Maria Michela D'Alessandro | Lead Stories

Maria Michela D'Alessandro is a fact-checker for Lead Stories and a bilingual journalist for Euronews, she's now resident at the Rome bureau office.
She was born and raised in Rome but studied and worked as a freelancer in Russia, the United States, Germany, Finland, Italy. Her printed and on-air works have been published in The Moscow Times, Al Jazeera, Euronews, The Globe Post, CGTN Europe, La7, Il Caffè Weekly, Il Corriere della Sera. She gained a double master's degree in international journalism from Free University Berlin and Saint Petersburg State University.
She covers foreign issues and policy, defense, human rights, disinformation and sports.
She was embedded with the Italian Armed Forces and she covered, among others, the last World Cups.
Maria Michela speaks English and Russian, and she runs marathons.
At Lead Stories she looks for fake stories online to debunk: her work is to support the editors providing them the useful material to write a debunking. She believes that the more news you know the better you spot the fake ones, that's why when she is not working she always listens to podcasts and live news reports.
When she moved from Moscow to Washington DC, via Berlin and St. Petersburg, she understood that the eternal rivalry between the US and the Soviet Union would have captured her forever. And it did. Her MA thesis with honour, "Russia Beyond the Italian Headlines: Political Polarization in News Coverage of Russia in the Italian Media," studies and understands Russia through the major Italian newspapers - it was published in 2018.
About Us
Lead Stories is a fact checking website that is always looking for the latest false, misleading, deceptive or inaccurate stories, videos or images going viral on the internet.
Spotted something? Let us know!.
Lead Stories is a:
WhatsApp Tipline

Have a tip or a question? Chat with our friendly robots on WhatsApp!
Add our number +1 (404) 655-4223, follow this link or scan the image below with your phone:

@leadstories
Most Read
-
-
Fact Check: Border Patrol Did NOT Find FEMA Packages Intended for Hurricane Survivors Re-Routed to 'Feed Illegals'
Fact Check
-
Fact Check: Trump Administration Did NOT Announce $15,000 Government Cash Payment To All Buyers Of American Cars
Fact Check
-
Fact Check: FAKE Photo Shows Many Pope Francis Mourners, Not Just Trump, Dressed in Blue
Fact Check
-
Fact Check: Video Does NOT Authentically Show Smoke Detector Low Battery Beeps During Rep. Jasmine Crockett's Speech
Fact Check
-
Fact Check: Video Of President Trump Talking About 'Very Unathletic, Very Gay' Antifa Is Not Real
Fact Check
-
Fact Check: Tom Cruise Did NOT Mock Karoline Leavitt's Husband At Awards Ceremony
Fact Check
Most Recent
-
Fact Check: Fake Headline About Pope Leo XIV And 2020 Anarchist 'CHAZ' Protest Did NOT Appear In New York Times -- Location Wrong, Too
Fact Check
-
Fact Check: Posts About Suspects 'Kelvin Buckland' And 'Malena Renae Mason' Being On The Run In May 2025 Are NOT Authentic Warnings
Fact Check
-
Fact Check: New Pope Leo XIV Is NOT 'Registered Republican' -- He Voted In Republican Primaries But Illinois Voters Needn't Declare Party Affiliation When Registering
Fact Check
-
Fact Check: NO Evidence Toyota, Nissan And Honda 'Will No Longer Sell Vehicles In The United States' Because Of Tariffs
Fact Check
-
White Smoke: Cardinals Choose American Robert Prevost As Pope Leo XIV -- What We Know So Far
Breaking
-
Fact Check: Video Does NOT Show Indian Drone Shot Down By Pakistan in May 2025
Fact Check
-
Fact Check: John Fetterman Was NOT 'Officially Kicked Out' of the Democratic Party As Of May 8, 2025
Fact Check