What is it about?
With an investment of over 700 million euros, the public sector is the main advertiser in the Spanish market. Altogether, the central, regional, and local governments launch more than 5000 institutional advertising and communication contracts. In Spain, these tenders are governed by Law 9/2017 on Public Sector Contracts and Law 19/2013 on Transparency, Access to Public Information and Good Governance, in compliance with which governments have developed openly accessible websites that provide practical information on the contracts for interested individuals and companies. This paper compares all regional procurement platforms through the study of a hundred institutional communication public contracts launched in 2021, assessing the usefulness of the published content, detecting good practices, and identifying gaps and areas of improvement. The results obtained support the idea that these platforms do not provide exhaustive information on public contracts, which limits their potential as tools aimed at ensuring competition and transparency in public contracts. Based on this last criterion, a ranking is created among the regions analysed.
Featured Image
Photo by Headway on Unsplash
Why is it important?
It is important to analyze tenders for institutional communication campaigns in the Spanish autonomous communities because they ensure transparency in the use of public resources and help prevent digital disinformation. Although there are laws regulating transparency and public procurement, in practice there are challenges such as incomplete contract publication and uneven application of rules, which can create opacity and allow biased or misleading messages in institutional campaigns. These campaigns influence public opinion and trust in institutions, so it is essential that tender processes are clear and well-regulated to avoid corruption and promote ethical communication. Studying these tenders reveals the need to improve independent oversight, mandatory contract publication, and strategic digital transparency plans to strengthen governance and reduce the risks of disinformation.
Perspectives
I believe that transparency in tenders for institutional communication campaigns in the autonomous communities is essential to prevent digital disinformation and strengthen public trust. Although laws exist, their application is uneven and can lead to opacity. I appreciate recent initiatives to improve oversight, but I think more uniform regulation and independent control are needed. For me, ensuring that institutional advertising is informative and ethical is key to combating disinformation and protecting democracy
Montserrat María Vázquez Gestal
Universidade de Vigo
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Tenders for Institutional Communication Campaigns in the Spanish Autonomous Communities: Transparency or Digital Disinformation, Societies, February 2023, MDPI AG,
DOI: 10.3390/soc13030052.
You can read the full text:
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
