EU AND COUNCIL OF EUROPE WORKING TOGETHER TO SUPPORT FREEDOM OF MEDIA IN UKRAINE

Back Call for tender – Purchase of social data scraping services for the media monitoring of 2020 local electoral process in Ukraine

The Project “EU and Council of Europe working together to support freedom of media in Ukraine” (hereinafter – the Project) is launching a tender procedure for purchase of social data scraping services for the media monitoring of 2020 local electoral process in Ukraine in order to provide the media monitoring specialists with requested materials / statistical data from social media networks (Facebook) to be processed with regard to analyzing media coverage of 2020 local electoral process in Ukraine.

Expected duration of the provided services: 05 September 2020 – 25 October 2020

The monitoring period may be revised subject to any change of 2020 Local Elections Day in Ukraine.

All offers should be sent to [email protected] indicating 4756/2020/38FC in the e-mail subject line by 10:00 on 25 August 2020 (Kyiv time).

All questions shall be submitted by 15:00 on 20 August 2020 (Kyiv time) and shall be exclusively addressed to the e-mail address [email protected] with the following reference in the e-mail subject: “QUESTIONS_4756/2020/38FC

Eligibility criteria

private entrepreneur or a legal person duly registered in accordance with the Ukrainian legislation, except consortia, having legal grounds to provide the respective services;
previous at least 1 year professional experience in the field of social media data scraping.

Expected services

It is planned that the media monitoring will include social media monitoring of Facebook social network. Throughout the duration of the Framework Contract, pre-selected Providers may be asked to provide social media (Facebook) data scraping services (with regard up to 130 Facebook pages/profiles per day) which might include (but not be limited) to:

data mining with R;
conduct of an in-depth research in leveraging large and complex data sets using statistical methods and tools such as R;
support project in questionnaire design and interpreting/quantifying qualitative data in order to provide, on a daily basis, the media monitoring specialists with requested materials to be processed while carrying out the monitoring of social media coverage of 2020 local electoral process in Ukraine.
keep track of data from Facebook public pages and personal profiles (public posts) on a daily basis;
gather the following data: Facebook posts – date – address – type (post/re-post) – text – quantity of shares – quantity of comments – quantity of reactions – author (name and URL page) – quantity of subscribers from all pages/profiles that are being monitored;
to capture, via hashtags used, what people are talking about a specific topic on a daily basis;
to get information of likes and shares from a specific page on a daily basis to track their popularity and the content that will get viral the most;
to identify real and/or fake accounts.

The tenderers are requested to propose the most efficient way of transmitting the requested materials / statistical data to the media monitoring specialists on a daily basis (the collected data (requested materials / statistical data) should be processed two days following the day of publication and transmitted on the day following the day of processing).

Documents to be provided

A completed and signed copy of the Act of Engagement [1] (See attached);
A list of all owners and executive officers, for legal persons only;
Professional profile in the form of official letter (stamped and signed) demonstrating clearly that the tenderer fulfils the eligibility criteria and having brief translation of registration documents in English;
Registration documents (scanned copy of the originals in Ukrainian);
Technical proposal describing:
a) the methods / procedure suggested for social media data scraping services and transmitting the collected materials / statistical data to the media monitoring specialists;
b) technical and human resources capacity to provide the requested services;

Attachments to the present announcement contain full description of the terms and conditions of the providers’ involvement:

1. Tender File/Terms of Reference

2. Act of Engagement

[1] The Act of Engagement must be completed, signed and scanned in its entirety (i.e. including all the pages). The scanned Act of Engagement may be sent page by page (attached to a single email) or as a compiled document, although a compiled document would be preferred. For all scanned documents, .pdf files are preferred.

Kyiv, Ukraine 13 August 2020

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WHAT IS THE PROJECT ABOUT?

“EU and Council of Europe working together to support freedom of media in Ukraine” (hereinafter – the Project) is one of three components of the Joint Project of the European Union and the Council of Europe “EU and Council of Europe working together to strengthening protection of the human rights in Ukraine”. It is aimed to enhance the role of media, its freedom and safety, and the public broadcaster as an instrument for consensus building in the Ukrainian society according to the priorities included in the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine 2018-2021 as well as EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, ratified in September 2014.

