E-Notícies gives up institutional advertising from the Generalitat of Catalonia

As you already know, at E-Notícies we don't receive subsidies. However, in 2024 we received institutional advertising from Generalitat. Yes. In total, we received €8,511. From there, we made a very important decision.

Does €8,500 seem like a high amount to you? You should know that, although E-Notícies that year was the fifth most-read digital outlet in Catalan according to the OJD auditor, these €8,500 we received represent 0.017% of the €48.5 million that Generalitat spent on institutional advertising. Yes, you read that right. Generalitat spent €48.5 million last year on institutional advertising.

To give you an idea, La Vanguardia received €2.7 million, El Periódico €2.4 million, Diari ARA €2.2 million, RAC1 €2 million, El Nacional and Nació Digital €700,000 each. Vilaweb €93,000. El Crític, which is read by hardly anyone, received €85,000. Ten times more than what we received. Even La Directa, the magazine close to CUP that is published once a month, received more money from Generalitat in institutional advertising than E-Notícies.

So, just imagine how Generalitat senselessly squanders public money among the press, to the point that even a dissident outlet like ours gets €8,500. That's what happens when you distribute €48.5 million in institutional advertising in a year; in the end, you barely even know who you're giving money to.

With the explanation given, now comes the message I want to give you: at E-Notícies we've decided that from now on we'll refuse any institutional advertising campaign we receive from Generalitat.

In fact, the last campaign we received was a campaign to promote the Diada de Sant Jordi this year. We received €1,800. We already thought it was outrageous that Generalitat would spend public money to advertise something as obvious and universally known as the fact that the Diada de Sant Jordi is celebrated on April 23.

Why have we made this decision? It's very simple.

First, because it's outrageous that Generalitat spends almost €50 million a year on absurd advertising campaigns that really only serve to line the pockets of the press close to the regime.

We've also made this decision because, historically, Govern has used institutional advertising as a way to covertly and arbitrarily subsidize friendly media. These €48.5 million are distributed without any objective criteria. Otherwise, why would E-Notícies, being the 5th most-read digital outlet in Catalan, receive a ridiculous amount if the goal should be to reach the largest possible audience? It's clear that the real goal isn't to reach the largest possible audience but to domesticate the media, please friendly press, and make them even more dependent on political power.

Faced with this situation, we've decided to say enough. Until objective criteria are established for distributing institutional advertising, we don't intend to participate in this circus. Even if this ever happens, we'll continue to denounce that it's immoral for Generalitat to spend almost €50 million a year on advertising campaigns. If it were up to us, they could eliminate this budget and allocate it to healthcare, education, or security, which would surely be a better use of the money.

We've said it a thousand and one times. Only the press that doesn't receive subsidies is truly free. So, what freedom does a press have that depends on those €48.5 million distributed annually by Generalitat? This makes the media landscape in Catalonia easier to understand and explains why traditional media are experiencing an unprecedented credibility crisis.