Methodology

The methodology presents the basic principles upon which the project is founded, including the basic information on the following: differentiation of the types of disinformation and evaluation assessments, the manner of selection of media outlets that are monitored, explanation of the different products and topics that will be covered.

The Disinformation

The disinformation comes in different shapes. It is given to all articles that contain deliberately false information which is disseminated in order to cause confusion, manipulation or misinterpretation. The disinformation may be composed of entirely fabricated false information or may be mix of fabricated information and partially true information, misuse of information sources as well as ungrounded claims from official sources. Depending on its purpose and target audience the following categories are distinguished.
1

Fake news

This is given to an original text which is entirely produced by the media that has published it, and which contains false information and claims. The content that has been evaluated as fake news is considered to be created with the intention to misinform the public, i.e. the claim that is entirely false to be presented as a fact.
2

Conspiracy theory

A text which provides false or un-checked description of certain events or persons, presenting them as part or result of some hidden plan (conspiracy).
3

Spin

A type of propaganda which is achieved through misinterpretation of information and facts in order to direct the public in a direction which suits the interest of its creators.
4

Click-bait

An article whose title does not correspond to its text. The title is usually sensational, in order to attract large number of visitors on the web-portal. In majority of the cases, click-baits are used for marketing and beneficial purposes, but there is another more dangerous category where headlines are carrier of the disinformation. This type may deceive the readers without reading the article.
5

Hate speech

All texts that denigrate, harass, or provoke violence or activities based on prejudice upon persons or groups of people according to their race, gender, age, ethnical affiliation, nationality, religion, sexual identity, gender identity, handicap, verbal capacity, moral or political views, socioeconomic class etc…
*The texts will be categorized based on the above definitions.

Selection of the media outlets for monitoring

The monitoring encompasses the following types of media:

Online – web-portals

TV channels

Social media

The process of selection of the media outlets was performed on the basis of the frequency of publishing disinformation using the “snow ball” method (for the Internet portals) and the periodical reports of the Agency for Audio and Audio-visual Services in North Macedonia (for the TV stations) on the ratings and frequencies of the media products. The process organized through several levels of supervision and control, filters the articles by the monitors reaching the stage for debunking / research and publishing. Each article is prepared in three languages Macedonian, Albanian and English.

F2N2 sections

The products developed by F2N2 come in four different packages: Disinformation, D-Narrative, Analyses and Videos.

The Disinformation section contains short articles primary targeting a disinformation which is published by some media outlets/social media pages and public profiles. This section offers the readers with a short easy-to-read story, which offers facts and evidences that prove the assessment of the analyzed disinformation. The nature of this section is to offer a prompt reaction to a disinformation noted through the monitoring, thus enabling the public to receive a timely and credible information prior to the development of a larger narrative and its dissemination on the social media. The database of all the cases is searchable by two parameters: assessment of the text and topic, thus offering a historical overview of the disinformation narratives.

The articles in the section are drafted following the steps below:

  • F2N2 title of article;
  • Assessment;
  • Providing the original title of the text,
  • Description of the disinformation;
  • Link to the original article\s;
  • Links to the archived original article;
  • Fact-checking, research and consultations;
  • Debunking of disinformation: clearly explained evaluation which is based on the determined facts and the methodology of evaluation.

This section offers the readers not so long analysis of the Disinformation narrative formed around one issue based on several Disinformation articles / stories published and shared. Being longer than the Disinformation product, this narrative offers the readers an overview of the facts, trends, evolvement of the disinformation narrative on the internet and social media via certain periodical and geographical parameters i.e. who published the news first and when, who changed the context, when did the disinformation narrative appear and around which important event, and / or how the news evolved to disinformation.

The Analyses segment provides the public with more academic and scientific read on the issues that are subject of disinformation. This section will use the services of various academic and practitioner experts, thus providing specific information, clarifications and practical blueprints on the issue.

The Video section will produce content in a form of short videos with easy to understand explanations on disinformation and its causes, as well as presentation of F2N2 stories.