Mongolia’s journalists won’t get left behind on the worldwide trend of fact-checking www.poynter.org

Nestled between the borders of Russia and China — two nations internationally notorious for their state-backed disinformation campaigns — lies Mongolia, a country now preparing to fight electoral false news.

The country will elect a new parliament in 2020 and a new president in 2021, and in light of this has just launched a fact-checking collaborative project with 20 television, newspaper and radio outlets from around the country.

FactCheck Mongolia started a few weeks ago and resembles those fact-checking alliances seen in Latin America lately: Reverso in Argentina, Comprova in Brazil and VerificaUY in Uruguay.

Mongolia’s vast and mountainous landscapes are home to a uniquely chaotic media environment. As of a 2016 report from Reporters Without Borders, 74% of media outlets in the country have political affiliations. While media freedom is guaranteed by law, there’s no regulation on things like election ads.

That means media outlets and politicians alike can fill the news cycle with misinformation.

Fact-check Mongolia is trying to change this.

“For the coming election, we’re expecting a huge production of fake news,” said Tamir Tsolmonbaatar, the project manager, in an email to the IFCN. “That’s why Mongolian media have agreed to do something (to fight back) … We are trying not to get left behind on this worldwide trend (of political fact-checking).”

Mongolia’s parliamentary elections are coming up in 2020, as well as local elections at the provincial and district levels. In 2021, a new president will be elected.

Parliamentary elections in 2016 included 498 candidates running in 76 electorate districts, so Tsolmonbaatar said he expects there will be plenty of politically motivated disinformation flooding social media platforms.

According to the Communications Regulatory Commission of Mongolia, 83.5% of the total population use the internet regularly.

“Social media use increased during (the parliamentary election in 2016),” Tsolmonbaatar said. “But there’s yet to be any law implemented to regulate election ads in social media environments.”

Some government actors have taken steps to address misinformation by drafting laws and bills that would regulate social media use more strictly. But for now, the press is frequently opaque when it comes to funding and ownership, and Tsolmonbaatar said this allows for politicians to bribe journalists and media outlets into publishing flattering yet completely falsified content.

This was the case for the presidential election of 2017, when the candidate Sainkhüügiin Ganbaatar, a member of the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party, posed for a photo in which he appeared to be digging snow out from underneath his car.

“The truth was, his car hadn’t gotten stuck in the snow, it was stopped at a paved road,” Tsolmonbaatar explained. “He was trying to show how humble and personable he was, and ran ‘hidden’ campaign ads (on social media) using this photo.”

According to Tsolmonbaatar, political candidates also frequently disseminate completely falsified photos, videos or claims about their opponents to large audiences on social media platforms or via news outlets, and Mongolia’s General Election Commission has yet to act.

To fight back, Fact-Check Mongolia’s principal goal is to develop the skills necessary for fact-checking in all the newsrooms that have joined the alliance. This includes 13 from the capital city of Ulaanbaatar and seven from local provinces, as well as a mix of radio, magazine, newspaper and television platforms.

Journalists will take part in several training sessions funded by Deutsche Welle Akademie, a German state-owned public international broadcaster. The Mongolian Center for Investigative Reporters, which Tsolmonbaatar co-founded, will also organize and fund follow-up training and consulting sessions.

The whole operation will be run from Truly Media, an online collaboration platform designed to support the verification of social media content.

Tsolmonbaatar said the organization’s members hope to be ready in time to fact-check the 2020 elections, and be able to publish reliable, evidence-based information.

He said that he hopes fact-checking picks up among other media sites, though these are often poorly resourced and reporters may not have the money or time.

“We have a national, common understanding of what it means to do fact-checking within traditional media productions, but not what it means to do political fact-checking and hoax debunking,” he said. Mongolia’s journalism schools have yet to offer a course on this specific kind of journalistic verification, but Tsolmonbaatar said some are working on updating their curriculum.

All 20 newsrooms in the alliance have agreed to follow the International Fact-Checking Network’s Code of Principles for best practices in fact-checking, including transparency, nonpartisanship and an honest corrections policy.

Nonetheless, Tsolmonbaatar said he expects politicians to react negatively to the project. “They’ll probably spread negative information about us, and maybe try to influence some of our journalists or allied newsrooms,” he said.

“But we believe journalists and newsrooms that joined our network won’t get bought.”

ADB provides 103 mln USD loan to Mongolia to upgrade border, roads www.xinhuanet.com

ULAN BATOR, Oct. 2 (Xinhua) -- The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Mongolian government on Wednesday signed loan pacts worth 103 million U.S. dollars for three projects that will upgrade border checkpoints, complete a district hospital, and scale up road rehabilitation in the country.

GGGI Mongolia holds a Consultative Meeting on “Improving regulatory environment of Energy Storage Projects” www.gggi.org

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, Oct 2, 2019 – GGGI Mongolia organized a Consultative Meeting on “Improving regulatory environment of Energy Storage Projects” in association with the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) and the National Dispatching Center (NDC) of Mongolia.

The workshop was organized as part of the Renewable Energy Absorption Project implemented by the Global Green Growth Institute together with the Energy Regulatory Commission. The REAP project aims at facilitating the emergence of technological and other options to improve the flexibility of the Mongolian central energy system, in order to increase the absorption of renewable energy and improve energy security.

The aim of the meeting was to engage and train technical stakeholders in energy storage, including battery technologies, and provide an introduction to evolving regulations for ancillary services. The workshop will be followed by the development of regulations and economic impact assessment for pricing and assessment of the network to define optimal battery technology, least cost, and optimal locations on the network.

