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Open Source / Media Analytics

Russia, The Ironic Trickster

Category: Novetta Blog / Open Source / Media Analytics Tag(s):  /

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The Kremlin’s public messaging is an effective tool for informing Western officials how to counteract Russian disinformation. When Kremlin officials make statements, either through a press release or when quoted in Russian media, they spin global events in a way that portrays Russia favorably. At Novetta, we have compiled a database containing more than 237,000 quotations of Russian officials that appeared in Russian traditional media articles since July 2016. Using pattern analysis, we were able to outline Russia’s communication strategies and uncover insights into the Kremlin’s playbook which can inform the propaganda value of future events. Russia often plays the...

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Using Pattern Analysis to Counteract Kremlin Propaganda

Judge an Outlet by its Owner

Category: Novetta Blog / Open Source / Media Analytics Tag(s):  /

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On June 14, 2019, during a live appearance on Ukrainian tv network ZIK, popular journalist Dmitry Gordon declared, “I will stay for the rest of the program today… but I want to officially say: this is my final appearance on the television channel ZIK. I will never appear on channels that Medvedchuk has acquired. I call on all patriots of Ukraine, politicians, who want happiness for our country and who do not want Ukraine to be a satellite of the Russian Federation, to stop appearing on Medvedchuk’s channels.” News had just broken that ZIK and its online news service ZIK.UA...

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Russian Ties to Ukrainian News Reporting

Information Contagion

Category: Novetta Blog / Open Source / Media Analytics Tag(s):  /  /  /  /

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At the start of this global pandemic, the COVID-19 outbreak (also known as Coronavirus) was slow to pick up significant coverage in international media. In hindsight, a pivotal moment was missed to prepare and aggressively disseminate key messaging for international bodies to lead a cohesive, coordinated response. We now know the lethality rate of infected patients for COVID-19 is minimal compared to high-risk diseases such as Ebola. However, the global reach of COVID-19, due in part to the lack of attention and informative messaging, has made this outbreak more deadly than the most recent Ebola outbreak. In the initial alarm...

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The Infectious Nature of Misinformation in a Pandemic

Media, Data, and Outbreaks: The UN’s Global Health Crises Task Force

Category: Novetta Blog / Open Source / Media Analytics Tag(s):  /  /

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The challenges that epidemics and other global health crises present to the international community are ever changing in each new environment that develops potential risk to the adequate containment and eradication of disease outbreaks. In an effort to find new procedures and practices to limit these risks in 2017 the UN Secretary General’s Global Health Crises Task Force created an independent monitoring and accountability body called the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board (GPMB).  In its most recent report produced by the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in collaboration with Anthrologica, the GPMB focused on the need...

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Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo: Novetta Mission Analytics

Category: Novetta Blog / Open Source / Media Analytics Tag(s):  /  /  /

by Rhys O'Neill, Jonas Eno-Van Fleet

The ongoing Ebola outbreak in eastern DRC has caused 1,522 deaths, making it the second largest in history. Understanding the causes and expressions of deep-seated local resistance to international response efforts is essential to shortening the outbreak and saving lives. Novetta is providing hands-on analysis via subject matter experts to our partners in the Ebola response community through the classification and analysis of sentiment and voice share in hyper-local and regional media content originating in the North Kivu Ebola hotspot. Novetta’s analysts identify distinct narratives and vectors of propagation from the voices of citizens, civil society stakeholders, Ebola response leadership,...

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How data analysis is helping mitigate the second largest outbreak in history.

Detecting Disinformation in Russian Election Coverage

Category: Novetta Blog / Open Source / Media Analytics Tag(s):  /  /  /  /  /  /  /

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State actors, marketers, and fringe voices use the media – television, radio, print, and online – to achieve influence and shift perceptions. In many cases, this takes the form of disinformation that causes influence without facts, evidence, or logic. Drawing on subject matter expertise and intuition, an observer watching for the dissemination of such messages can sometimes spot examples to support their conclusions. However, identifying this kind of media strategy is incredibly challenging, labor-intensive, and prone to omission and confirmation bias. As analysts working to help our customers manage and mitigate media disinformation, we have found that automated tools provide...

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