Kraków President Aleksander Miszalski is boosting taxpayer funding for his promotional gazette amid city financial constraints.
Political Tool or Public Information?
President Miszalski has decided to radically increase funding for his gazette promoting the achievements of the city authorities. The gazette is free for readers, but funded by taxpayers. The total cost, including distribution to homes, is reportedly over 1.5 million złoty for a circulation of over 200,000 copies.
Critics from a referendum committee complain that such a debt-laden city as Kraków should not be spending money this way. However, promoting genuine achievements is worth any amount, especially those achievements that aren’t immediately visible and need to be explained in the gazette for residents to understand what the “włodarze” have done.
Political Corruption
What Miszalski and his team have done is a classic and glaring example of political corruption using the money of the very people they govern. This is similar to what former European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans did when he paid environmental foundations to support his position, turning top-down initiatives into bottom-up ones without losing their authenticity.
Harming Local Press
The problem with “mayor’s gazettes” is not just that they buy votes with the money of their voters. They also undermine authentic local press. These gazettes are free and contain mixed information about municipal activities along with texts and photos promoting the authorities in a favorable light, reducing motivation to buy privately published newspapers that often require payment.
Additionally, municipal gazettes often contain advertisements, ruining the market and unfairly competing with local publishers. A publisher must pay all costs from advertising revenue and sales, while a mayor or president publishing their gazette simply uses the city or commune budget.
Declining Local Media
The result of this policy is the decline of local press, with its association now having only 59 members. In contrast, the “market” of municipal gazettes is flourishing with around 800 titles. This number comes from a ministry justification for media law changes six months ago when the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage planned to ban municipalities from publishing gazettes.
Politicians later explained to ministry leadership that they were going the wrong way by removing from colleagues one of the powerful tools they can use to extend their power and influence of the ruling party arrangement in local governments to the next term.
Industry Concerns Ignored
Industry organizations and journalistic associations protested in this matter, but in the general noise their voice was “thinner than a squeak.” Suddenly, Aleksander Miszalski appeared with his gazette, increasing its circulation precisely when a referendum initiative emerged and it was necessary to “give a counter-attack.”
He should be thanked for this, as even the blind can now see what such a gazette is for. And perhaps even a ruling coalition deputy will consider whether they want to endorse such shenanigans.
