The each day print version of the Volksblatt, which belongs to the ÖVP Higher Austria, was discontinued on the flip of the yr for causes of profitability. The Greens within the state parliament now needed to know the way a lot cash from the VP-led authorities departments and from the price range of the state authorities workplace flows into the print journal, which is now printed month-to-month: That was 73,201.83 euros for 3 editions.
Greater than 31,000 euros got here from the state authorities’s workplace, virtually 12,000 euros from Governor Thomas Stelzer’s workplace, and virtually 6,000 euros from Markus Achleitner’s financial division – mockingly, the commercial is titled “Shield the soil, allow the longer term”. 12,600 euros got here from the division of State Councilor for Schooling and Deputy Governor Christine Haberlander, and virtually 6,000 euros every from State Councilor for Social Affairs Wolfgang Hattmannsdorfer and State Councilor for Agriculture Michaela Langer-Weninger. By the way, solely the interval between the beginning of the yr and receipt of the request in April was answered.
The Wiener Zeitung counted 5 extra authorities commercials within the Might version alone – a complete worth of just below one other 30,000 euros. In the event you add up the media worth of the 33 commercials counted by the Wiener Zeitung in all earlier editions (there have been regional editions in addition to Higher Austria-wide editions), you arrive at a price of 165,000 euros within the first 5 months alone – round 100,000 instantly from ÖVP-run departments.
The Inexperienced Social gathering’s parliamentary group chief, Severin Mayr, speaks of a state of affairs that has gotten utterly uncontrolled: “On the one hand, severe editorial groups of high quality media are sometimes working at their monetary limits, then again, the ÖVP is taking part in a sport of magic with itself. We’ve lengthy been calling for a ban on authorities commercials in social gathering newspapers. The system of impermissible mixing of public relations, press funding and social gathering financing should lastly be stopped.”
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Mayr can be calling for a reorganization of media funding. The corresponding functions have been pending within the state parliament since Might 12, 2022. These have been instantly assigned to a subcommittee arrange particularly for this objective. Nevertheless, it has not met as soon as in two years.