According to the contract, a campaign is a marketing activity planned with a specific goal, consisting of interconnected and coordinated messages and/or advertisements focusing on introducing one or more themes and reaching a specific segment of the population through a combination of one or more media channels.

Additionally, the contract includes services supporting the marketing and communication activities of the institutions within the governance area of the Ministry of Defense with animation, infographics, photography, video and other technical solutions.

The institutions within the governance area of the Ministry of Defense are the Ministry of Defense itself, the Estonian Defense Forces (EDF), the Center for Defense Investments, the Defense Resources Agency and the CR14 Foundation.

"Neither the contract in question nor any of its parts concern the editorial desk of Postimees or its employees, and Postimees journalists will not be generating content as part of the contract," CEO of Postimees Grupp Toomas Tiivel said.

"The performance of such contracts is the responsibility of our sales unit. The editorial of Postimees does not write commissioned pieces for any campaign and is completely independent from the business side," Tiivel said when asked whether the contract might affect the independence of the media house.

RKIK: Contract does not obligate Postimees to generate campaigns for the ministry's administrative area

"We have framework contracts in place so we can quickly hold competitions when we need a campaign, and various companies serve as our partners in those frameworks. Postimees offers such a service and bids will be made based on what kind of campaign we will be pursuing," said Kristo Raud, head of the infrastructure and services category at RKIK.

"It's possible we have no work for Postimees today. They are a framework partner, which does not entail mandatory or everyday cooperation," he said.

"For example, we had our reserve service PR campaign in the fall. If we need a campaign, we'll post a technical description of what we're looking for after which the companies who are our framework partners will submit bids, including sums and their concept. We will then choose a particular partner based on those bids," Raud explained. Postimees is under no obligation to submit a bid.

RKIK has a total of 16 framework partners, with the total volume of the tender at €2.5 million over four years, even though services will only be procured when necessary.

The framework tender's services are available to the entire administrative area of the Ministry of Defense, including the ministry itself, EDF, the Defense Resource Agency and RKIK.

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