This was presented at mySociety's TICTeC Show & Tell event, which was held virtually on 28 September 2021. More details on the event can be found here: https://tictec.mysociety.org/showandtells/2021

1. https://www.gong.hr/
Watch this space (and pay for it): Alaveteli-driven
exposure of the misuse of public resources
in an election campaign
Dražen Hoffmann, Gong
TICTeC Show and Tells
September 28, 2021
International Right To Know Day

2. The context: 2021 local election campaign
 Local elections taking place in Croatia in May 2021
 556 cities/municipalities, 20 counties
 Elections of executive bodies (Mayors, County Prefects),
representative bodies (County Assemblies, City Councils),
plus Municipal Councils, where applicable

3. The lead: a Youtube series
 A channel named Đir TV on Youtube, intensely active
during two weeks in April and offering:
quaint footage of (seaside) towns and villages across several
counties,
boasts of successful local projects,
veiled invitations to continue these successful trends.
 Incumbent mayors prominently featured in each video

4. A series of videos…

5. A series of videos…

6. A series of videos…

7. …and a slew of service contracts with Digital
Media Group.
• 30-minute footage,
• talk with the mayor,
• broadcasting on local
television
• 30-day promotion on
social media, targeting
a 18-65 year-old
audience
• at 2.600 EUR

8. Using Alaveteli to send 68 queries
 imamopravoznati.org
 Generic query sent to 68 cities/municipalities identified via
Youtube playlist (cities/municipalities are public bodies
under the FoIA)
 „Please provide contract covering filming and
broadcasting services”

9. Why it was important to ask
 Act on Financing Political Activities and Election
Campaigns
Article 46:
It is forbidden to fund political parties and candidates from:
State bodies, public companies, legal persons with public
prerogatives, bodies of local self-governments, public companies
owned by local self-governments in the amount of at least 5%

10. Outcome of the 68 queries
Successful 54
Partially successful 2
Awaiting response to reminder 6
Information not available 4
Late 1
Refused 1

11. The aftermath – some media attention

12. The aftermath – some media attention

13. …but no legal sanctions whatsoever.
 State Electoral Commission (SEC) cannot determine
activities of potential (i.e., not yet confirmed) candidates
 Insufficient proof of misuse of public resources for
campaign purposes
 SEC preferring not to get involved, dubbing the videos
„apparently regular promotional activities of local self-
governments”

14. Thank you for your attention!
drazen@gong.hr