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Transparency in the procurement of advertising by the services of the Regional and Local Public Administration
The principle of independence of the media from political and economic power is one of the pillars of the democratic system, enshrined in Article 38 of the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic.
Thus, the relationship between public institutions and the media must be guided by criteria of transparency, rigour and exemption, so as to ensure that the various classes of opinion can be expressed and compared, thus adding to the wealth of democratic debate.
The growing importance of the media, as well as the volume of investment in communication by public authorities, make it important that the allocation of institutional publicity is transparent and can be subject to the necessary and useful democratic scrutiny and oversight.
The Autonomous Region of the Azores has a number and diversity of media outlets which, in addition to playing a substantive and important social role in their communities, are an enabler and disseminator of the Azorean culture and traditions, which must be preserved. The size of the advertising market on many islands makes the communication acquired by the public authorities extremely important for their economic sustainability, which makes it all the more necessary for exemption and clarity in that relationship.
These reasons saw the adoption in 2010 of Regional Legislative Decree No 20/2010/A of 31 May and, subsequently, the adoption, in 2014, of Regional Legislative Decree No 18/2014/A of 30 October. This body of legislation, currently regulated by Ministerial Implementing Order No 74/2014 of 17 November 2006, is thus intended to uphold the principles of transparency and exemption from the relationship between the public authorities and the media, irrespective of the legal nature of the entity making that investment. Without prejudice to those entities’ management choices and communication strategies, their investments in advertising in regional media should be subject to public scrutiny and evaluation as a means of making them transparent, contributing to their effectiveness and contributing to the credibility of the media bodies themselves.
Each year, the department of the regional government with responsibility for the media, ensures the collection of data on institutional advertising carried out by local and regional public authorities in the year immediately preceding, and publishes the relevant detailed annual report, which is sent to the Legislative Assembly by 31 March each year and made available electronically on this page.
