The media authority “KommAustria” has distributed quality journalism funding for print and online media for the first time, worth a total of 20 million euros. At around 2.3 million euros, more than a tenth of the funding went to the “Kronen Zeitung”. If you include “Österreich”/oe24 and “Heute”, almost four million euros, or a fifth of the funding, went to the country’s three largest tabloid media.
The “Kronen Zeitung” was followed by the “Kurier” (approx. 1.6 million euros) and the “Kleine Zeitung” (approx. 1.4 million). “The Standard” came to around 1.1 million euros. The Oberösterreichische Nachrichten receives 590,583.39 euros in journalism funding, 97,988.70 euros are paid out for “diversity of content” and a further 6,683.09 euros are given for the distribution of student subscriptions.
Extensive catalog of criteria
The payment was made for 2022. The decision on the award for 2023 should be communicated in early summer this year. 15 million euros of the quality journalism funding goes to journalism funding. The amount of funding is calculated based on the number of editorial staff employed under a collective agreement or contracts similar to a collective agreement. In addition, quality journalism funding provides funds for training and further education, promoting media skills, promoting self-regulatory institutions and press clubs and, finally, funding for media research.
No money for “Express”
“Yachtrevue”, “Autorevue”, “ChefInfo” and “Gusto” applied for funding but were rejected because they are not universal media. “Exxpress” looked through its fingers because it did not provide the necessary evidence. Anti-democratic media are also generally excluded from funding – i.e. those that have repeatedly incited hatred or violence once morest a group in the past or have been convicted of incitement to hatred. No application for funding was rejected based on this provision.
