Austrian press funding

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The Austrian press promotion has existed since 1975 and aims to promote Austrian print media . It is based on the Press Promotion Act, which was last amended in 2004 . The competent authority has been the Austrian Communications Authority (KommAustria) since 2004 .

Since 2014, press funding has been divided into sales funding, funding “to preserve regional diversity” and quality funding and endowed with a total of around 8.7 million euros. Due to the award criteria, daily newspapers that are not market leaders in any federal state are the largest recipients of the funding.

history

Press funding was introduced in Austria in 1975, two years after the introduction of sales tax on print media. The amount of funding per newspaper was initially based on the amount of sales tax paid. As early as 1976, the cost of postage, fax and telephone charges were also included. Initially, the press subsidy was nothing more than a tax break on the sales tax just introduced for newspapers, but after further amendments in 1985 it was given a qualitative criterion for the first time. The previous press funding was now “General Press Funding” and was awarded to all daily newspapers “according to the watering can principle ”, to which the “Special Press Funding” was added. This had the "preservation of media diversity in the federal states" for the purpose, but should only reach those newspapers that are "of particular importance for the formation of political opinion and will", but at the same time have "no market dominance".

In 1998 the Federal Chancellery commissioned the Swiss Prognos Institute to prepare a white paper that was to serve as the basis for discussion of a new version of the Press Promotion Act. This white paper was presented in spring 1999.

On June 18, 1999, the advertising limit introduced in 1985 was reformed. Whereas a newspaper eligible for funding had to have an average of less than 22% advertising share in the number of pages over the previous five years and there was a gradual reduction in funding depending on the amount exceeded, this regulation has now been tightened so that if the 22% limit is exceeded in one year in the following year the funding is reduced by two thirds.

In the entire 1990s, a total of 125.73 million euros (1.73 billion schillings) were distributed in press funding, 80.8 million of which went to “special” and 40 million to “general” funding.

In 2001 the communications authority Austria (KommAustria) was founded, which in 2004 took over responsibility for press funding. The most recent amendment to the law came into force on January 1, 2004. The “General Press Funding” was replaced by the “Sales Funding” (and at the same time reduced from around six to 5.5 million euros), and the “Special Press Funding” was split into two new funding categories, “Special Funding to Maintain the Regional Diversity of Daily Newspapers” "And" Quality promotion for press clubs, training institutions and internal editorial training ".

Significant innovations in the amendment were the increase in the number of pages for advertisements introduced in 1999 from 22 to 50% and the exclusion of market leaders from shares in the funding to maintain regional diversity. This meant the end of "regional subsidies" for the "market leaders" Kronen Zeitung , Kurier , Kleine Zeitung , the Upper Austrian News , the Salzburger Nachrichten and the Tiroler Tageszeitung . The biggest beneficiaries of the novella were Der Standard , Die Presse , Wirtschaftsblatt , Kärntner Tageszeitung , Neue Volksblatt , Neue Vorarlberger Tageszeitung and the Salzburger Volkszeitung . Heavy deductions in the amount of funding due to the ad limit being exceeded in some years, which affected Der Standard and Die Presse, for example, were no longer conceivable.

Commission

The press funding commission is the body of KommAustria that is responsible for allocating funding to Austrian daily newspapers. The commission has consisted of six members since 2004, one third each from the Federal Chancellor , the Association of Austrian Newspapers and the trade union . The decision-making responsibility previously fell to the Federal Chancellery. Both before 2004 and since the establishment of a commission, accusations of a lack of transparency and preferential funding of " court reporters " and reduced funding or rejection of funding applications from media critical of the government have repeatedly been heard (see section "Criticism") .

Funding

Between the 1985 amendment and the 2004 amendment, press funding was divided into “general” and “special” press funding. The "Allgemeine" was for the most part awarded to all Austrian daily and weekly newspapers according to the watering can principle . A small part was earmarked for training in journalism. The “Special Funding” was intended roughly for those daily newspapers that maintain regional diversity and media diversity. In order to benefit from this larger part of the funding, the newspapers had to submit applications annually, which were assessed by the Commission. Every year around half a dozen daily newspapers received between around half a million and around two million euros in additional funding. The criteria for the award and the amount of this funding was conceivably controversial and exposed to constant criticism from parties and the media, which led to frequent amendments to the law.

