The focus of the research are those narratives of the political actors that do not have a benevolent purpose and content and do not serve to promote civil activism, do not only serve to inform the public, but to manipulate it, and as such are the main underminers of the democratic and humane values. They are called harmful narratives given their potential harmful consequences in almost all spheres of socio-political life.

Defined in the most general terms, the harmful political narratives refer to stories, ideas or messages promoted by individuals, groups or political entities that have negative consequences for society, democracy or the well-being of individuals. These narratives can manipulate public opinion, sow division, and undermine the principles of informed, rational, and critical decision-making in the political sphere.

List of harmful narratives within the framework of the research (created and adapted according to the conducted desk-analysis and the consultation of relevant sources, taking into account the socio-political context of Macedonia and its specifics):

1. Disinformation: Sharing information or claims that are not true, with the intention of causing harm or manipulating public opinion (Disinformation glossary: ​​150+ Terms to Understand the Information Disorder; Understanding Information Disorder; Disinformation).
2. Malicious information: The politicians or the public figures can have private or personal information (e.g. emails or private messages) taken out of context and shared to damage their reputation. Their sharing is not in the public interest and is often done with malicious intent to damage their reputation [Journalism, ‘Fake News’ & Disinformation (Handbook for Journalism Education and Training)].
3. Undermining trust in institutions and media (without evidence): Deliberate and unfounded undermining of citizens’ trust in the institutions and in the media. It is a case of unfounded attack on institutions and media for their alleged corruption, biased decision-making, unprofessional work (Indicators of News Media Thrust).
4. Biased selection: Selectively presenting data about an event that seems to confirm one position, while ignoring other data that refutes that position. These narratives often lead the public to wrong conclusions (Combating Information Manipulation: A Playbook for Elections and Beyond).
5. Conspiracy theories: Allegations of secret conspiracies by powerful individuals or groups, usually without evidence (Handbook of Conspiracy Theories).
6. Character attacks (ad hominem) and/or demonization of opponents: Naming the political opponents and/or other important public figures in a negative context, in order to discredit, insult, belittle, and underestimate them. This narrative includes speech that qualifies the ‘other’ other as the embodiment of a particular evil or inhumanity. Demonization and character attacks can incite anxiety, hate speech, and violence among individuals or groups of citizens. (The Power of Ideas: A Political Social-Psychological Theory of Democracy, Political Development and Political Communication; Politics of demonization’ breeding division and fear).
7. Foreign influence: Unfounded accusations of a foreign entity, i.e. entities, of interfering in the internal affairs of the country and disrupting democratic processes through various activities: manipulating public opinion, influencing decision-making, sowing discord in the country, etc. Institutions and foreign interferences).
8. Fomenting divisions: Narratives intended to foment division by vilifying or opposing another group of people based on their race, religion, political convictions, ideologies, or other characteristics.
9. Sexism: Narratives (statements, comments, jokes, visual representation) that are based on the idea that a person or group of people is inferior to another just because of their gender and/or sex (Elements for a Council of Europe Definition of Sexism).
10. Xenophobia (fear of foreigners): Inciting fear, exclusion or limitation of persons and/or groups who are not citizens of Macedonia, based on race, colour, national or ethnic origin. Xenophobia generally manifests itself through discriminatory activities or overtly hostile and deliberate expressions of hatred (Guidance on racism and xenophobia).
11. Ethnocentrism: Cultural or ethnic bias – thinking that one’s ethnic group and some (or all) of its cultural characteristics are superior to all other groups. It often leads to wrong ‘ethnocentric’ assumptions about other cultures and ways of life, and to negative prejudices, attitudes and actions towards the ‘others’ (Ethnocentrism).
12. Hate Speech and/or Discriminatory Speech: Speech (or written communication) intended to degrade, disturb, or cause violence or actions based on prejudice against persons or groups of persons on the basis of their race, gender, age, ethnicity, nationality, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, language, intellectual or physical ability, moral or political views, socioeconomic class, occupation or appearance (such as height, weight and hair colour), and any other characteristic (Fight against hate speech; Freedom of expression and hate speech).
13. Manipulative visual media content: Use of altered photographs/images, videos and audio recordings to deceive/confuse the public or promote particular narratives. It is different from satire and parody, where people are deliberately and openly/clearly mocked by photoshopped photos/images and added certain elements.
14. Spreading panic, fear and insecurity: Sharing true, false, or half-true information in order to spread fear and insecurity among the citizens. This does not refer to cases where it is necessary to inform about certain events/occurrences/happening which are true and unpleasant in themselves, causing panic and fear – of course they should be conveyed, but the over-dimensioning, over-emphasis, too-frequent repetition, the use of wording that deliberately incite panic, fear and insecurity – this constitutes a harmful narrative (Fearmongering; Fear: A powerful motivator in elections).
15. Encouraging extreme patriotism and nationalism: Making people feel like they have a common enemy. Namely, it is about extreme patriotism and nationalism and an aggressive belief in national superiority and glory (Propaganda for patriotism and nationalism).
16. Populism: Narratives in which the politicians/important public figures claim that they ‘represent the people’, are guided by its will and are ‘at its service’ to make certain decisions. It is a speech that explicitly or implicitly claims to support the people against the elites/various groups that have some privileges. (What is Populism?).

