Narva authorities plan to revive municipal newspaper; opposition sees party propaganda

The authorities of Narva, a city in eastern Estonia, plan to bring back a municipal newspaper. The opposition believes that, a few months before elections to the Riigikogu, Estonia's parliament, the publication will become a tool of party propaganda.

The coalition in the Narva city council, made up of the Centre Party and the Plan B list, decided to publish the paper. At the previous session, €30,000 was added to the supplementary budget, which is meant to last until the end of this year.

The coalition's case

Council member Aleksei Yevgrafov (Centre Party) says the aim is to inform residents about decisions made by the council and the city government. He described it as a kind of information bulletin without lyricism or opinion writing. He said that both commercial newspapers published in Narva are, in one way or another, controlled by the opposition, which in his view gives a distorted picture of the city authorities' work.

Opposition objections

The opposition faction Respekt denies having any influence on the print media and instead sees the authorities' move as an attempt to create a source of propaganda. Council member Jana Kondrashova (Respekt) said the coalition is hurrying to settle the matter because elections will be held in March. If the decision were put off until the new year and the new budget, it would be too late, so the funds have been provided now.

Earlier experience

A municipal newspaper was published in Narva from 2018 through 2022. It was funded from the city budget and noticeably affected the advertising market, which seriously hurt commercial publications. Roman Vikulov, a journalist at the newspaper Gorod, said it was very uncomfortable for his paper when advertising appeared in the city paper. If there is no advertising in it, he said, that would not be so bad.

Yevgrafov said it is currently unclear what the newspaper will look like and whether the publication's budget will include a self-financing share. The city chancellery will be responsible for the paper.