In 2000, general press funding was 6.4 million euros and special press funding was 9.6 million euros; in the following year these fell to 5.9 and 9.3 million euros. After the Styrian newspaper “Neue Zeit” went bankrupt in 2001, its funding share of around 1.8 million euros was removed from the funding pot. Since then, the special press funding has only amounted to between 7 and 7.5 million euros. In 2003, applications from the “Salzburger Volkszeitung” and “Wirtschaftsblatt” for “special press funding” were rejected. The general funding, the majority of which affects all print media relatively evenly, was reduced to 6 million euros by 2003. 3.61 million of this went to daily newspapers, 1.89 million to weekly newspapers. Half a million before that was earmarked for training.

According to the 2004 amendment, the funding was endowed with 13.93 million euros and was divided into sales funding (4.91 million euros), special funding to maintain the regional diversity of daily newspapers (7.21 million euros) and quality and future security (1 , 81 million euros).

In the course of the austerity package in 2012 and again in 2014, press funding was reduced. Since then, there have been 3.89 million euros in sales funding , 3.24 million euros in special funding and 1.56 million euros in quality funding every year .

criticism

Austrian press funding was and is exposed to criticism and reform demands from various sides from the start. The main points of criticism include the accusation of rewarding court reports in the interests of the ruling parties, the promotion of politically extreme positions as well as the restriction to print media. The Press Promotion Act has so far been amended by almost every government.

In 2000, after the right-wing conservative Schüssel I government took office, the state-owned Austrian Post increased the minimum number of copies required for a publication to be included in the cheapest newspaper mailing class, "Sponsoring Post", from 300 to 1,000, which is for those Media falling below this limit meant a price increase of “at best” 160%, “in the worst case up to over 500%”. The price increases for editions of over 1,000 pieces were somewhat lower, but still significant. In addition, there was a ban on "third-party inserts", which in addition to the increased shipping costs means a reduction in income opportunities. All in all, the tariff changes led to price increases that “non-profit organizations cannot cope with”.

Both the Infrastructure Ministry responsible for the Post and the “ State Secretary for Art and Media” Franz Morak , who is responsible for press funding in the Federal Chancellery , rejected any responsibility or option. In the fact that the tariff increases only apply to publications under 1,000 pieces, critics such as cultural associations and the interest group of Austrian non-profit associations (IÖGV) see a targeted disadvantage of non-profit organizations and alternative local media, since community, club and party newspapers usually overlook have higher requirements and are always financed by tax or party money. According to IÖGV, the number of newspaper titles appearing in Austria has more than halved from 8,700 in 2000 to 3,500 in 2001 due to the new disadvantages for small media.

A criticism that has always accompanied press funding and which continues even after the establishment of a commission is that of the preferred funding of “ court reporters ”. This accusation was raised around 2008 in the case of the highly endowed funding of Niederösterreichische Nachrichten , a market-leading weekly newspaper that is considered the court reporter of the state government.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Press funding: Securing diversity. ( Memento of May 8, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Association of Austrian Newspapers , accessed on October 21, 2008.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k ( page no longer available , search in web archives: press funding in Austria ) In: medialine.de . Medialexikon Österreich, accessed on October 21, 2008.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.medialine.de
  3. ^ Maria-Anna Kollmann: Concentration of power in the KommAustria. In: kulturrat.at . September 11, 2006, accessed October 21, 2008.
  4. ↑ Press funding will initially remain at 8.7 million euros per year. In: derstandard.at . March 21, 2018, accessed December 27, 2019.
  5. ↑ Udo Danielczyk: The post kills everyone? ( Memento from January 17, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Upper Austria culture platform, accessed on October 22, 2008.
  6. ↑ Positions for newspaper dispatch. ( Memento from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Upper Austria culture platform, accessed on October 22, 2008.
  7. ↑ Press release Austria: Associations demand federal funds for postal newspaper tariffs ( memento of April 29, 2007 in the web archive archive.today ). In: pressetext.at . August 10, 2001.
  8. ↑ ( Page can no longer be called up , search in web archives: 'Hofberichtichter': Critique of press funding. ) In: derstandard.at . June 20, 2008.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / derstandard.at