DIGITAL DUEL by NewsVibe. TOP 5 matches in the Romanian online space, in the last week

A multitude of political, governmental and other events have marked the political debate over the last week, culminating with the death of former President Ion Iliescu and generating an increase in the visibility of the main political parties in the digital environment. According to the data identified and analyzed by NewsVibe, an AI media monitoring platform, most of the parties benefited from increases in the number of online mentions compared to the previous period analyzed, the only exception being PNL.

The central theme that marked this period was the disappearance of Ion Iliescu, the event also provoking a still ongoing dispute between PSD and USR over the organized funeral, with a direct impact on the functioning of the coalition. Other topics visible in the discussion about the parties, but with lower visibility, were related to governance (especially the issue of special pensions), the visit of sovereignist leaders to Broșteni, the shaping of the first candidates in the Bucharest race or the political future of former PSD leader Ciolacu.

The parties registered increases in the volume of mentions in digital sources, with the exception of PNL, which fell by more than 20% and dropped to third place in the ranking, swapping places with USR.

NEWSVIBE CHART. Top 5 parties by volume of mentions in relevant online and social media sources (sources validated by the NewsVibe platform), in the last week.

COMPETITIVE VISIBILITY AND IMPACT. The competitive analysis engine created by NewsVibe evaluates the strength of political actors to penetrate the online space, directly compared to their competitors.

The total volume of mentions about the five major parties was up compared to the previous week, by about 20%, but their estimated impact was somewhat smaller, slightly exceeding 101 million cumulative potential views.

With the expansion in the number of online mentions, on the back of leader George Simion's trip to the flood-affected area of Suceava, AUR also got a higher share of the total mentions of the five parties (9%, up from 7% previously). In contrast, PNL, which had previously received a quarter of the total mentions, this time only managed to generate a share of 18%.

NewsVibe charts. Share of the number of mentions (left) and impact of mentions (right) about each of the parties, respectively, of the cumulative total of mentions about all five

NETWORK ANALYSIS. The tool created by NewsVibe - semantic network analysis - uses advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning methods to build maps of interactions that highlight: the central actors in a conversation, the connections between them, the groups (clusters) of topics, concepts and influencers (personalities and organizations) that have formed around an event, topic or idea.

Grafic NewsVibe. Semantic network semantics associated with online conversation about the main 5 parliamentary parties in the last week

What the analysis shows:

• The most consistent segment of the public debate on the parties was once again centered around the PSD, with several minor poles represented by topics related to the European Union, Marcel Ciolacu (with the discussion of the hypothesis that the former Prime Minister would run for the Buză CJ), Mihai Fifor (after his public comments about military pensions) and having in the foreground a major, dominant pole, built around the Ion Iliescu entity.
• The other three governing parties - USR(the main node in this community), PNL, UDMR - find themselves, this time, grouped in a common space of discussions, in the wake of which are also attracted names such as Nicușor Dan and Ilie Bolojan, but also Dominic Fritz. Cătălin Drulă was a visible node through the subject of his candidacy for the City of the Capital, while among the ministers Diana Buzoianu and Radu Miruță stand out in this picture.
• The third distinct segment in the public conversation about parties was constituted around the AUR party, with the dominant entities George Simion and Călin Georgescu, an association that arose from the similar activity in which the two leaders were involved - the trip to Broșteni and the messages about the floods.

• PSD and USR were the political actors most frequently mentioned in negative contexts, with similar intensity, amid the dispute over Ion Iliescu's funeral.
• In the case of the PNL there were also unfavorable references, but with a much lower frequency.
• George Simion was mentioned negatively twice as often as positively, while in the case of Călin Georgescu the ratio was even 4 to 1.
• The central actors of government - Ilie Bolojan and the Government - were also discussed mostly in unfavorable contexts.
• Other negatively known topics: Primăria Cluj-Napoca, Romsilva, Elena Costache
• Ion Iliescu is the central entity that has been predominantly commented on in a positive register.
• Thematically, there were positive mentions of the European Union and NATO.

*****Summary compiled using a monitoring feed provided by NewsVibe Romania. The analysis, data and images presented have been enhanced with the help of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence tools.