Penza, 10 June 2013. PenzaNews. Criteria for selection of media, with which Penza administration has signed contracts for covering preparation events and celebration of the 350th anniversary of the city, are not clear. This opinion was expressed by the City Duma deputy of the faction United Russia, the chairman of the standing committee on local management, monitoring of the departments and officials of local management Alexei Shuvarin at the meeting on Monday, June 10.

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“The question is how the media was chose, especially the print one,” he said.

Responding to the comment of Alexei Shuvarin, the head of the information department of Penza administration Elena Ovchinnikova explained that, the main criterion was popularity.

“For example, “Penzenskaya Pravda.” Circulation amounts to 20 thousand copies. The newspaper is published twice a week not only in Penza, but also in the Penza region. “Komsomolskaya Pravda” has circulation of around 8 million copies. It is the only federal publication which is released in Penza five times a week,” she said, stressing that all the contracts were concluded on a competitive basis.

In turn, Alexei Shuvarin drew attention to the fact that the terms of any tender are provided by the customer.

“Penzenskaya Pravda” received one million rubles, and the newspaper “Komsomolskaya Pravda,” circulation of which is less, received 700 thousand rubles. What is really eight million copies circulation? Who is going to get this newspaper? If we divide the money spent on the print run, we shall get the cost of one copy. With all due respect to these publications, it does not concern them, but the administration of the city — how was the process of information allocation organized,” the deputy of the City Duma concluded.