Press subsidies
The main goal of the financial support provided to the media sector is to maintain media and cultural diversity, so that the population has access to a wide range of high quality content in the areas of news and public debate. Direct press subsidies were introduced in 1969.
Through the state budget and Regulations adopted by the Ministry of Culture.
Please note that the $ 53 million amount mentioned below constitutes the 2011 allocation.
Challenges identified in the implementation of this measure:
The scheme is currently limited to print newspapers. The effect is that print newspapers receiving grants lose out doubly by developing digital news publications: both because the amount paid by users is generally lower for digital content than for print content, and because they lose production grants by moving readers from print editions to the internet.
US $53,000,000.00
The subsidies are, on the whole, very targeted and effective in maintaining a broad range of newspapers. However, there are few incentives for print newspapers entitled to subsides to develop online content.