Future of the Baunataler News: Contract secured by October!

Future of the Baunataler News: Contract secured by October!

Baunatal, Deutschland - In Baunatal there were recently some movements regarding the locally popular Baunataler Nachrichten (BN). As the hna was decided on Monday that the BN will ensure that the BN until the end of October 2025 remains. This decision was made in a climate of heated discussions in particular between the SPD, the CDU and Mayor Henry Richter, who is independent.

The reason for this regulation is the run of the existing contract between the Baunatal town hall and the HNA, which would originally ended on June 30, 2025. During the session, however, the factions were concerned about the future of news supply nh24 which resulted in a compromise. The city parliament decided to extend the contract by the end of the year and to strive for a new advertisement after the transition period. Mayor Richter was satisfied with this solution, which is also intended to ensure the information supply to the citizens.

Mayor rejects allegations

As part of the discussions, Mayor Henry Richter was faced with allegations from the SPD. They accused him of ignored the city parliament in the tender for the Baunataler Nachrichten. Judge countered and said the criticism was "legally baseless". He referred to a unanimous decision by the city council, which had authorized him to develop a "hybrid information system" that includes a print edition, digital solutions and even a citizen app nh24 .

The city council also did not admit any reservation with regard to a renewed approval of the tender. Judge emphasized that in the sense of the legal requirements and the citizens' interests, it was necessary to act in a timely manner in order to maintain an official communication body. In this context, the process details of the tender were also explained, which ranged from a broad citizens' survey to the presentation of several offers.

The context of freedom of information in Hesse

While Baunatal is trying to provide information, a look at the general Situation of freedom of information in Hesse is not failing to look at. A recently published report reveals that Hessen occupies last place among the federal states in the 2021 transparency ranking. Conclusio is that very few municipalities have freedom of information, which restricts the transparency of decisions and processes. In around 600 municipal local authorities in Hesse, only 14 cities and 6 counties have introduced such regulations.

A critical deficiency is that only a few municipalities meet the standards of an information law law. This applies not only to the range of offers, but also the support by information officers and the staffing, which is the lowest compared to other federal states. These aspects illustrate the need for action for politics to improve information and freedom for the citizens in Hesse.