This assessment will include load flow analysis accounting for high, medium and low renewable energy dispatch scenarios. The regulatory work will help define the battery purchase agreement and network assessment will result in the identification of subprojects to be agreed with the National Dispatching Center. The audiences of the workshop were representatives of decision makers and regulatory bodies as well as technical engineers and staff of MoE, ERC, NDC, NREC, and EDC.

Mr. Tuvshichuluun, State Commissioner of ERC, delivered an opening speech. “We have a good cooperation with GGGI in many areas. REAP is one of the areas that we are working successfully. Battery storage is the one of the most important solutions to ensure stability of energy system. In terms of setting tariff for the battery storage, we don`t have sufficient experience and knowledge. I do believe that today`s event will have a great contribution in improved knowledge of setting the tariff and in future development of energy storage projects,” highlighted Mr. Tuvchinchuluun.

Romain Brillie, GGGI Country Representative said “Under its commitments to the Paris Agreement on climate change Mongolia has set a target to increase renewable electricity capacity from 7.62% in 2014 to 20% by 2020 and to 30% by 2030 as a share of total electricity generation. This will require additional flexibility of energy systems to effectively translate installed capacity into generated and supplied electricity. Energy storage systems are one option that can help improve load management and the effective absorption of renewable energy on the grid, while improving its stability and, for Mongolia, energy security. I always appreciate that ERC is supporting GGGI’s work in energy sector for many years. I am happy that we have turned another new chapter in cooperation in energy battery storage. From GGGI side we will provide technical support on formalization of battery purchase agreement,” in his opening speech.

GGGI technical experts Muharrem Askin and Andrew Lee have delivered presentations on GGGI Global Practices, main principles of the successful Power Purchase Agreements and Principles applied to PPAs in ESS and its ancillary services in Mongolia.

The Government of Mongolia (GOM) is in the process on considering battery storage to address the stability of the network, improve quality of service, and better manage loads to meet demand. However, there is a need for an assessment of the most suitable type of technology and institutional options to help improve grid flexibility and absorption of renewables. For batteries, this includes the type of technology, their physical location and related benefits, including financial. Battery storage can provide a wide range of ancillary services that helps the utility stabilize the network and improve quality of electricity supply. In addition, a key advantage of battery technology lies in its quick ability to respond to blackouts and provide ramping capacity.

The proposed REAP is planned to be a comprehensive engagement that will help the GOM, the offtaker, and the ERC to transparently take cost effective investment decisions to address the fragile network, improve service delivery, and pave the way for improved absorption of renewable energy and energy security.

Background
In Mongolia’s nationally determined contribution (NDC) a series of policies and actions are outlined to achieve a 14% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This reduction on GHG can only be achieved if emissions from the energy sector are addressed. As such, Mongolia has established ambitious targets to increase renewable energy and reduce losses in the sector which include to increase renewable electricity capacity from 7.62% in 2014 to 20% by 2020 and to 30% by 2030 as a share of total electricity generation capacity and to reduce electricity transmission losses from 13.7% in 2014 to 10.8% by 2020 and to 7.8% by 2030.

Mongolia’s power sector is dominated by inefficient, soviet-era coal power plants which make up 85% of total installed capacity (920 of 1082MW). In 2016, 96% (5.5GWh) of domestic power was generated by coal plants which makes Mongolia’s power supply one of the most carbon intensive in the world. Since 2013 Mongolia has made steps to increase the share of renewable energy but it is far from reaching its resource endowment potential. As of May 2018 there are 2*10MW solar plants and 2*50MW wind farms operational. Another 30MW of solar PV has achieved financial close.

While the government has issued a number of licenses to independent power producers for renewable energy, the ability of these projects (or other) to be realized and lead to displacement of fossil fuels will largely depend on the ability of the network to absorb and manage intermittent and variable loads. Thus, one of the key constraints to scaling renewable energy is the fragile network and the absence of ramping capacity. High system losses, frequency fluctuations and voltage drops result in inadequate and poor quality of electricity services.

Mongolian arrested in Russia for smuggling crypto mining units www.news.mn

Coinspot reported today that a Mongolian citizen was caught trying to smuggle the four crypto currency mining devices with fans and connected microcircuits across the Russian/Mongolian border into Russian territory.

Government extends land for Mongolia’s first oil refinery www.news.mn

Mongolia launched construction of its first oil refinery last year. This has been a a long-awaited project; currently it is being funded by India and is designed to end the country’s dependence on Russian fuel imports.

Mongolian Airlines to get Boeing 787-9 in 2021 www.news.mn

Mongolian Airlines has indicated that it has secured the delivery of a Boeing 787-9, with the aircraft due to arrive on long-term lease in 2021. The widebody jet has been earmarked for the carrier’s first long-haul flights to the United States. The 787 is the flagship aircraft of Boeing and is often seen as a direct competitor to the Airbus A350.

Modernized payment system enables direct transfer of Government payments and allowances www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. Bank of Mongolia in cooperation with the Asian Development Bank has implemented a low-value payment system modernization project, which allows the monthly Child Money benefits to be paid directly through an automatic bank transfer by the State Fund, in lieu of the Bank of Mongolia.

Goldman Sachs Names New Asia M&A Leadership www.bloomberg.com

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. named Raghav Maliah and Jung Min as new leaders for its mergers and acquisitions business in Asia ex-Japan as John Kim joined buyout firm Carlyle Group.

Mongolia-Indonesia consultative meeting held www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ The Heads of Department of Asia and the Pacific of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia and the Republic of Indonesia presided a consultative meeting between the Foreign Ministries. The sides reviewed the actions undertaken following the first meeting of the Mongolia-Indonesia intergovernmental joint commission held in Jakarta, Indonesia in 2015 and had discussions about intensifying works underway.

Agreement and Memorandums signed with Czech www.montsame.mn