FACT CHECK Post about Moscow Cathedral Church in Bangsamoro FB group is false news

A post circulating in a Bangsamoro Facebook group that Russian President Vladimir Putin has converted Moscow’s Cathedral Church into a masjid (mosque) and handed it over to Russia’s Grand Mufti is false.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/860064264349127/permalink/1548924265463120

The social media card was posted on Sunday, January 9, at the Facebook page of Bantay BARMM and has generated comments like MashaAllah, meaning “what Allah has willed.” The Facebook group has at least 51,600 members. BARMM stands for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, which was established in 2019.

In a video shared by the Times of Islamabad, the Russian President Vladimir Putin is converting the Moscow’s Cathedral Church into Masjid and later handed over to the Grand Mufti of Russia in the inauguration ceremony of Moscow Cathedral Mosque, the post stated.

There was no Moscow Cathedral Church but only a Moscow Cathedral Mosque in Russia.

Putin did not convert but actually inaugurated the then newly-completed elaborate Moscow Cathedral Mosque, also known as the Moscow Central Mosque, on September 23, 2015, along with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/24/world/europe/putin-opens-moscows-most-elaborate-mosque.html

The new grand structure, which took a decade to build, can accommodate 10,000 people on three stories and replaces a much smaller building erected in 1904. The previous two-story mosque, with a squat dome and two short minarets, held only 1,000 people, The New York Times reported back in 2015.

It is located at Olimpiysky Avenue, close to the Olympic Stadium in the center of the city.

The Anadolu Agency, Turkey’s state-owned news agency, described the Moscow Cathedral Mosque as Europe’s largest mosque. https://www.aa.com.tr/en/pg/photo-gallery/moscow-central-mosque-opened-on-eve-of-eid/4/158105 (Bong S. Sarmiento / MindaNews)

(This fact-check piece was produced with the support of Internews’ Philippine Fact-Checker Incubator Project.)

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About MindaNews Fact Check
MindaNews Fact Check seeks to fight misinformation and disinformation circulating on the internet, news platforms and communities that we serve.
What is MindaNews Fact Check?
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As a news media organization, we strictly adhere to accuracy, fairness, balance, independence, accountability and transparency not just in our fact-checking initiative but in all other aspects of our work at MindaNews. We fact-check a claim that is specifically claimed to be a fact and involved the public interest or the welfare of the people. We debunk false claims using official government records, journals or interviews with experts. We don’t fact check opinions.
How Do We Fact Check?
Correction Policy
Consistent with our trust for factual reporting, we will rectify any error that we have committed. If you spot a factual error, you may notify the MindaNews Editors.
Correction Process
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About MindaNews
Mindanao Institute of Journalism​
MindaNews is the news service arm of the Mindanao Institute of Journalism (MinJourn). MindaNews was founded in 2001 by independent, professional Mindanawon journalists who left the country’s most widely-circulated Manila-based broadsheet to tell the stories of Mindanao from the lenses of Mindanawons.

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MindaNews is the news service arm of the Mindanao Institute of Journalism. It is composed of independent, professional journalists who believe and practice people empowerment through media.

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About MindaNews Fact Check

MindaNews Fact Check seeks to fight misinformation and disinformation circulating on the internet, news platforms and communities that we serve. 


What is MindaNews Fact Check?


MindaNews Fact Check tracks and debunks fake news, false claims and misleading statements of government officials, civil society leaders and netizens being spread on the internet, especially on social media sites. MindaNews values truth and accuracy in performing our journalistic work.


Why we fact-check?


Politicians, government officials and other public and private figures at times tend to bend facts to suit or advance their vested interests, or their principals, in effect misleading the public. The distorted facts spread easily with the popularity of the internet and the wide influence of social media.


As independent journalists, our primordial duty is to tell the truth and present facts to help the public discern issues and concerns impacting their lives.


How do we rate claims?


FAKE -  if the claim is completely invented.


FALSE - if the claim contradicts, undermines or disputes truthful facts, actual events and official records (i.e. laws and scientific studies)


MISLEADING – if the claim is based on truth but maliciously twisted that gives a different impression to serve a group or individual’s vested interests.


ALTERED – pertains to images or videos that were manipulated to mislead the public.


MISSING CONTEXT – if the claim needs more clarification or contextualization to make it clearer.

Where do you post your results?


We post our fact-checked stories in www.mindanews.com, on Facebook and Twitter with links to the original piece. We have a dedicated fact check page, where all fact-checked stories can be found. 


How did MindaNews Fact Check start?


Since its establishment in 2001, MindaNews has been living up to its vision of being the “leading provider of accurate, timely and comprehensive news and information on Mindanao and its peoples, serving economically, politically and culturally empowered communities” and its mission to “professionally and responsibly cover Mindanao events, peoples and issues to inform, educate, inspire and influence communities.”


