Kaarel Tarand, deputy chair of the Political Party Financing Supervision Committee (ERJK), noted: "We need to discuss the Reinsalu issue at our Thursday meeting, but ahead of that, I obviously can't state the committee's position."

At the same time, Tarand said: "We do have a precedent from 2019, when we had to address the 'Räägime asjast' show broadcast by the Helme family on Tre Raadio."

Tre Raadio is owned by Siim Pohlak, an EKRE MP.

Now the ERJK is investigating whether Postimees offering Reinsalu a free hosting role on the 'Varivalitsus' show also constitutes an illegal party donation.

Political donations in Estonia can only come from private individuals, not businesses or organizations.

Tarand said that when a party leader gets permitted to host a show, for free (from the leader's side), it could be seen as a prohibited in-kind contribution, in this case from Postimees, to Isamaa.

The 2019 Tre Raadio case was adjudged not to have constituted an illegal donation, however, as EKRE itself had purchased airtime at the normal market price.

It remains unclear whether Postimees has a similar financial arrangement with Reinsalu.

Reinsalu himself has insisted that neither he nor Postimees receive payment for his role as show host, which means the arrangement does not constitute a donation, he said.

He had also hosted shows in the past, Reinsalu went on.

"I had previously hosted a similar show, for example, four years ago ... 'Teine kallas,' for Eesti Päevaleht," Reinsalu said, though qualified this by conceding that on this show he had a co-host from another party, namely then-SDE leader Jevgeni Ossinovski.

This arguably provided a more balanced political perspective.

Editor-in-Chief of evening paper Õhtuleht, Martin Šmutov, noted the sea change, saying: "What Postimees has perhaps gone and done — something unusual and therefore startling within the Estonian media landscape, raising such questions — is that they've moved more towards an American/British model, in which a publication has a defined editorial stance."

Estonian journalism traditionally emphasizes neutrality.

While public broadcaster ERR is by law required to be politically neutral, as is the case with its contemporaries in other democracies, this has also carried over to the private sector media, at least in Estonia.

This is unlike the situation in some Western countries, where private media outlets, such as the Rupert Murdoch News Corp empire, openly align with set political ideologies and parties.

Such a move is risky in Estonia, however, Šmutov said.

"It is now Postimees readers' decision how to react to this, but for the company, the decision is a risky one," he noted.

Postimees editor-in-chief Priit Hõbemägi described "Varivalitsus" as a lively political show meant to react swiftly, adequately, and critically to government actions, in a journalistic format.

Hõbemägi added that, for this reason, an opposition politician seemed like the optimal choice as host.

The debate is further complicated by Postimees's ownership structure.

The paper's parent company, the Postimees media group, is owned by businessman Margus Linnamäe, a major donor to Isamaa.

Last year, Linnamäe and his brother Aivar each donated €150,000 to the party.
Additionally, Postimees editor Ahti Kallikorm serves as vice chairman of Isamaa's Tallinn branch, and himself donated €27,000 to the party in 2024.

These financial links raise further questions about whether the show "Varivalitsus" can be considered an independent media product or a political platform benefiting Isamaa, Kaarel Tarand remarked.

Tarand said: "The entire law on parties is currently quite vague regarding what constitutes an illegal donation and where the line is drawn between advertising and journalistic content."

The Ministry of Justice recently introduced a new draft political party law, but this still fails to address key issues with party.

The law change which bars commercial enterprises from donating to parties dates back to 2004. At the time it was put in place, Urmas Reinsalu was a 28-year-old MP with Res Publica, a forerunner to Isamaa, and was head of the Rigiikogu committee which oversaw the Political Parties Act which made the changes.

Looking back on that chapter, Reinsalu now said: "I think that if you look back at that generation, there were compelling reasons to do that at that time, and I wouldn't be in a hurry to change these rules lightly."

The next elections in Estonia are this October, to the 79 municipalities nationwide.

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