The authorities of the Perm region are reducing costs for covering the activities of parties in the media

The authorities of the Perm region proposed to reduce the cost of media coverage of the activities of parliamentary parties by 5%: from 548 thousand to 520.6 thousand rubles. in year. At the same time, in 2023, the amount that had not yet been cut, as it turned out, was only enough for one month. However, local party members admit that they have long been looking for and using alternative sources of funding for their information work. And the expert even believes that redistributing these funds for social needs would be more correct from the point of view of both efficiency and PR.

The administration of the governor of the Perm Territory plans to reduce next year the costs of covering the activities of political parties represented in the regional legislative assembly by 5%. The Regional Chamber of Control and Accounts (KSP) drew attention to this in its conclusion on the draft budget of the Kama region for 2024–2025.

KSP indicates that the governor’s administration’s expenses for covering the activities of parties on regional television and radio channels in 2024 will be reduced from 548 thousand rubles. per year up to 520.6 thousand rubles. in year. Moreover, in 2025–2026 these costs are again planned at the level of 548 thousand rubles. At the same time, KSP notes that in 2023, 548 thousand rubles planned for the whole year. in reality there was only enough for March. In this regard, the PSC warns that “the funds provided by the governor’s administration, based on commercial proposals related to the provision of these services, may be insufficient to carry out the activity even for one month.”

The press service of the governor’s administration explained that the reduction of a number of expenses is associated with ensuring a balanced budget for the region for 2024–2026. It should be noted that the regional budget allocates about 130 million rubles to cover the activities of government bodies (the regional government and the legislative assembly, the administration and the City Duma of Perm). per year, but no intention to reduce this amount has yet been mentioned.

Members of the parties represented in the region’s legislative assembly were not surprised by the authorities’ decision. Thus, the first secretary of the regional committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, vice-speaker of the legislative assembly, Ksenia Aitakova, considers the reduction to be expected, but does not approve of the initiative itself: “This is bad, because residents of the region should hear different points of view on many aspects of the development of the region and be able to decide for themselves what and who they like it. In connection with the reduction, we will turn to internal sources.” Chairman of the board of the branch of “A Just Russia – For Truth”, deputy of the legislative assembly Veronika Kulikova says that “the party carries out the bulk of its work in the information space outside of budget contracts”: “We have long switched to other formats of communicating our position to voters, including through popular Internet publications and social networks. In addition, in order to save money, I would propose to significantly reduce budget expenditures on media coverage of the activities of officials and the administration.” And the leader of the LDPR faction, Oleg Postnikov, treats the reduction in expenses “with understanding”: “This measure is forced and will affect not only the expenditure of funds on covering the activities of parties. We will look for internal resources, especially since now we have to use them to announce parliamentary receptions.”

The press service of the regional “United Russia” stated that the department “never knew or was interested” in the amounts provided in the budget for covering the activities of the parties. “Only the format, content and timing of the materials were discussed with media representatives. We understand that during the CBO period the budget may be adjusted and expenses may be redistributed between items. Today, the regional branch of United Russia is actively developing party resources to inform citizens about its activities (website, social networks and Telegram channel),” United Russia members commented on the situation.

Anna Klimova, general director of the Rifey-Perm television company, believes that the reduction will not radically change anything: “Considering that funds are allocated for coverage of the work of parties not only for television channels, but also for radio, the amount was already very small, it is only enough for a month . Party representatives have the opportunity to participate in detailed interviews and broadcast videos about their activities. I think that the change in funding will not significantly affect the project.”

Political strategist Alexey Chusovitin even believes that the current amount of budget funding for covering the work of parties is a “rudiment.” “Currently, about 8 thousand rubles per batch are spent on these purposes. per month. Obviously, this is too small an amount to trigger any kind of information signal in the media. There is no practical sense in this. Moreover, parties have already learned how to independently create news channels and attract the attention of the media,” says the expert. “I think if the authorities redistribute this money for social expenses and helping those in need, it will be better from the point of view of both efficiency and PR,” concludes Mr. Chusovitin.

Konstantin Kadochnikov, Perm