¿Cómo averiguo la cantidad de subvenciones que la Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid ha dado a los medios de comunicación?

To determine the amount of subsidies the Community of Madrid has granted to media outlets, one can access several official transparency portals and public information channels. The Community of Madrid's Transparency Portal is obligated to publish information on expenditures related to institutional advertising and communication campaigns . This portal includes annual media plans, although the information for 2023 was not disaggregated by media outlet at the time of one analysis and was an estimation, with 2022 data being published in September 2023 . The law requires informing about the distribution criteria for media, which are stated to be objective and technical criteria such as audience, coverage, frequency, notoriety, and affinity, measured by independent companies like Estudio General de Medios (EGM), Kantar Media, and ComScore . The Portal de Datos Abiertos del Ayuntamiento de Madrid also allows access to aggregated and reusable information on grants and subsidies . Furthermore, the Law on Transparency and Participation of the Community of Madrid stipulates that private entities receiving public aid or subsidies exceeding 60,000 euros, or at least 30% of their annual income (provided it reaches a minimum of 5,000 euros), are subject to publishing this information . However, there is evidence that refutes the easy accessibility and transparent allocation of these funds. The Community of Madrid's Transparency Portal has been criticized for being one of the most opaque in Spain regarding institutional advertising campaign accountability . It doesn't group money spent per media or communication group, instead providing information across 116 distinct files for 2023, making it difficult to analyze without extensive data cleaning . The analysis for 2023 revealed that the Community of Madrid spent 21.72 million euros on institutional advertising . In 2022 and 2023, at least 41.5 million euros were spent on advertising campaigns . Despite claims of using objective criteria like audience, the distribution of institutional advertising in 2023 did not reflect this. For instance, El Mundo received 1.06 million euros for advertising, more than El País (912,654 euros), despite El País having 49.80% more readers according to the EGM . The government of Isabel Díaz Ayuso appears to favor right-leaning media outlets in its advertising distribution, even when they have lower audiences. Examples include Libertad Digital receiving 296,084 euros compared to Público's 27,411 euros, even though Público often has higher audience figures . Similarly, OK Diario received slightly more advertising than El País's digital version despite El País having a larger audience, better reputation, and longer history . ElDiario.es received almost half the amount of La Razón, despite similar unique monthly users, and La Razón also received significant funds for its print version . Furthermore, some progressive outlets like El Salto or infoLibre received no payments in 2023, while less popular conservative outlets like Periodista Digital, El Imparcial, and El Cierre Digital did receive funds . The regional government confessed to using "affinity" as a criterion for allocating funds, which is considered an alegal and novel factor not listed among typical objective criteria like efficiency, diffusion, audience, territorial reach, social implantation, profitability, or environmental support . A study by CTXT found that in 2022, 7.57 million euros (44.3%) went to "aligned" media, while "critical" media received only 1.67 million euros (9.8%) . The Chamber of Accounts (Cámara de Cuentas) reported that direct subsidies (subvenciones a dedo) constituted over 62% of the total in 2023, significantly surpassing competitive grants (37%) . The Chamber of Accounts also noted the problematic increase in "exceptional" subsidies, which lost their exceptional nature by becoming the most frequent form of direct concession in 2022 and 2023, exceeding competitive grants in value . Public audits on the allocation and use of these subsidies exist, such as the annual report from the Chamber of Accounts, which scrutinized the 2023 General Account and highlighted the prevalence of direct subsidies . However, the independence of the Chamber of Accounts has been questioned due to changes in its composition and election system, leading to concerns about its ability to fiscalize the Executive's actions . Compared to other autonomous communities, the Community of Madrid's spending on institutional advertising is similar to the País Valencià (19 million in 2022) but significantly less than the central government (90 million in 2023) . Based on the available evidence, it is undetermined how to ascertain the exact quantity of grants the Community of Madrid has given to media outlets. While official transparency portals exist and claim to provide information based on objective criteria, the data's presentation is often fragmented and requires extensive analysis. Furthermore, multiple sources suggest a significant ideological bias in the distribution of institutional advertising, favoring conservative media outlets even when their audience metrics do not justify the higher allocation. This raises concerns about the transparency and fairness of the subsidy allocation mechanisms, and the effectiveness of current oversight bodies, whose independence has been questioned.