Summary

  • The war in Ukraine is a landmark event of 2022 that we have included in the analysis to get a clearer picture of its magnitude and its impact on the other regular actors of our analysis. Indeed, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was a disruptive event that significantly influenced both mentions and viewership. This doesn’t just mean that Ukraine and Russia dominate the two rankings, but also that most of the other actors have mention peaks at the end of February (when Russia attacked Ukraine) and are strongly associated with the two belligerent countries.
  • Beyond Ukraine and Russia, the most mentions in 2022 were for the European Union, which is followed by the US and NATO. These were the most present actors in the Romanian online space among the countries and institutions we analyzed. All of them are mentioned primarily in association with the war in Ukraine.
    • However, in the case of the EU, there are mentions in the context of the discussion and institutional procedures for Romania’s accession to the Schengen Area, and the USA also stands out through its associations with China, in the context of tensions in Taiwan Strait.
    • In addition, China has also a peak in mentions in August 2022 amid rising tensions with Taiwan.
    • Other international actors with peaks of mentions that were not generated by the war in Ukraine are France (in the context of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar) and Great Britain (in the context of the inauguration of Liz Truss as prime minister).
    • It is worth noting that, in 2022, there were also associations (less intense and numerous) with elements of the coronavirus crisis in the case of China, Israel and Great Britain.
  • Compared to 2021, there is a significant increase in mentions for NATO, but also decreases for Great Britain. The overall trend indicates an increase in the number of mentions for most of the actors included in the analysis. Exceptions are Great Britain, Israel and Germany.
  • In terms of viewership, the 2022 ranking is dominated by Ukraine and Russia, followed by the EU, USA and NATO. As a general evolution, there is an increase in the impact of mentions for the vast majority of the actors included in the analysis. In some cases there is a slight increase (Israel), and in others it is more consistent (Russia, NATO, EU). The only exception is the UK, which has a slight decrease.
  • For all actors considered, the most mentions are on social networks, more precisely on Facebook, with a nuance in the case of Great Britain for which the number of mentions on the two types of sources is quite balanced (with a slight advance for social networks). This trend is more pronounced compared to last year.
  • In terms of the impact of mentions, in most cases, social networks rank above the online press. The exception is NATO, with more views (impact of mentions) on social networks. There are also three actors for whom the online press and social media mentions had a similar impact: Ukraine, with a slight advance of social media mentions, Germany and China, both with a slightly higher impact in the case of online media.

The full study (in Romanian)