The project, supported by the American people, aims to empower Macedonian citizens to hold the media accountable, and to assist journalists in the implementation of their professional standards, by providing online tools and resources for public education and awareness raising. This will be done by establishing the online Media Fact-Checking Service, aimed to increase the citizen demand for fact-based, objective and professional news and information. Target group of the project and the website: citizens, civil society organizations and media professionals.

Information about the website

  • The Media Fact-Checking Service website is being developed as an integral part of the Truthmeter website (vistinomer.mk in Macedonian, vertetmates.mk in Albanian), but due to the differences in functionality, as it is dealing with a different topic (quality of media content instead of statements of politicians) it should be characterized by its own structure and design.
  • The website will be available under the domains mediumi.vistinomer.mk in Macedonian, media.vertetmates.mk in Albanian and media.truthmeter.mk in English. The first two language versions have an identical function and should allow switching from one language to another at every level within the website’s structure. The English version will only contain basic information about the project..

The design proposal for the website should adhere to the website branding rules established in advance, in coordination with USAID. This would be based on the rules listed on the following website: http://transition.usaid.gov/info_technology/xweb/sitebranding.html. Before they start creating a design solution, interested bidders may request the relevant branding documentation from the client, specifically concerning the Media Fact-Checking Service.

Structure and appearance

The design should feature a portal look and three main categories in the main menu: reviews, analyses and journalist lessons. In addition, it should also have two categories with informative content: Activities (of the project) and media-related Topical news.

As for the Home page, priority should be given to reviews of the daily news (the most common type of news posts), followed by analyses and finally educational articles that would be occasionally published. Despite this type of prioritization of the reviews, the home page should feature the top content or the latest content and additionally all the subpages should feature visually prominent recent content from the remaining two categories.

Apart from the main page, the following types of pages should also be designed:

  • Single post page – The design of these pages may be the same, except that the design of the pages for daily news reviews should provide space for an image (screenshot), a graphic display of a set of criteria in the form of an infographic and text review. The other types of content will be text-based.
  • A page for reporting problems by citizens which should include: a title, a link to the article, an option for uploading a screenshot and space for explanation of the problem (the reason for reporting).
  • A page for displaying all the problems reported by citizens, accompanied by graphic elements (icons) that will indicate their status: open, rejected, reviewing, analyzed.

The graphic display of the set of criteria is part of the design solution of the bidder.

Each page within the website should have a search box, a Report problem button, widgets for displaying Most Popular and Most Commented content, as well as space for embedding codes from the social networks Facebook and Twitter.

Links to static pages such as Methodology, About the project, Privacy Policy, etc. should be grouped in an additional website menu.

Each article should provide an option for comments by the citizens, and the daily news reviews should contain two different systems for commenting: publicly visible discussion between the Media fact-checking service and the appropriate media, as well as a standard system for commenting and answering comments.

Submitting bids

  • The bid should consist of a proposal only for the design of the home page, and the cost for creating the design solution should also include the cost for creating all the specified pages..
  • The final design solution should be submitted in a .psd format.
  • The price should also include the creation of a graphic solution (logo), as well as the design of a plugin for citizens to report problems directly through the media websites.

Metamorphosis provides equal opportunities and a fair and equitable treatment when hiring associates, regardless of their race, color, sex, ethnic origin, age, disability, political affiliation, marital status or sexual orientation.

The bid should be submitted no later than 12 a.m., February 11, 2013.

Bids and requests for additional information should be sent via e-mail to info[at]metamorphosis.org.mk.

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