Presidential election 2018

Preliminary outcomes of the analysis

Authors: Jonáš Syrovátka, Jaroslav Hroch (PSSI)

Summary

During the period between December 1, 2017 and January 21, 2018, platforms followed in this

project published 1086 articles in total, in which at least one presidential candidate was

mentioned. Most of them (719 articles) focused their attention on the election campaign. During

December, the candidates were also mentioned in connection to other topics, whereas the topic of

the election campaign has clearly dominated in January.

In this analysis we will only cover the candidates who are in the second round of the Presidential

Elections. The most mentioned candidate was Miloš Zeman (altogether in 947 articles). This

attention was, however, partly due to the President’s duties related to his tenure, constituting in

total one third of the articles. Jiří Drahoš was mentioned in 554 articles.

In most of the cases, mentions of the candidates were neither negative nor positive. The overall

number of negative and positive articles about Miloš Zeman was more or less equal (160 negative

to 182 positive). Jiří Drahoš was mentioned more often with a negative connotation (133 negative

to 81 positive). The situation has, however, changed in the third week of January, after the first

round of elections. The number of positive mentions of Miloš Zeman has increased (37 negative

and 75 positive), while Jiří Drahoš’s name was mentioned more often with a negative spin (68

mentions) than with a positive (35 mentions) one.

The most active platform was Parlamentní listy, which published 975 articles. The overall

sentiment of these articles was clearly positive about, and leaning towards, Miloš Zeman (both on

their websites and their official Facebook page. See below). Parlamentní listy also published

disinformation, according to which the popular Czech singer, Karel Gott, endorsed Miloš Zeman.

Other platforms, such as Aeronet, Protipoud and the Facebook page Zprávy.cz, have also

increased their activity and promoted Miloš Zeman, whilst criticizing Jiří Drahoš.

Disinformation has also been spreading with a higher intensity. These include old campaigns—for

instance, the one blaming George Soros for financing the campaign of Jiří Drahoš, or another

saying that Jiří Drahoš collaborated with a plainclothes secret (political) police force StB during

Communist Czechoslovakia—and also new ones, such as Jiří Drahoš naming Miroslav Kalousek

as the Prime Minister and then accepting refugees in accordance with the EU refugee quota. There

was no disinformation campaign on the platforms followed in this project which attempted to

slander Miloš Zeman.

Topics

Throughout December and the first three week in January, the platforms followed in this project

published 1086 articles, in which at least one presidential candidate was mentioned. Most of them (719

articles) focused attention on the election campaign. Another very popular topic was the current domestic

political situation connected to the formation of the new government (147 articles), and reporting on the

President’s duties related to his tenure (54 articles).

In December, the ratio between articles reporting on the election campaign and articles focused on other

topics was more or less equal, whereas in January the topic of the election campaign has dominated.

Graph n. 1 – The representation of particular topics on the platforms followed by the project

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In the group of articles focusing on the election, opinion-based articles – commentary (216 articles) and

interviews (171) – dominated. The second most represented type of articles was information regarding the

election campaign (193 articles) followed by the statements from the candidates (123 articles). Ten

articles in total contained disinformation.

Graph n. 2 – The types of articles reporting on the presidential election

The Candidates

The most mentioned candidate throughout the analyzed period was Miloš Zeman (altogether in 947

articles). If we concentrate on the articles reporting on Zeman with a clear connection to the election, the

number is lower, just 632 articles. However, even then, Miloš Zeman is notably the most mentioned

candidate.

The second most popular candidate during the period followed by this project was Jiří Drahoš (554

articles). In December, Jiří Drahoš ‘competed’ for the second position with Mirek Topolánek.

216

193

171

123

10

Commentary

News

Interview

Statement

Disinformation

Graph n. 3 – Mentions of the candidates over time

In the majority of cases, the mentions regarding the candidates were neither positive nor negative. The

overall number of positive and negative articles about Miloš Zeman was more or less equal (160 negative

to 182 positive). Jiří Drahoš was mentioned more often with a negative connotation, with a ratio 3:2 (133

negative to 81 positive mentions). While an overwhelming number of negative mentions about Zeman

was published in Parlamentní listy (usually in questionnaires among celebrities or in interviews), Drahoš

was criticized by all platforms followed in this project.

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M. Zeman (president)

M. Zeman (candida-te)

J. Drahoš

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Graph n. 4 – The number of mentions in total with respect to the sentiment (neutral-negative-

positive) 1

With regards to sentiment, there was a visible change between the first and the second round. Before the

first round, the ratio of negative (123) and positive (118) mentions regarding Miloš Zeman was almost

equal. Now, just before the second round, the ratio of positive to negative mentions has increased (37

negative to 75 positive). Jiří Drahoš saw the opposite effect; he was predominantly negatively mentioned

before the first round (65 negative to 44 positive), but just before the second round the number of

negative mentions has increased (68 negative to 35 positive).