MindaNews was founded by reporters precisely to ensure that reports about Mindanao, an island grouping that has suffered misinformation and disinformation long before these words became fashionable, are accurate. 


Our policy has always been to ensure that reports are thoroughly vetted before they are dispatched and uploaded on our website. 


Our fact-checking initiative with a uniform format started in October 2021 as part of Internews’ pioneering Philippine Fact-Checker Incubator (PFCI) project. Internews is an international non-profit that supports independent media from 100 countries. 


Prior to the PFCI project, MindaNews co-founded Tsek.ph, a collaboration among Philippine media institutions to fight disinformation and misinformation during the 2019. Tsek.ph did the same thing for the 2022 elections. 


Where do you get funds?


MindaNews has sustained its operation through proceeds from subscriptions of its news service  (news, special reports, opinion pieces, photos) and sales of books. It also receives grants from non-state actors.  Editorial prerogative, however, is left entirely to MindaNews. 


MindaNews does not accept funds from politicians or domestic or foreign states for its fact-checking initiative. For the other operations of MindaNews as a media organization in the past two years, we have received grants from the National Endowment for Democracy and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, which we use for coverage, staff compensation, administrative expenses and to train other journalists.


MindaNews Fact Check is supported by a grant from Internews.


Do you accept leads from the public for your fact-checking initiative?


MindaNews encourages the public to provide us with leads not only for potential fact-check pieces but other news stories as well of interest to the general public.



Our fact checks include this paragraph encouraging readers to be part of the process: “As with all our other reports, MindaNews welcomes leads or suggestions from the public to potential fact check pieces.”


MindaNews Fact Check - Methodology

What standards do you follow when fact-checking?


As a news organization, we strictly adhere to accuracy, fairness, balance, independence, accountability and transparency not just in our fact-checking initiative but in all other aspects of our work at MindaNews.


We abide by the Philippine Press Institute’s Journalist’s Code of Ethics. Since we became part of Internews’ Philippine Fact-Checker Incubator project, we have been striving to adhere with the IFCN Code of Principles, in step with our organization’s commitment to non-partisanship, transparency and fairness.


We fact-check a claim that is specifically claimed to be a fact and involved the public interest or the welfare of the people. We debunk false claims using official government records, journals or interviews with experts. 


We don’t fact-check opinions.

How do we fact-check?

Step 1: Team members monitor press conferences, speeches, statements, news, interviews, social media sites, etc. for statements worth fact-checking.


Step 2: When a claim is worth fact-checking, a team member looks for multiple sources to dispute the claim, including tracing the original source document.


Step 3:  Fact-checked claims are then submitted to the editor for copy editing and vetting. The link/s to debunk the claim are always included in the story.  


Step 4: A rating card is prepared to accompany the fact-checked piece, or infographics if needed, to immediately flag readers what the article is all about. 


Step 5: The senior editor takes another look before the article is posted on the website and social media accounts.

Correction Policy

Consistent with our vision and mission as a media institution, we rectify any error committed. If you spot a factual error, you may notify us thru editor@mindanews.com or our Facebook Messenger @Mindanews.


Correction Workflow


  • Errors pointed out are immediately brought to the attention of the editors and the fact-checking team. 


  • The fact-checker is immediately notified for verification. 


  • Once verified, the error is to be corrected within 24 hours and vetted before publication on the website. 


  • Readers will immediately know errors have been corrected through the Editor’s note posted above the article. 


  • The person who notified MindaNews about the error will be informed that the correction has been made.

Submit a Correction

About MindaNews

MindaNews is the news service arm of the Mindanao Institute of Journalism (MinJourn). It is composed of independent, professional journalists who believe and practice people empowerment through media. MinJourn, which is duly registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission with registration number CN201700385, is managed by its Board of Directors. 


MindaNews values its journalistic independence. It started in May 2001 as a media cooperative and in January 2017 registered as a nonstock, nonprofit media organization.  We do not  accept funding from politicians, political parties or partisan groups.


Editorial staff


Editor-in-Chief: Carolyn O. Arguillas
Editors: Robert D. Timonera, Bong S. Sarmiento, H. Marcos C. Mordeno
Reporters/Photojournalists: Froilan Gallardo, Antonio L. Colina IV, Ferdinandh B. Cabrera, Roel Catoto, Manman Dejeto, Allen Estabillo, Frencie Carreon, Richel V. Umel, Chris Panganiban
Social Media Manager: Yas D. Ocampo

Fact-checking Unit: Romer (Bong) Sarmiento, Yas D. Ocampo



Mindanao Institute of Journalism Board of Directors

President: Rhodora Gail T. Ilagan, PhD
Vice President: Romer (Bong) Sarmiento

Members:
Carolyn O. Arguillas
Jose Jowel Canuday, PhD
Robert D. Timonera

Chief Executive Officer: Jose Jowel Canuday, PhD
Board Secretary: Ellen Alinea
Board Treasurer: Amalia B. Cabusao