FACTA is an Italian non-profit media applying the scientific method to investigative and data journalism.
Mission
Our mission is to promote democracy through science-based investigative journalism. We focus on the Southern European and Mediterranean region, where there are enormous environmental, social and political problems: media tend to be controlled by politics, with a lack of transparency, poor digital innovation and very scarce funding for independent investigative work. For this reason, we strongly believe that rigorous, transparent and open science journalism can help better inform the public debate and build scientific citizenship.
Team
We are a passionate group of journalists strongly believing that good science journalism can be a powerful tool for democracy. We have a strong expertise in science and data journalism, multimedia production, data analysis and visualizations.
Elisabetta Tola
Freelance chief editor at Il BO Live and presenter of Radio3Scienza at RAI Radio3. Science and data journalist, Ph.D in Microbiology. Tow-Knight fellow 2019 Graduate School of Journalism, CUNY. Co-founder and CEO of the science communication agency formicablu. Co-founder and President of FACTA.
Giulia Bonelli
Freelance science journalist and video editor. Mainly covers climate, environment, astronomy, and space exploration. Regular contributor to the magazine Global Science edited by the Italian Space Agency. Senior consultant at the science communication agency formicablu. Co-founder and board member of FACTA.
Francesca Conti
Marco Boscolo
Nicola Nosego
Freelance science journalist. Partner of the science communication agency formicablu. Editor of Nature Regional Editions. Contributor to various international and national newspapers and communicator for national research bodies, such as Italian Space Agency, and international ones, such as EPFL in Lausanne. Author of four popular science books and several television programs for RAI. Co-founder and partner of FACTA.
Benedetta Pagni
Advisory Board
Jeff Jarvis
Aron Pilhofer
Carola Frediani
History
FACTA was created as a cultural association in 2018. Until the end of 2023, it was incubated as a spin-off of the Italian science communication agency formicablu. Then, FACTA was developed as an autonomous independent media, legally registered as a non profit social enterprise in May 2023. FACTA is a member of the Reference Media Circle, a self-organised, European network of 26 independent media collectively advocating for the wellbeing and financial sustainability of independent, public interest media.
Sustainability
We aim to become fully sustainable by the end of 2025. In the short term, sustainability is mainly granted through grants and donations. Sources of revenues come from a mix of:
- Foundations and international reporting projects and grants
- Syndication with media, editorial companies and other civic organizations
- Training activities