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Correctiv (self-styled CORRECT!V) is a German nonprofitinvestigative journalism newsroom based in Essen and Berlin. It is run by CORRECTIV – Recherchen für die Gesellschaft gemeinnützige GmbH ("CORRECTIV – Investigations for the Society (Charitable Limited)"), which also runs the online journalism academy Reporterfabrik.
Its stated goals are to provide free, independent journalism accessible to everyone. Furthermore, the collective aims to counter disinformation to strengthen democratic structures.
Correctiv counts more than 70 employees and associates and states to be the first nonprofit investigative center in Germany due to being exclusively financed by donations and fundings since 2014. The collective describes itself as an organization that is "one of the many answers to the media crisis." Correctiv publishes reports in multiple languages beside German including Arabic, English, French, Russian and Turkish, via its website and partner outlets.
History
Correctiv was initiated in January 2014 by the charitable organization "Correctiv – Recherchen für die Gesellschaft" ("Correctiv – Research for Society") based in Essen with an initial financial support by the Brost Foundation with a grant of €1 million per year for three years.
In 2017 Reporterfabrik, an independent journalism school was founded partly by people from the Correctiv collective. Correctiv continues to host and closely work with Reporterfabrik.
Correctiv.Lokal, a network for joint research by local journalists, bloggers and experts, was launched in August 2018 together with the Rudolf Augstein Foundation.
In May 2020, the Salon5 youth editorial team was founded with the support of the Ruhr Conference of the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia and the RAG Foundation.
In January 2024, Correctiv published a report on a gathering of far-right extremists in Potsdam, a meeting held at the Villa Adlon on Lake Lehnitz on November 25, 2023. Both the revelations in the report and the connections between the far-right AfD party and other right-wing extremists sparked a widespread wave of outrage and condemnation among numerous representatives from the worlds of politics, business, and culture. The report on the meeting sparked massive protests against right-wing extremism across Germany, in which approximately one million people nationwide participated over the weekend of January 20–21, 2024.
In 2025, Correctiv was designated as an undesirable organization in Russia. This will result in the media outlet's activities being banned in Russia and cooperation between Russian citizens and the outlet being criminalized.
Correctiv is a nonprofit organization and exempt from taxation under German law. The funding comes largely from establishment foundations and corporations, such as the Open Society Foundations, Google Germany GmbH, and German Telekom, as well as membership fees and donations from the users and readers. All donations of more than €1000 are listed on the website. Despite depending on establishment foundations and corporations for most of its funding, Correctiv claims to be "nonprofit, independent and investigative".
Press research in 2026 showed that the activists continued to receive government funding from the Federal Ministry for Education, Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth through the "Demokratie leben!" program. In 2025/2026 €280,991 were allocated by the Ministry for a Corretiv-run "anti desinformation" project aimed at children.
Board of directors
David Schraven is the publisher and Jeannette Gusko the executive director.
Editorial stance
Correctiv wants "to make investigative and informative journalism affordable and accessible to media organizations throughout Germany."
Reports/Publications
Correctiv reported amongst other things on
"The System of Putin" (Dirty Money and State Collapse)
"TTIP - The Deal" (Investigative, Analytic, Interactive: All about the Free Trade)
Correctiv described the Flight MH17 as one of the greatest war crimes of modern times. Over several months it gathered facts, investigated in eastern Ukraine and Russia, and found witnesses to the missile launch, unveiled a clear chain of evidence that MH17 was downed by a BUK missile ground-launched by a unit of the Russian 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade from Kursk. The brigade unit operated in mid July on Ukrainian territory without displaying national emblems.
Correctivs handling of the question whether German authorities failed to warn airlines, which included projecting personal accusations against Frank-Walter Steinmeier on the building of the German Foreign Ministry and threatening him with a related personal lawsuit drew public scrutiny and raised questions whether Correctiv was engaging in journalism or campaigning.
In January 2024, Correctiv published a report titled "Secret Plan Against Germany" (German: "Geheimplan gegen Deutschland") that described a meeting between AfD and CDU members and far-right elements to plan a program of forced "re-migration" of immigrants and others considered undesirable. The report led to mass demonstrations in Germany against AfD.
The Hamburg Regional Court issued an injunction at the request of Ulrich Vosgerau against a passage in the report, concerning an alleged statement by Vosgerau regarding election challenge complaints. Correctiv had misquoted Vosgerau by claiming that he considered mass complaints to be promising. The court ruled that Correctiv could not prove the accuracy of the quote and sided with Vosgerau. The application was rejected with regard to two other statements. Vosgerau then filed with the Berlin II Regional Court, who ruled that these statements were untrue factual assertions or, at the very least, "arbitrarily fabricated" expressions of opinion.
In March 2026, the Berlin II Regional Court upheld a lawsuit filed by AfD politician Gerrit Huy and prohibited Correctiv from publishing statements about the Potsdam meeting. Among these was the statement that the meeting concerned a "master plan for the expulsion of German citizens." The Berlin II Regional Court classified this statement as an untrue statement of fact, since the meeting in Potsdam did not concern "expulsions."
However, earlier court verdicts contradict the March 2026 ruling. For instance, the Hamburg Regional Court classified the statement as an expression of opinion in December 2025. If the statements are classified as expressions of opinion, there are broader protections for Correctiv's publications.
Correctiv appealed the ruling, pointing to the role of nationalist euphemisms within the New Right and arguing that it is the task of journalistic analysis to decipher and contextualize these euphemisms. The Berlin Press Chamber failed to recognize the significance of these euphemisms.
Legal dispute with Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg
In August of 2026 a Berlin court provisionally ruled that Correctiv must not use distorted and shortened quotes to imply that former Defense Ministerzu Guttenberg supported a punctual cooperation between conservatives and right-wing populists. Correctiv previously had to correct the article multiple times, amend a reply by zu Guttenberg and accepted 8 cease-and-desist letters.
2016: LeadAward in category Independent of the year
2016: Axel Springer Preis in category "Investigation" for undercover feature "animal thieves"
2016: Award "Innovation of the year" by Wirtschaftsjournalist magazine for developing the software CrowdNewsroom and the analysis of mutual banks "Sparkassen-Check"
2017: ERM-Media Award for sustainable development. Award for Fabian Löhe and Annika Joeres for Correctiv
2018: Franco-German Journalism Award for the project "searise" by Annika Joeres and Simon Jockers for Correctiv
2018: Journalist award by Apothekerstiftung Westfalen Lippe for reporting on "Alte Apotheke"
2018: Otto-Brenner-Preis for journalism for the works "Er kommt am Abend" and "Vergewaltigt auf Europas Feldern" by Pascale Müller (Correctiv) and Stefania Prandi (BuzzFeed)
2018: Umweltmedienpreis by Deutsche Umwelthilfe for the project "Irrsinn der Agrarpolitik" by Justus von Daniels, Stefan Wehrmeyer and Annika Joeres for Correctiv
2019: Nannen Prize[de] in feature for article "Vergewaltigt auf Europas Feldern" by Pascale Müller (Correctiv) and Stefania Prandi (BuzzFeed)
2020: Deutsch-Französischer Journalistenpreis in the category „Multimedia“ for their reporting on tax evasion
2023: Reporter:innen-Preis 2023 in the category of „Data Journalism“ for an investigation about the state of women's shelters
2023: Deutscher Verlagspreis
2023: Grimme Online Award in the category of „Recherche“ for their research on access to abortion in Germany
