Appendix and social media graphics
- Appendix and social media graphics
- Addressing claims about corruption
- Alternate graphic versions
- Zoom in on the media bias chart
- Top 100 accounts for Hyperlink-Induced Topic Search (HITS)
- Hyperlink-Induced Topic Search (HITS) explained
- References for The Duran
- References for Zero Hedge
Addressing claims about corruption
- The country has struggled with Russia’s weaponization of strategic corruption, which Russia uses to exert influence in other countries.
- By attributing Russia’s strategic corruption to Ukraine, the author—in effect— helps Russia exert control over ex-Soviet states like Ukraine.
- For those interested to know more about the country’s journey out of Soviet corruption, see the article “Why Ukraine’s Fight Against Corruption Scares Russia.”
“In recent years, a number of countries—China and Russia, in particular—have found ways to take the kind of corruption that was previously a mere feature of their own political systems and transform it into a weapon on the global stage. Countries have done this before, but never on the scale seen today.”
The article also disregards Ukrainian efforts to combat corruption, which include a designated Anti-Corruption Court and a National Corruption Policy Council.
Experts believe the loss of the ability to manipulate through corruption is one reason Russia invaded Ukraine. The 2014 invasion came immediately following a Ukrainian revolution that ousted the pro-Kremlin leader Viktor Yanukovych, whom Putin allowed to flee to Russia.
Alternate graphic versions
Zoom in on the media bias chart
Post Millenial does not appear on the graph as Ad Fontes has not yet rated the outlet.
Top 100 accounts for Hyperlink-Induced Topic Search (HITS)
sethdillon jamesbradleyca jackposobiec benswann_ realmarkfinchem jamesmelville realcalvinx calvinrobinson w_terrence cawthornfornc timrunshismouth redwinggrips rising_serpent theblaze bethbur97689252 electionwiz pamelahensley22 erinbrophy18 hrkbenowen storm4congress wallstreetsilv bennyjohnson amc_apee thequartering berniespofforth gunthereagleman leslibless riggedgov unscriptedmike ksamgnet1 therealkeean digitalassetbuy robbwolf happyhorsegirl1 andyswan newsmax mrsocfd937 willcain readealexandra bubblebathgirl merissahansen17 usminitru pugzrule_ rampage95_sgtg georgegalloway bossblunts1 timburchett gregg_re drewhlive 1776gretchen davidkurten wolff_ernst tpostmillennial liana53160 thecryptolark jamesdelingpole errolwebber jordanschachtel oann manaf12hassan bpartisans citizenfreepres upr_asselineau libbyemmons gencostocks keithmalinak catoletters mrpseu rosenbusch_ ericmetaxas gnearhoff 6iggu5dicku5 musashibonmot redsteeze savingamerica4u unusual_whales laurakronen ukr_report matronincharge larrythkw migueld05144897 styx666official playstrumpcard marcpatrone tayshyan jackmcostigan 595sparky kells5710 vwadi007 swalths 1979hab 7commonsense montagueterrie patriot_hammer 72powpow dend531 doctorgerhard rbtgil trade_yyc daveatherton20
Hyperlink-Induced Topic Search (HITS) explained
Hyperlink-Induced Topic Search (HITS) (also known as Hubs and authorities) is a link analysis algorithm that rates Web pages, developed by Jon Kleinberg.
Objective
The HITS metric determines two values for a page: its authority, which estimates the value of the content of the page, and its hub value, which estimates the value of its links to other pages. Description
Computes two different scores: hubs and authority. The authority score indicates the page's value (node) itself, and hubs estimate the value of the links outgoing from the page (node). HITS is an iterative algorithm at each iteration:
- Update the authority value of each node to be the sum of the hub values for every node it has a link into.
- Update the hub values for each node to be the sum of the authority values that it has a link into.
- Normalize the hub and authority scores for all nodes by normalizing each value by the system sum for each value.
- Repeat these steps (assumingly until the values no longer fluctuate).
Source code
See org.gephi.statistics.plugin.Hits.java.
Acknowledgments
Patrick McSweeney implemented this code.
Implemented Algorithm
Kleinberg, Jon (1999). "Authoritative sources in a hyperlinked environment.” Journal of the ACM 46 (5): 604–632. doi:10.1145/324133.324140. PDF
Reference
References for The Duran
A Bible Burning, a Russian News Agency and a Story Too Good to Check Out (2020)
Neither the U.S. nor allied governments have publicly identified The Duran as having direct ties to Russia’s spy agencies. But the site is where Russian state-sponsored disinformation and fringe theories come together, according to a NATO cyber-analyst who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.
How a Little-Known Pro-Kremlin Analyst Became a Philippine Expert Overnight (2019)
How (Not) To Report On Russian Disinformation (2020)
Fringe non-Russian, pro-Russian outlets include places that have no direct (but perhaps indirect) institutional ties to Russia but are nonetheless generally favorable to the Kremlin. These outlets include websites legally registered all over the world, such as The Duran, GlobalResearch.ca, and Infowars.
Correctly describing the media outlet producing disinformation is extremely important and will prevent mistakes such as misattributing the actions of a Swedish man running a small pro-Kremlin aggregation site to the Russian state and a massive energy company headquartered in Moscow, as we saw with The Russophile.
Multimillionaire American Podiatrist Co-Owns Pro-Kremlin Propaganda Website (2022)
The podiatrist, Dr. Vladimir Zeetser, owns a minority share of DRN Media, the company behind the Duran, a website promoting false conspiracy theories echoing Russian state messaging.
References for Zero Hedge
Russian Social Media Influence (2018)
Third, mutually reinforcing digital entities pick up and perpetuate the narrative, whether they are ideologically friendly or simply fall under the category of “useful idiots.” These entities include news aggregators, far-right or far-left sites, blogs, and users drawn in by clickbait headlines that reinforce their previously held beliefs, in addition to media outlets that frequently echo the Kremlin line but are not obviously affiliated with Russia, such as Zero Hedge (pg 30-31)
Is Zero Hedge a Russian Trojan Horse? (2020)
Zero Hedge runs political news and commentary that “frequently echo the Kremlin line,” as a 2018 RAND Institute study put it. Among Zero Hedge’s most Russia-friendly fare were stories depicting the Mueller investigation as a hoax, pieces claiming that the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal was staged by British intelligence, and posts asserting that the Steele dossier was a work of “fanfiction” by internet trolls on 4chan. Andrew Weisburd, a private intelligence analyst who has done work for the U.S. intelligence community, has found that Zero Hedge is at the center of a web of conspiracy sites with spokes extending out into the darkest fringes of the internet.
US Accuses Zero Hedge of Spreading Russian Propaganda (2022)
U.S. intelligence officials on Tuesday accused a conservative financial news website with a significant American readership of amplifying Kremlin propaganda and alleged five media outlets targeting Ukrainians have taken direction from Russian spies.
The officials said Zero Hedge, which has 1.2 million Twitter followers, published articles created by Moscow-controlled media that were then shared by outlets and people unaware of their nexus to Russian intelligence. The officials did not say whether they thought Zero Hedge knew of any links to spy agencies and did not allege direct links between the website and Russia.