Linking Harm Narratives to Indicators

	Indicators	Related Harmful Narratives
1/ 2	Allegations of corruption, non-transparency/non-accountability, unprofessionalism, abuse of office without any attempt to substantiate those claims	Disinformation Undermining trust in institutions or media Biased selection
3	Misuse of information of a private nature or personal tragedies, disability, social status, marital status of one’s political opponents to achieve one’s own goal	Malicious information Character attacks and/or demonization of opponents (individuals or groups) Hate speech
4	Labelling, ridiculing and grossly disrespecting other persons or groups (media workers, civil activists, political opponents, public office holders…). Use of negative words.	Character attacks and/or demonization of opponents (individuals or groups)
5	Speech that insults a certain group or justifies hate speech against a certain group, based on race, skin colour, origin, national or ethnic affiliation, sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, belonging to a marginalized group, language, nationality, social background, education, religion or religious belief, political conviction, other beliefs, disability, age, family or marital status, property status, health status, personal capacity and social status or any other grounds.	Hate speech
6	Deliberately not conveying the full picture of the ‘event’, deliberately omitting information that refutes the position of the one presenting it	Disinformation Undermining trust in the institutions Biased selection Manipulative audiovisual media content
7	It is claimed to be true that political opponents/public institutions are manipulated by behind-the-scenes (secret) power groups (e.g. Freemasons, etc.) without presenting any facts or evidence, or using sources that lack any credibility or authority in the area	Disinformation Conspiracy theories Spreading panic, fear and uncertainty Foreign influence
8	Use of sentences, phrases of unfounded accusations of a foreign entity (or entities) of interfering in the internal affairs of the state, contrary to the interests of the state, which, in fact, is a violation of democratic processes	Foreign influence Spreading panic, fear and uncertainty
9	Use of words and phrases that denigrate a certain group of people in order to cause division and discord between us/we/our and you/your. Usually we/our is good, positive and desirable and you/your is bad, negative and undesirable	Fomenting divisions Spreading panic, fear and insecurity
10	Use of words and phrases that insult, belittle, ridicule a person and/or group based on their gender and/or sex affiliation.	Sexism. Character attacks and/or demonization of opponents (individuals or groups) Hate speech
11	Use of words that insult, discredit, defame a group of people (foreigners) with the aim of causing fear, rejection and distancing from them, even causing certain behaviour towards that group.	Xenophobia if they are foreigners Ethnocentrism Spreading panic, fear and insecurity
12	Use of sentences, words, phrases that glorify one’s own ethnicity, and all others are less important, valuable, worthy.	Ethnocentrism Extreme patriotism and/or nationalism
13	Images, videos, and audio recordings that are created to mislead the public into believing that something is real and true when it is not (and can be proven false)	Disinformation Manipulative audiovisual media content Spreading panic, fear and uncertainty Biased selection Character attacks and/or demonization of opponents (individuals or groups) Hate speech
14	Words/sentences that explicitly or implicitly, directly or indirectly promote one’s ideologies/activities/behaviours as something that benefits the people/the masses/the common ‘honest man’, humanity, while the ideologies/activities/behaviours, the characteristics of political opponents are promoted as something that serves a certain small elite group of people, which does not reflect the will of the people	Populism Foreign influence Extreme patriotism and/or nationalism Conspiracy theories