Presseförderung#

Press subsidies, direct financial assistance for nearly all daily newspapers and many weeklies, introduced at federal level (and also in some provinces) in 1975. Press subsidies based on circulation figures were basically distributed evenly between 1975 and 1984; in 1985 general press subsidies were supplemented by "special press subsidies designed to maintain media variety"; they are mainly granted to newspapers which are of "special importance for disseminating political information and shaping political opinions" and which do not hold "a dominant market position". The general subsidy rates for high-circulation papers varied between ATS 4.1 million (1976) and ATS 4.6 million (1998), for low-circulation papers between ATS 2 million (1976) and ATS 1.8 million (1998). Various newspapers receive an additional sum (between ATS 14 million (1976) and ATS 34 million per year (1993)) in special press subsidies. The total sum of federal press subsidies in 1998 amounted to about ATS 216 million in 1998 (1976: ATS 65 million); less than 5% of the subsidies are used for the training of Journalists. In addition, there is a special arrangement for magazines ("Publizistikfoerderung") which amounted to about ATS 6.5 million in 1997.

Literature#