Calling for Proposal: Media Content Analysis on Freedom of Religion and Interfaith Tolerance - Search for Common Ground

Terms of Reference

Search for Common Ground Indonesia

Media Content Analysis on

Freedom of Religion and Interfaith Tolerance

Search for Common Ground (Search) Indonesia invites application from competent English-speaking consulting firms, companies, research institutions, academics, think tank organizations or individual consultants dealing with the media and the issue of religious freedom and interfaith tolerance to carry out a “Media Content Analysis on Freedom of Religion and Interfaith Tolerance” for our project “Solidifying Religious Freedom in Indonesia”.

Media content analysis broadly refers to the research technique “for gathering and analyzing the content of text”, in which the ‘content’ refers to words, pictures, symbols, ideas or any message that is communicated, whereas the ‘text’ may include anything written or visual that serves as a medium for communication (Neuman, 1997). Not only do they have the power to influence public opinion, mass media also reflect the people’s opinions and perceptions on a particular issue or theme, including religious freedom. Therefore, the consultant will conduct a content analysis of media coverage on interfaith tolerance in Indonesia, to analyze the trends of media content concerning the issue, and how it illustrates the situation of religious freedom in the country.

The Organization

Search for Common Ground (Search) is an international non-profit organization that promotes the peaceful resolution of conflicts. Search’s mission is to transform how individuals, organizations, and governments deal with conflict - away from adversarial approaches and toward cooperative solutions. Search seeks to help conflicting parties understand their differences and act on their commonalities. Search implements projects from 56 offices in 35 countries, including in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and the United States.

Search has been working in Indonesia since 2002 and implements programs in conflict transformation, peacebuilding, prison reform, conflict-sensitive journalism, electoral participation and initiatives with youth, media, government agencies, informal religious leaders and women’s groups across the country.

Background

Throughout its history, Indonesia has long been regarded as a country where people from diverse religious and ethnic backgrounds can work together cohesively to tackle some of the challenges that this nation has faced.. Despite constitutional guarantees for religious freedom, however, violations of religious freedom are not only prevalent but also on the rise.

Search is implementing an 18-month project entitled “Solidifying Religious Freedom in Indonesia”. The project is funded by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL) and will run through April 2019. The overall goal of the project is to facilitate the process of ensuring religious freedom or belief in Indonesia through collaborative engagement of state and non-state actors. The project has 2 key objectives:

Objective 1: To improve national and local government’s role in ensuring the protection of religious minorities in exercising religious freedom.

Objective 2: To enhance the roles of key actors (religious leaders, artists, and media) in actively promoting religious tolerance.

Objectives

The Consultant will carry out a content analysis on the media coverage of religious freedom and interfaith tolerance during the time frame of 1 (one) year during January 2017 - January 2018. The analysis will examine the media trend in covering cases and incidents on the issue in mass media, both online and offline, and analyze how the issue of religious freedom is portrayed in the media.

The analysis will have the following objectives:

• To illustrate the current situation of religious freedom and interfaith tolerance in Indonesia;
• To review and analyze the characteristics of media content on religious freedom and interfaith tolerance, including:

o   the characteristics of both the producers and audiences;

o Identified potential effects (positive/negative; intended/unintended) of the media content messages and discourses on the audiences;

• To recommend strategies to be taken in order to improve media narratives on interfaith tolerance;
• To inform and feed into the training materials for Search’s Workshop on Peace Journalism for key media influencers.

Methodology

The analysis will ideally apply a combination of quantitative and qualitative methodologies in analyzing the media content in order to inform program implementation. However, in the case of the usage of a sole methodology, the qualitative methodology is preferable.

Key Questions

●       Current Situation

• What are the main media outlets that have consistently covered the issue of religious freedom and the cases of interfaith intolerance or violations against religious freedom?
• What are the characteristics of these media outlets? Who are their general and targeted audience?
• What is the media trend in covering issues and stories concerning religious freedom?

●       Content Analysis

• How does the media’s coverage on religious freedom and interfaith tolerance illustrate or mirror the current situation of religious freedom in Indonesia?
• Who are the key media influencers in Indonesia and what are the potential effects of the media’s current coverage of this issue? How do they shape the audience’s opinions?
• To what extent does the mainstream media portray both sides of key stories, debunk stereotypes, identify commonalities among diverse groups or stakeholders in opposition, and present solutions to key problems? (the common ground approach)
• What are the key messages from their coverage of the issue of religious freedom, and how do they deliver these messages? (For more information see: Deliverables - Section 3 - Research findings, analysis, and conclusions). How is the media’s stance on religious freedom mirrored through their language and supporting template (e.g. title, hook, page)?

●       Strategy Recommendations

• What are the strategies that need to be taken to improve the media’s content on religious freedom issues?
• What are the strategies that should be done to create a more peaceful and tolerant media narrative, particularly in addressing challenges and constraints that hinder a more tolerant and balanced coverage?

