Capital to Pump More Money into Tallinn TV
The Tallinn City Government has more than doubled the amount of money it will be spending on media and public relations this year, with most of the increased funding going to Tallinn TV.
The supplementary budget revealed on March 10 allocates a total of 1.9 million euros for the city-run TV channel, up by 1.1 million euros from last year, uudised.err.ee reported.
In all, the budget increases bring the city's media and public relations spending from 1.5 million euros to 3.4 million euros this year. The remainder of the funds go to the city's weekly newspaper Pealinn, publishing official announcements in the nationwide press and the BNS wire service, and production of three informational programs on TV and radio.
When asked about the increases in media spending, Mayor Edgar Savisaar responded: “It is definitely not growing as fast as spending on Public Broadcasting [ERR].”
The Mayor's political opponents have been critical of the city spending so much on media.
The head of the Reform Party faction in the City Council, Remo Holsmer, called the spending on Tallinn TV “embarrassing and shameful.”
Savisaar, who also heads the opposition Centre Party on a national level, has on numerous occasions accused Estonia's mainstream media of bias against him. His opponents however have criticized his use of taxpayer money on the city's newspaper and TV channel.
"We don't need to build a separate empire here with its own law enforcement institutions, its own media outlets and so on. Let us be reasonable," Indrek Raudne, chairman of the City Council's IRL faction, said earlier this year.
Steve Roman