The daily print edition of the Volksblatt, which belongs to the ÖVP Upper Austria, was discontinued at the turn of the year for reasons of profitability. The Greens in the state parliament now wanted to know how much money from the VP-led government departments and from the budget of the state government office flows into the print magazine, which is now published monthly: That was 73,201.83 euros for three editions.
More than 31,000 euros came from the state government’s office, almost 12,000 euros from Governor Thomas Stelzer’s office, and just under 6,000 euros from Markus Achleitner’s economic department – ironically, the advertisement is titled “Protect the soil, enable the future”. 12,600 euros came from the department of State Councilor for Education and Deputy Governor Christine Haberlander, and just under 6,000 euros each from State Councilor for Social Affairs Wolfgang Hattmannsdorfer and State Councilor for Agriculture Michaela Langer-Weninger. Incidentally, only the period between the start of the year and receipt of the request in April was answered.
The Wiener Zeitung counted five more government advertisements in the May edition alone – a total value of just under another 30,000 euros. If you add up the media value of the 33 advertisements counted by the Wiener Zeitung in all previous editions (in addition to Upper Austria-wide editions, there were also regional editions), you arrive at a value of 165,000 euros in the first five months alone – around 100,000 directly from ÖVP-run departments.
The Green Party’s parliamentary group leader, Severin Mayr, speaks of a situation that has gotten completely out of control: “On the one hand, serious editorial teams of quality media are often working at their financial limits, on the other hand, the ÖVP is playing a game of magic with itself. We have long been calling for a ban on government advertisements in party newspapers. The system of impermissible mixing of public relations, press funding and party financing must finally be stopped.”
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Source: Nachrichten
