Bulgarian-Romanian Observatory of Digital Media

Bulgarian-Romanian Observatory of Digital Media

What is BROD?

The Bulgarian-Romanian Observatory of Digital Media aims at creating a multinational, multi-stakeholder, and multidisciplinary regional hub for detection, analysis and combating disinformation circulating in Bulgaria and Romania. Such an observatory is urgently needed and very relevant in the region, which due to the poor media freedom and low citizen media and information literacy is highly prone to coordinated internal and external disinformation campaigns aiming at the EU. [+]

EDMO Network

EDMO Best Fact-Checking Map [+]

News and Events

Bulgarian scientists analyse shortcomings in online platforms’ actions against disinformation

First analysis of the implementation of commitments under the Strengthened Code of Practice on Disinformation of Very Large Online Platforms (VLOP’s) & Very Large Online Search Engines (VLOSE); Researchers warn about European elections 2024 [+]

European commission launches campaign dedicated to EURO

The European Commission in Bulgaria launched an information campaign dedicated to the common European currency, entitled #ЗаЕврото накратко: отговорите, които търсим (About the Euro in a Nutshell: the answers We Are Looking For). [+]

75 teachers from Romania, on their way to become Media Literacy teachers

75 teachers from 74 schools in Romania learn how to teach media literacy concepts to their students, within the Media Education Program, the largest program of this kind from Romania, carried out by the Center for Independent Journalism. Teachers benefit from free training in order to acquire media literacy skills and learn methods that would help the students become responsible citizens, resilient in the face of disinformation. [+]

Two BROD researchers are part of the EDMO Expert Group on Structural Indicators for the Code of Practice on Disinformation

Raluca Buturoiu and Nicoleta Corbu, two Romanian researchers and professors from the National University of Political Studies and Public Administration (SNSPA), partner in the Bulgarian-Romanian Observatory of Digital Media (BROD), were selected as Experts within the EDMO Expert Group on Structural Indicators for the Code of Practice on Disinformation.

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The Bulgarian-Romanian Observatory of Digital Media (BROD) launches its website

The Bulgarian-Romanian Observatory of Digital Media (BROD), which works under the framework of the European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO), launches its website https://brodhub.eu/. The hub portal starts in the context of rising disinformation and hybrid war against the European Union. [+]

The European Digital Media Observatory gets 6 new hubs and now covers the whole EU territory

Great news for the fight against disinformation last week! The European Commission (EC) announced that 6 new hubs will be part of the European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO). The new hubs have been selected following a call for proposals and will complement the territorial scope covered by the hubs already in place. EDMO’s hubs now cover all the EU countries which is a great step forward for addressing disinformation challenges in all EU languages. [+]

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Fact-Checking

Exhibition at the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo on December 9, 2021.

AFP / ODD ANDERSEN

Fact-Checking

BROD is the unique European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO)-related hub covering Bulgaria and Romania.

The portal gives access to a continuous feed of fact-check articles aimed at debunking information in Bulgarian and Romanian and to dozens of archives.

Part of the initiative is the fact-checking leader Agence France-Presse (AFP) with its operations in both countries: Proveri for Bulgaria; and Verificat for Romania. Bulgarian National Television (BNT) is also part of the observatory with its new team of fact-checkers. On the Romanian side the hub’s fact-checking activity is also carried on by Factual, a platform launched by FUNKY CITIZENS. [+]

Media Literacy

A smartphone and a desktop screen showing reports about disinformation related to Brazilian presidential election, in Rio de Janeiro on August 29, 2022

AFP / MAURO PIMENTEL

Our two main contributions: BROD resources and a discovery tool

Within the domain of media and information literacy (MIL), BROD will start gradually adding the resources it will develop for educating teachers, librarians and journalists and delivered in Bulgarian and Romanian languages. Our first resources will be available after September 2023. Where suitable and possible, we will also offer translations of useful materials from other observatories collaborating with EDMO.

In addition, we are working on a discovery tool which will allow educators to search for suitable resources in different languages and catering to different educational levels. If you are interested to be informed about the launch of this tool, please add your name and email on this form. [+]

+ More media literacy resources

Research

BROD will be bringing to you focused research reports on topics relevant to Bulgaria and Romania. You will be able to find reports in English in the Research section, as well as publications in Bulgarian and Romanian. In addition to its own outputs in research, BROD curates a collection of older studies of the BROD partners and other relevant reports.

Response Rating Distribution Comparison

Evaluating VLOP and VLOSE Implementation of the Strengthened EU Code of Practice on Disinformation in Bulgaria

In June of 2022, Google, Meta, Microsoft, TikTok, Twitter (rebranded as X) and a selection of advertising industry companies all signed up to the strengthened Code of Practice on Disinformation (European Commission, 2022). One of the goals of this strengthened version of the code was to empower the industry to adhere to self-regulatory standards in order to combat disinformation. The strengthened code also claims to set a more ambitious set of commitments and measures aimed at combating disinformation online.

Our aim here is to offer an assessment or evaluation of the implementation of the 2022 Code of Practice on Disinformation (CoP) by these companies in Bulgaria. Very little information exists on the implementation of the strengthened Code of Practice when it comes to Bulgaria by Very Large Online Platforms and Very Large Online Search Engines (VLOP and VLOSE) and this is a country which is particularly vulnerable to disinformation narratives. [+]

Report of CSD from 19 April 2023

Breaking the Code: Russian and Chinese Disinformation and Illicit Financial Flows in Southeast Europe

Alongside its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia has intensified its hybrid influence operations. Southeast Europe (SEE) in particular remains one of the most vulnerable soft targets for the Kremlin’s ongoing hybrid war. Democratic backsliding, governance deficits, the erosion of civil liberties, and a stalled integration into Euro-Atlantic institutions have kept the region locked in political uncertainty, strategic ambiguity, and susceptibility to foreign malign influence. Media capture and the channelling of illicit financial flows (IFFs) are two of the most critical instruments that the Kremlin employs for state capture in the region. [+]

Fighting Foreign Malign Influence in Democratic States

If liberal democracies want to enhance their resilience against foreign malign authoritarian actors, including their information operations, they need to create a culture of strategic thinking that will prevent fiascos, such as the European energy crisis. GLOBSEC's policy papers seeks to highlight how this enhanced resilience could be achieved. [+]

Lithuania's experience in Combating Hybrid Threats

Lithuania was one of the first European countries to recognize the dangers of relying too heavily on authoritarian regimes. The policies implemented by Lithuania could help other states improve their resilience to foreign malign influence, too. [+]

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Created by Admin on 2023/03/24 17:32

Bulgarian-Romanian Observatory of Digital Media

What is BROD?

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