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Methodology

The survey covers the time period from 1 September, 2023 to 31 July, 2024.

Within the framework of the research, two types of parallel monitoring are carried out.

The first monitoring is the monitoring of the communication practices of the political actors in Macedonia through monitoring and analysis of: 1. the official websites and the official Facebook pages/profiles of the political parties from the current parliamentary composition that have more than one MP; 2. the official Facebook pages/profiles of the presidents of the political parties, as well as of the Ministers from the current Government composition (every third and fourth day). The second monitoring is media monitoring, i.e., monitoring of the television stations (monitoring of central, breaking news every fourth day) and informational online media.

The second monitoring is media monitoring, i.e., monitoring of television stations (monitoring of central, main news every fourth day) and informational online media.

The unit of analysis is a single post or a single news item.

Sample

Sample of official websites and official Facebook pages/profiles of political parties

Selection of political parties with more than one MP in the current parliamentary composition – ten in total: Alliance for Albanians – 8 MPs; Alternativa – 3 MPs; Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization – Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity (VMRO-DPMNE) – 39 MPs; Democratic Movement (the Fiery ones (Ogneni) – 3 MPs; Democratic Union for Integration (DUI) – 13 MPs; Levica – 2 MPs; Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) – 2 MPs; New Social Democratic Party (NSDP) – 2 MPs; Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) – 31 MPs; Socialist Party of Macedonia (SPM) – 2 MPs.

A sample of the official Facebook pages/profiles of the leaders of the ten selected political parties: Arben Taravari; Afrim Gashi; Hristian Mickoski; Izet Medjeti; Ali Ahmeti; Dimitar Apasiev; Monika Zajkova; Goran Misovski; Dimitar Kovachevski (the function of President of the Government of the RNM is being monitored as well); Ljupcho Dimovski.

A sample of the official Facebook pages/profiles of the Ministers in the current parliamentary composition: Dimitar Kovachevski – President of the Government of the RNM; Artan Grubi – First Deputy of the Prime Minister of the RNM and Minister of Political System and Inter-Community Relations; Fatmir Bitikji, Deputy of the President of the Government of RNM in charge of economic issues, coordination of economic departments and investments; Bojan Marichikj, Deputy Prime Minister in charge of European issues; Slavica Grkovska – Deputy of the Prime Minister in charge of Policies for Good Governance; Oliver Spasovski – Minister of Internal Affairs; Kreshnik Bekteshi – Minister of Economy; Risto Penov – Minister of Local Self-Government; Bujar Osmani – Minister of Foreign Affairs; Fatmir Besimi – Minister of Finance; Blagoj Bochvarski – Minister of Transport and Communications; Ljupcho Nikolovski – Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Economy; Slavjanka Petrovska – Minister of Defense; Jeton Shakjiri – Minister of Education and Science; Jovanka Trenchevska – Minister of Labour and Social Policy; Bisera Kostadinovska Stojchevska – Minister of Culture; Kaja Shukova – Minister of Environment and Physical Planning; Azir Aliu – Minister of Information Society and Administration; Fatmir Medjiti – Minister of Health; Krenar Loga – Minister of Justice.

Media sample: 11 news online media and 9 television stations

Informative online media: Lokalno; Nezavisen; Sloboden Pecat; A1on.mk; MKD.mk; Republika; Kurir; Almakos; Tetova sot; Nova TV; Vecer.mk. The criteria for the selection of the media are: readership, the editorial policy that refers to different political and social positions (using a method of purposive sampling), complying with the membership criteria of the online portals in the Council of Media Ethics of Macedonia (CMEM) and in the register of professional online media Promedia.mk, application in The Register of Broadcasters, Print Media and Electronic Media for Paid Political Advertising in the parliamentary elections of 2020 (all monitored online news media and television stations registered and received compensation for paid political advertising in the last parliamentary elections in 2020, except MTV 1 and MTV 2, which are public service broadcasters).

Television stations: National public and private television stations with the highest viewership [Data on the reach of radio stations and the share in the total viewership of television stations (January-March); Data on the reach of radio stations and the share in the total viewership of television stations (April-June)]: MTV 1 (public); MTV 2 (public, in Albanian language); Alpha TV (private); Kanal 5 (private); Sitel TV (private); TV 24 (private); Telma (private); Alsat M (private, in Albanian); TV21 (private, in Albanian language).

The subject of analysis is all journalistic content (news) with different genre features published on online information media and news items broadcast in the central news, in which the following political actors appear or are mentioned:

  • Political parties that have two or more deputies in the current parliamentary composition 2020-2024;
  • Leaders of political parties that have two or more MPs in the current parliamentary composition;
  • The Prime Minister of the Government of the RNM;
  • The deputies of the President of the Government of the RNM and the Ministers in the Government of the RNM, in cases where they speak or are mentioned in the role of representatives of the political party.

Coalitions are not monitored as a separate political actor, unless the media content mentions some of the aforementioned actors. Websites of television stations are not analysed.

Methods and techniques

  • Qualitative and quantitative content analysis (using the SPSS statistical software package): monitoring/following the official websites and official Facebook pages/profiles of the main political actors – political parties, leaders of political parties, ministers, as well as monitoring/following the central, central news of the TV stations and informative contents of the informative online media.
  • Critical Discourse Analysis: to analyse and examine the language, the rhetoric and the framing strategies used by the political actors and the media in their communication materials, as well as the wider context.
  • Case study – about an event of particular importance regarding which political parties create proven disinformation and/or harmful narratives.
  • Focus groups with relevant individuals – for events of particular importance for which the political actors create proven disinformation and/or harmful narratives and/or for a topic that will prove to be a topic of great importance/significance for socio-political life (in the second part of the research, if the research team deems it necessary).
  • Interviews with journalists (in the second part of the research, if the research team judges that there is a need).

Levels of monitoring and analysis

First (regular) level of analysis: following – monitoring, control and analysis

General periodic reports: general information from the overall monitoring will be summarized every other month and will be presented in real time (while the research is in progress). As soon as the election campaign for the presidential and parliamentary elections in 2024 starts, monthly reports will be published.

Quantitative and qualitative content analysis as well as (critical) discourse analysis will be used for general periodic reports.

Second level of analysis

Within this level of analysis, ad hoc research will be carried out on several topics that will emerge to be extremely significant during the research period.

These are topics that were not foreseen throughout the year (predetermined topics), but they turn out to be very significant. During these ad hoc surveys, it is possible to apply additional data collection methods.

Third level of analysis: summary report

This level of analysis will be finalized with a monograph, i.e., a summary report of the entire 11-month research period. It will include an in-depth analysis and offer more data on the situation of harmful political narratives and the media coverage of them in Macedonia.

Instruments

A specially created template for monitoring and analysis in four separate versions, corresponding to the different units of monitoring and analysis, namely:

  • Template 1: to monitor and analyse the official websites of the sample of political parties.
  • Template 2: to monitor and analyse the official Facebook pages/profiles of the sample of political actors.
  • Template 3: to monitor and analyse the central news of the selected TV stations.
  • Template 4: to monitor and analyse the information content of the selected information online media.

Additionally, if necessary, specially created ones will be used:

  • Interview Guideline;
  • Focus groups Guideline.

This website was developed within the project “Use of facts-based journalism to raise awareness of and counteract disinformation in the North Macedonia media space (Use Facts)”, which is implemented by the Institute of Communication Studies. The project is funded by the Government of the United Kingdom, with the support of the British Embassy in Skopje. The views and opinions expressed on this website do not necessarily reflect the position or the opinions of the UK Government. All content is Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC 4.0) and is free for redistribution by following certain guidelines.