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

After the previous media agenda, in general, and the relevant online sources, in particular, were dominated by international discussions related to the situation in Ukraine, in recent days, internal themes have begun to come back to the forefront. According to data collected and analyzed by NewsVibe, an AI media monitoring platform, the evolution of the number of mentions about parties has remained uneven, being influenced by specific events.

In the last week, the visibility of parties in the online space has been determined by themes such as: discussions within the coalition regarding the second package of measures to reduce the deficit; the PSD's decision to return to coalition meetings; as well as political and media debates regarding the elections for the Capital City Mayor.

NewsVibe data shows that the only party that recorded a significant increase was USR, with over 85% compared to the previous period. In contrast, AUR had the largest decrease, with nearly 40% fewer mentions. However, the hierarchy in the top mentions about parties has not changed, even though USR is now very close to PNL.

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

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

The total volume of mentions about the top five parties, as well as their estimated impact, has increased compared to last week. The total mentions and their impact are also increasing in relation to the number and impact of mentions about AUR, a party in opposition. Among the coalition parties, it is noteworthy that mentions about USR have a slightly higher impact than those about PNL, even though the latter are somewhat more numerous.

NewsVibe Charts. The proportion of the number of mentions (left), respectively the impact of mentions (right) about each of the parties from the total cumulative mentions about all five

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

NewsVibe Chart. The semantic network associated with the online conversation about the main 5 parliamentary parties, in the last week 

What the analysis shows:

• A core of discussions built around PSD, related to terms such as Sorin Grindeanu, Ilie Bolojan, Parliament or Government, mainly reflects discussions on governance measures, but also on the boycott of coalition meetings by PSD (which has recently returned to the discussion table).
• An important segment is generated around USR, mainly related to terms such as Government Bolojan, Radu Miruță or Diana Buzoianu, marking mainly the governmental activity of this formation.
• Another significant cluster is formed around PNL, mainly related to terms such as Nicușor Dan, Ciprian Ciucu, Cătălin Drulă, Capital City Hall, Bucharest or Daniel Băluță. This data shows a prevalence of subjects related to the elections that will take place in Bucharest, around the liberals.
• There are solid connections between the cores built around USR and PNL, influenced by the public debate regarding candidate solutions for Bucharest City Hall.
• Finally, a core of debates built around the term Romania stands out, in proximity to which are AUR and George Simion, but which also has strong connections with other areas.

SENTIMENT. The NewsVibe platform has created an advanced automated sentiment analysis system, which uses specially trained AI algorithms and LLM tools to detect tonal nuances – favorable, unfavorable, or neutral – in the context of references to entities relevant to an online conversation.

NewsVibe Chart. Automated evaluation of the tone of the online conversation about the main 5 parliamentary parties, in the week

What the analysis shows:

• PSD and USR have been at the center of media coverage generated by tense and polarizing contexts during this period. These contexts were created by online conversations about tensions within the coalition, but also about the situation in Bucharest, where the debate regarding the elections takes on competitive and confrontational accents.
• Ilie Bolojan and PNL remain in the area of media coverage in predominantly negative contexts, influenced by discussions related to government measures – both those already adopted and those announced for the near future – and by the dissatisfaction expressed by various social categories.
• The presentation of political actors from within the parties in predominantly positive contexts tends to become more of an exception in recent times.

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