Debate about political advertisements in Salzburg
politics
The FPÖ demands that every member of the Salzburg state government must disclose which advertising agreements it has with the media and agencies. The governing parties, on the other hand, refer to the state media center – campaigns are being carried out there.
It is very important to know what happens to Salzburg tax money, what agreements there are with the media and agencies about the printing of advertisements. The Salzburg FPÖ leader Marlene Svazek emphasized in her demand on Tuesday. Furthermore, they want a list of all expenses for public relations and the number of employees assigned to them. Every member of the Salzburg state government now has to answer this honestly – this is aimed not only at the ÖVP but also at the Greens and NEOS, according to Svazek.
Government campaigns run through the state media center
But in Salzburg each office of a state government member only has a budget of 8,000 euros for advertisements, said Franz Wieser, head of the state media center, on ORF request. The campaigns for the government offices would be handled by the state media center instead of – that is where the switching point for how government work is made public is located. Tenders for campaigns would also be made here, which would then be decided by the state government. For a campaign over a period of three years – such as the subject of care – the costs are 240,000 euros, said Wieser.
18 employees work in the state media center – more than, for example, in the state audit office. Wieser did not say how high the total budget of the media center is.
Lower ad spend than Vorarlberg or Carinthia
The comparison of federal states shows, however, that the state of Salzburg spends relatively little on advertisements. In the second quarter between April and June 2021, it was just under 128,000 euros for advertisements. Salzburg is always the federal state with the lowest expenditure, said the member of parliament, Simon Heiligofbauer (Greens). For comparison: Vorarlberg quickly spent 324,000 euros on advertisements in the same period. According to the media transparency database of the FH Johanneum, the state of Carinthia – just ahead of Salzburg in terms of population – had higher spending.
Eight million euros in funding for political parties in Salzburg
After the demand of the FPÖ for the disclosure of the costs is currently calculated in the government offices. In total, party funding in Salzburg is just under eight million euros for political work. In the ÖVP, more than 50 percent of the funding amount was spent on personnel costs, said ÖVP state manager Wolfgang Mayer on request.