●       Training and Workshop Recommendations

• What are the key areas of content that need to be covered in a workshop on peace journalism to improve coverage of religious freedom and interfaith tolerance?
• What are the key approaches that can be used to engage journalists on these issues?
• What are the suggested hook points or strategies to engage and interest the media to participate in the workshop?

Key Duties of Consultant

1. Identify, review, and analyze the media coverage on religious freedom and interfaith tolerance in Indonesia during the period of January 2017 - January 2018, including but not limited to online and printed media outlets in the form of articles, photographs, and photojournalism;
2. Develop a tool to analyze the media content in terms of its contribution to constructive dialogue and its implementation of the common ground approach (refer to Content Analysis);
3. Describe media trends in covering cases and stories concerning religious freedom and interfaith tolerance, outlining both its strengths and weaknesses;
4. Review and analyze the characteristics of media content on religious freedom and interfaith tolerance, including the characteristics of both the producers and audiences;
5. Identify key media influencers and predict potential effects of the media contents’ messages and discourses on religious freedom on their audiences;
6. Recommend strategies to improve, or otherwise to create, the media’s peaceful and tolerant narrative and discourse on religious freedom and interfaith tolerance;
7. Draft a Content Analysis research report to inform the training module development for the Workshop on Peace Journalism.

Scope of Work

The scope of work of the Consultant(s) will include the following:

• Develop assessment instruments (the Inception Report) with Search’s input in both English and Bahasa Indonesia;
• Carry out the Media Content Analysis using a proposed set of methods. We are looking for novel approaches that can be qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods, and should be well justified in proposal submissions.
• Produce a 10-15 pages research report in English (excluding cover pages and annexes) covering key findings, major conclusions, and recommendations in order to help inform the development of the program. Once the report is finalized, it needs to be translated into Bahasa Indonesia by the Consultant.

Deliverables

Within the consultancy period, the Consultant is expected to complete the above-mentioned scope of work. The deliverables are as follows:

1.    Inception report completed within first 3 days after the signing of the contract and consists of the assignment as agreed upon by the program team.  The inception report should have detailed a methodological approach and description of the data collection tools to capture the questions in mentioned in key baseline questions. The inception report shall need a formal approval from Indonesia Country Representative and Asia Regional DM&E Specialist before starting the assessment process.

2.    First Draft of Media Content Analysis research report. The report is subject to Search’s Indonesia and ILT’s Asia Regional DM&E Specialist’s review. The review and feedback may be given in multiple rounds depending on the quality of the report. No final payment is approved unless the report is approved by Institutional Learning Team (ILT).

3.    Final Draft of Media Content Analysis Report: The report should be STRICTLY in English (then translated into Bahasa after finalization), approximately 10-15 pages, and consists of:

• Table of contents;
• Executive summary: Includes brief project introduction, methodological approach, key findings and recommendations (no more than 2 pages);
• Research findings, analysis, and conclusions: The findings section will have subsections to cover key questions under each objective category, and include key points such as the viewpoint of selected/sampled media, the tone of the media (e.g. sarcasm, hatred, racism, bigotry, etc.), visual imagery in the text, glorification of an event or idea, and contexts of any specific event/incident.
• Recommendations for Search, in general, and project team, in particular: Every single recommendation should be directly linked to assessment findings.
• Appendices: including research instruments, bibliography, and brief biography of consultant(s);
• Two electronic copies (in MS Word document) in Bahasa Indonesia and English.

The consultancy period will be approximately 20 working days.. The consultant should be based in Jakarta.

SN	Activities	Deadlines
1	Application Deadlines	20 February 2018
2	Signing of the contract	21 February 2018
3	Inception report approval	22 February 2018
4	Media content analysis	22 Feb – 7 Mar 2018
6	Draft report submission	9 March 2018
7	Final report submission	19 March 2018

Remuneration

The schedule of payment of the consultancy fee is as follows:

1. 50% will be paid upon approval of the Draft Inception report.  

2. 50% will be paid upon completion and approval of the final report (in English and Bahasa Indonesia). No Payment (second installment) will be made unless the report is approved by Country Representative/Senior Program Manager Indonesia, and ILT.

Supervision of the Consultant

The consultant will work under the Senior Program Manager in collaboration with program staff and the Asia Regional DME Specialist.

Qualifications:

• Minimum 5 years applied experience in a media or research-related field;
• Strong background in media analysis, research, and journalism;
• Proven track record of writing a high quality fully edited report in English and Bahasa Indonesia;
• Master’s degree preferred in communication science, journalism, literature, history, discourse analysis, or a related humanitarian or social science field;
• Proven qualitative research skills (candidates should provide a copy of past research, baseline or evaluation reports written in English);
• Work experience in Indonesia;
• Fluent in English and Bahasa Indonesia.

Application process:

Interested candidates should send their CV, cover letter (indicating proposed methodology and rate), and one sample of a research report or media analysis written by the applicant in English to phandayani@sfcg.org before 19 February 2018. Short-listed offerors are contacted for further selection process. Telephone calls and office visit for inquiries are not entertained and could be the basis for disqualification.