical stand of ‘No Influences Policy’ which ensures that no content is influenced by any external bias. To avoid ANY bias creeping in, we keep our site free from Advertisements of any sort (banners, content etc.)
THIP. Media do not publish any NEWS or individual OPINION articles since these can also be aligned to a particular party or organization.
