|
|
|
|
|
News
| Economy
| Culture
| Opinion
| Lifestyle
| Nature |
Volume 14,
Number 20 |
Also
in this section: Presidency
triples its ad budget to $4.6 million to promote the PRD in next
year's elections
2007-2008
government ad spending: $43.8 millionby Eric Jackson Understand that it's not just about state-financed political propaganda that's illegal according to the letter of the law but allowed by the PRD-controlled Electoral Tribunal. No, it's also a matter of enriching family and friends. The first lady's father, after all, is the founder of Panama's ad agency cartel. Viewed as a business alliance, the Torrijos administration is a triumvirate of the banking, construction and, above all, the advertising industries. If one peruses the corporate mainstream newspapers, one finds that the government is by far the biggest advertiser and that very little of the advertising has anything to do with legitimately informing citizens of things they need to know in order to deal with public agencies. For example, there were no large ads clarifying the Health Ministry's vacillating policies about yellow fever inoculation requirements for international travelers --- but the Torrijos administration did spend substantially more to congratulate a 17-year-old girl who won a television singing contest. In addition to such fluff, the Torrijos administration has spent millions for attack ads, primarily against labor unions and the press. How many millions? According to La Prensa, a combined $43.8 million for fiscal years 2007 and 2008. The overall trend from 2007 to 2008 is downward, from $25.9 to $17.9 million. However, the most highly politicized part of the ad budget, that for the Presidencia, went up from $1.5 million to $4.6 million. The allocation for the Electoral Tribunal, with primaries this year and preparations for next May's general elections, saw and even steeper increase, from just under $360,000 to just under $1.5 million. These numbers are lower than what the government actually spends on advertising because they don't include spending by the autonomous agencies and authorities such as the Panama Canal Authority, tourism promotions by the former IPAT (now the Tourism Authority), the Social Security Fund, the IDAAN water and sewer utility and so on. Also
in this section: News
| Economy
| Culture
| Opinion
| Lifestyle
| Nature
Noticias | Opiniones | Archive | Unclassified Ads | Home Make
the Executive Hotel your headquarters in Panama City --- http://ww.executivehotel-panama.com |
||||||||||
|
©
2008 by Eric Jackson email: editor@thepanamanews.com or e_l_jackson_malo@yahoo.com Mailing
address: |
|
|
||||||||
