OUR TEAM
Pratyush Ranjan (Head of Fact-Checking and Digital Services) leads PTI’s fact-checking operations, which are an integral part of the company's daily editorial workflow. He is responsible for setting the vision, goals, and overall direction of PTI’s fact-checking operations. He handles the day-to-day operations, including selecting the claims for fact-checking, editing investigations, training new fact-checkers, etc.
PTI Fact Check team relies on PTI's extensive network of journalists and stringers to source, verify, and report on various topics, adhering to our established methodology. This team leverages PTI's deep journalistic expertise across all editorial desks and our ground-level presence to verify claims effectively. The fact-checking team encourages and empowers all PTI journalists to identify and verify claims with support and guidance from the fact-checking team.
Below are the details of the PTI Fact Check team:
Pratyush Ranjan has over 21 years of experience in the digital media industry. His expertise spans fact-checking, digital content management (in both Hindi and English), newsroom and editorial process management, cross-functional team leadership, writing, editing, SEO, social media optimisation, and strategising use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in content management, creation and distribution in newsrooms. He has led editorial teams in both English and Hindi and has covered significant news events in digital formats for more than two decades.
Since 2018, Pratyush has been a certified fact-checker and fact-check trainer with the Google News Initiative’s India Training Network. He has actively conducted fact-checking training sessions, educating thousands nationwide in data/news/audio/video/AI-generated/deepfake verification. He has also earned two certificates from CRDF Global for combating disinformation.
Pratyush contributed to the prestigious 6-month Journalism AI global project in 2020, a comprehensive study of AI's role in the future of journalism, organised by POLIS, the journalism think tank at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, he won a Silver Award at the South Asian Digital Media Awards in the Best Covid-19 Project category for his talk show Jagran Dialogues.
He holds a certificate in Data Journalism from the East-West Centre. He also completed the 6-month Newsroom Leadership program at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. He has completed the 3-month Oxford Artificial Intelligence Programme 2023 and received a certification from Saïd Business School, University of Oxford.
Pratyush launched the PTI Fact Check Unit in 2022 and earned IFCN (International Fact-Checking Network) signatory status in 2023. Under his leadership, PTI Fact Check became Meta's partner in its Global Third-Party Fact-Checking programme in 2024 and joined the Shakti Project (an initiative by DataLeads supported by the Google News Initiative to counter election-related misinformation in India) as both publisher and fact-checking unit. Recently, under his leadership, PTI, with the support of the IFCN grant programme, started its Fact-Check literacy drive in three South Asian countries - Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal.
Ashisha Singh Rajput has been working in digital media for more than five years, writing and editing stories on issues related to news and politics. Ashisha holds Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Digital Journalism certificates from Reuters and the University of Helsinki. Apart from this, she has participated in 'Beyond Fake News Workshop 2018' organised by BBC News at IIT Delhi and the 'Third India-China Technology Transfer Collaborative Innovation & Investment Conference 2018' organised by India China Trade Centre (ICTC) and Yunnan Academy of Scientific & Technical Information (YASTI). She has been trained in fact-checking by fact-check trainers associated with the Google News Initiative (GNI) India Training Network.
Gaurav Lalit is the chief sub-editor in PTI's fact-checking team. Before this, he worked with prominent media organisations such as News18, TV9 Bharatvarsh, Dainik Bhaskar, Inshorts, and Amar Ujala. Gaurav studied journalism at Makhanlal Chaturvedi University and recently completed a certified fact-checking course. During his studies, Gaurav collaborated with several significant NGOs across the country. He has a particular interest in investigative reporting.
Vaidehi Jahagirdar is a media professional with five years of expertise in digital content creation, social media management, news writing, and video production. She is passionate about political reporting and international relations and has held key roles at Prasar Bharati and the India TV news website. She is trained in fact-checking and delivers accurate, audience-focused stories, blending journalistic integrity with modern digital strategies to inform and empower readers.
Kaushiki Goel has two years of experience in media, specialising in digital media, political reporting, and fact-checking. Passionate about defence issues and advocating for women's rights, she focuses on delivering accurate, engaging stories that inform and empower. With a strong content strategy and reporting background, Kaushiki is trained in fact-checking, ensuring her work is reliable and impactful.
International Fact-checking Network
Join the Fight
Against Fake News
Please fill the below form or write to us at factcheck@pti.in if you want to share any content for verification or provide feedback / suggestions on our fact-check stories.
You can contact PTI Fact Check on WhatsApp Number +91-8130503759 and share any claim or social media post you think is important to fact-check and want us to verify.