The Project addresses six main priorities:

reinforcing the Public Broadcasting system in Ukraine;
strengthening local print press outlets which undergone de-statisation reform;
safety of journalists and countering impunity of crimes against freedom of expression, in particular creation of the rapid response mechanism to ensure safety of journalists;
adoption of audiovisual legislation and strengthening capacities of the National TV and Radio Broadcasting Council of Ukraine;
improving access to public information for media and society;
balanced and professional media coverage of elections, fighting propaganda and information disorder and providing information security of Ukraine in line with the European standards.

The Project is a continuation of the support to the ongoing reforms in the field of media after the completion of the Council of Europe Project “Strengthening Freedom of the Media, Access to Information and Reinforcing a Public Broadcasting System in Ukraine”, implemented within the period of 01 July 2018 – 31 August 2019 in the framework of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine 2018-2022.

BUDGET AND TIMEFRAME OF THE PROJECT

The total budget of the media component amounts to EUR 1 268 000.

The Project is implemented by 09 April 2022.

SITUATION IN THE SPHERE OF MEDIA IN UKRAINE

Since the Euro-Maidan or the Revolution of Dignity in 2014, Ukraine has made important efforts to reflect European standards into national legal framework and practice in the fields of media, freedom of expression and information society. Major reforms have been launched and based on adoption of the legislation on public service broadcasting, transparency of media ownership, and reform of state and communal print media. The Ukrainian public broadcaster UA:PBC has been created, major strategic documents concerning its functioning adopted and its capacity strengthened. Effective mechanism of Ukraine’s co-operation with the Council of Europe Platform on Safety of Journalists was created.

Ukraine has made a visible progress in media reforms. However, the results achieved are still fragile. Further efforts are needed to ensure the sustainability of reforms.

Despite significant progress achieved so far, the UA:PBC remains seriously underfinanced and its structure needs further optimisation.

Regarding the safety of journalists, the number of physical attacks on journalists has grown in 2018, while their investigation remains largely inefficient. A narrow definition of “professional activities of a journalist” in the Criminal Code of Ukraine does not cover the journalists of electronic media, bloggers, camerapersons and other new actors, protection is another problem.

The Draft Law “On Audiovisual Services” is being prepared. The Association Agreement with the EU indicates that Ukraine committed to align its media legislation with the EU Audiovisual Media Services Directive of the Agreement.

Fair, balanced and impartial media coverage of elections in Ukraine remains a serious challenge. Political advertising in and between the electoral processes and hidden advertising, abundance of fake news and propaganda, freedom of expression and ethical standards for journalists are on top of public discussions.

PROJECT’S EXPECTED RESULTS

The governance system of public broadcaster is built, it is financially sustainable and enjoys editorial independence to fulfill its role of public service media;
The reform of communal print outlets is finalized, they are strengthened and provide quality journalism at local level;
Enhanced safety of media actors as a result of guaranteed protection by law and strong nationally owned Rapid Response Mechanism for protection of media actors;
The Law “On Audiovisual Services” is adopted and implemented in line with EU AVMS Directive and the Council of Europe standards and ensures the independence of the National TV and Radio Broadcasting Council of Ukraine;
Access to public information and transparency in operations of the information holders is ensured.
Media coverage of elections is effectively regulated and mechanisms for fighting information disorder and propaganda are introduced resulting with increased transparency of electoral process.

PROJECT’S PARTNERS

The key partners of the media component are PJSC “Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine” (UA:PBC), National Television and Radio Broadcasting Council of Ukraine, Parliamentary Committees on Humanitarian and Information Policy and on the Freedom of Speech, relevant ministries, the Presidential Office of Ukraine, State Committee for Television and Radio Broadcasting, Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, law enforcement agencies of Ukraine, Central Election Commission, educational institutions, civil society organisations working in the sphere of media, relevant professional associations etc.