The UK-based not-for-profit organization The Global Disinformation Index (GDI), in cooperation with the Centre of Eastern European Policy Studies (CEEPS), has conducted a research about disinformation risk ratings in popular and frequently visited media sites in Latvia.

In total 23 media sites was assessed. Using the methodology developed by GDI, the analysis of media sites was conducted in several categories. The structure of the site, content, editorial integrity and independence and the context of the site was all analyzed. A site’s disinformation risk level is based on that site’s aggregated score across all of the reviewed categories. A site’s overall score ranges from zero (maximum risk level) to 100 (minimum risk level). Each indicator that is included in the framework is scored from zero to 100. The output of the index is therefore the site’s overall disinformation risk level, rather than the truthfulness or journalistic quality of the site.

According to the research, two thirds of the assessed sites show high to maximum disinformation risk levels. Overall the assessed sites show low risks when it comes to reliability of the published content. However, their scores are brought down by operational shortcomings, such as lack of information regarding their owners, sources of funding, as well as editorial policies.

The research was conducted from March to June 2020.

Research can be found here.