Abstract

TeleSUR is a media company founded, funded, and managed by the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. Conceived to operate as a means by which to disseminate socialism and help foster a multipolar world order, TeleSUR doesn’t just report on the news— it seeks to direct political change. This investigation combines exclusive Facebook data, public information, interviews, and surveys to quantitatively and qualitatively analyze TeleSUR’s English language media operations. It will chart Venezuela’s media projects to influence the political values, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors of United States citizens on matters of public policy and civic engagement on social media and in person. It will determine if Venezuela’s geopolitical values are evident in TeleSUR’s news coverage and what they are; we will graph the extent of their coordinated inauthentic behavior on Facebook and visualize the extent of TeleSUR’s media and political partnerships.

Principal Investigator

José Ricardo Zapata

Professor, Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana in Medellín

Bio

José Ricardo Zapata holds a PhD in information and communication technologies from Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain, and a master’s in telecommunications engineering from Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, Colombia. Currently a professor at the Faculty of Information and Communication Technologies at Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, he has more than 15 years of academic experience in undergraduate and postgraduate courses in Data Mining, Python and R for Data Science, Audio Content Analysis, and Signal Processing.

Participants

Luciano Gallon

Professor and Leader of Technology and Innovation Management Research Group, Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana in Medellín

Bio

Luciano Gallon is a professor at Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana in Medellín, Colombia, where he leads the Technology and Innovation Management Research Group (GTI.UPB) and teaches System Dynamics, General Systems Theory, Complexity and Management of Knowledge, and Technology and Innovation. His research interests are in the areas of systemic perspective, system modeling, system dynamics, sociocybernetics, and sustainable development. Memberships include IEEE, IEEE Technology and Engineering Management Society, International Sociological Association (ISA), ISA Research Committee on Sociocybernetics, and the System Dynamics Society.

Ana Miralles

Professor, Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana in Medellín

Bio

Ana Miralles is a PhD in social sciences, social communication, and journalism; former UNESCO consultant; creator of the project "Voces Ciudadanas"; and author of five books investigating the relationship between communication, communities, and democracy.

Ariel Sheen

Project Manager, Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana in Medellín

Bio

Ariel Sheen is a Colombian national scholarship awardee working on his PhD in the Technology and Innovation Management program at Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana in Medellín. A graduate of New York University's Experimental Humanities Master’s Program, he's also worked extensively as a digital media strategist, data scientist, and business intelligence consultant.