A sharpened political struggle has also been reflected by an increase of articles with either a positive or

negative sentiment. Before the second round, the number of positive and negative mentions is almost the

same as neutral ones.

1 Calculated by January 21, 2018.

M. Zeman (in total) J. Drahoš (in total)0

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Graph n. 5 – The number of mentions in total with respect to the sentiment (neutral-negative-

positive) – a comparison between the first and second rounds

Platforms

Most of the analyzed articles (975) were published by the website Parlamentní listy, though just a small

portion was also published on their official Facebook page. Articles published on their website and

Facebook were different in sentiment. On their Facebook page, more articles were published which had a

positive sentiment regarding Miloš Zeman (34 negative and 63 positive), whilst Jiří Drahoš was criticized

more often (46 negative and 16 positive). The reaction of the Facebook users to positive articles about Jiří

Drahoš was very negative.

Parlamentní listy also published a disinformation, according to which the well-known Czech singer, Karel

Gott, endorsed Miloš Zeman. The author of this article is Radim Panenka, a ‘journalist’ well known for

his close contacts within the President’s inner circle. This disinformation—with a manipulative headline,

which was later changed—had 116 shares on Facebook after just twenty-four hours.

M. Z

eman

(bef

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Graph n. 6 – The number of mentions in total with respect to the sentiment (neutral-negative-

positive) – a comparison between Parlamentní listy Facebook and webpage

The website Protiproud published fifteen articles and in most of them (nine articles), Jiří Drahoš was

criticized, while their readers were encouraged to vote for Miloš Zeman. Authors agreed on the fact that

Zeman is a ‘pro-national candidate,’ whereas Jiří Drahoš is a very weak and susceptible to manipulation

by a global elite.2 Protiproud also contributed to the spreading of the disinformation regarding George

Soros’ financing of Jiří Drahoš’s campaign.

The website Aeronet published fourteen articles in total. It was usually the first platform to publish the

majority of disinformation during the period this project was conducted. Aeronet also endorsed Miloš

Zeman and in the half of the articles, criticized Jiří Drahoš. With the second round approaching, the

website has become more active and publishes articles on a daily basis. Some of them were also adopted

from other websites, which is a unique phenomenon for Aeronet.

The Facebook page Zprávy.cz (formerly WeAreHereAtHome) has been also more active after the first

round. Between January 14 and January 21, it published twenty-three statuses which mentioned at least

one of the candidates. Miloš Zeman was introduced in a very positive light (2 negative to 11 positive) and

2 This opinion is very clear in a commentary of V. Podracký (January 18, 2018).

M. Z

eman

(all t

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J. D

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Neutral

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Jiří Drahoš was, not surprisingly, heavily criticized (12 negative to 1 positive). According to the reactions

and comments, most of the people following the page shared this point of view.

The website Sputnik CZ published thirty-eight articles; Miloš Zeman was depicted positively in eight of

them. An editorial staff member, in a reaction to an ironic tweet by MP Miroslav Kalousek, declared that

they are not going to be involved in the election campaign. The website AC24 published fourteen articles

and in most the candidates were mentioned neither negatively nor positively.

Graph n. 7 – Number of articles published on platforms followed by this project (excluding

Parlamentní listy)

Disinformation

The number of disinformation campaigns being spread has also increased after the first round. Five out of

ten campaigns appeared in the third week of January alone. The topics of the new disinformation

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campaigns were connecting Jiří Drahoš with unpopular MP Miroslav Kalousek (who will be, allegedly,

named as the Prime Minister) and with migration (Drahoš is believed to begin accepting refugees in

accordance with the EU refugee quota). Older disinformation (for example, blaming George Soros for

financing Jiří Drahoš’s campaign, or another saying that Jiří Drahoš collaborated with a plainclothes

secret (political) police force StB during Communist Czechoslovakia) also started to appear with greater

intensity. Miloš Zeman wasn’t targeted by any disinformation campaign. He was, however, misinformed

by an above mentioned article from Parlamentní listy and stated that Karel Gott endorsed him. Parlametní

listy also reported about a distribution of leaflets, in which it was stated that Miloš Zeman’s supporters do

not have to vote in the first round of the election.

Graph n. 8 – Mentions of the combination of words ‘Soros’ and ‘elections’ on the Czech news

websites in January (searched using a tool >versus<)

This newsletter was written under the project, The Czech Election in The Era of Disinformation, during

which five platforms disseminating disinformation and the way in which they inform the public about the

presidential election in 2018 is followed. These are: the websites AC24; Aeronet; Parlametní listy;

Protiprooud; and Sputnk CZ; and the Facebook page Zprávy.cz. The data-gathering is conducted using

the >versus< media monitoring tool, developed by the Beacon Project of the International Republican

Institute. The project was also supported by The Open Society Fund Prague.