Media Monitoring Methodology for VOICE and The Daily Ittefaq

This methodology outlines the systematic approach taken by VOICE and The Daily Ittefaq to monitor various media platforms for news and content related to violations of Digital and Civic Space (DCS) and Gender Disinformation (GD), with a particular focus on their connection to SDG 16.10.

VOICE has a dedicated monitoring personnel member for performing this task who monitors ten leading newspapers (printed ones) and their online portals, YouTube channels, etc. manually on a regular basis to find out news, posts, stories, av-clips, opinions, etc. on digital and civic space violation. Both Bangla and English versions will be presented if available. The monitoring template is a dynamic document as it is updated regularly with news links and amended if the category section needs to include additional types of violences. Gender disinformation is recognized as a critical issue, often underreported in mainstream media. To address this, the monitoring personnel reviews posts from reputed feminist Facebook groups and credible YouTube channels to identify targeted disinformation or disinformation campaigns against women. Google Alerts is also utilized as a monitoring tool, using relevant buzzwords to scan the internet for intended news. The collected information is verified weekly by the VOICE team through telephonic or in-person conversations with representatives from The Daily Ittefaq or other media professionals, ensuring accuracy and credibility.

The Daily Ittefaq monitoring personnel uses their own journalistic sources/ resources to search for the intended news manually and after discussing with VOICE team, incorporates the news links in their database.