Hungary

Hungarian PMs media clampdown points to the future for Poland

EU officials examining controversial overhaul of Polish press should look to Budapest

Viktor Orban, Hungary's prime minister Getty

JANUARY 19, 2016 5:26 PM

by: Andrew Byrne in Budapest

Attila Mong ended his Hungarian broadcasting career with the flick of a switch. Soon
after announcing a moment of silence on his public radio programme in protest at new
media laws in December 2010, Mr Mong was suspended. Weeks later, his contract was
not renewed and his editor was also dismissed.
Mr Mong says he was a casualty of media reforms that followed prime minister Viktor
Orbans (http://next.ft.com/content/7210239c-b567-11e5-8358-9a82b43f6b2f) return to
office in 2010.
The creation of a powerful media regulator, the replacement of journalists and a surge
in media dealmaking involving politically connected businessmen have since
transformed the landscape.
As EU officials examine the new Polish governments overhaul of its media legislation (h
ttp://next.ft.com/content/0390ad5a-b60d-11e5-8358-9a82b43f6b2f), analysts say they
should look to Budapest the inspiration for Warsaws reforms for a flavour of what
may be to come.
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journalists but also for Hungary, Mr Mong says of his protest. He was speaking from
Germany, where he works for Atlatszo.hu, an investigative news website, and the
German broadcaster Deutsche Welle.
Among Mr Orbans changes was the creation of a politically appointed media authority,
now led by Monika Karas, which oversees broadcast licensing. It has wide authority to
censure print, online and broadcast journalists for what is deemed unbalanced or
offensive content.
Its role in allocating radio frequencies drew notice in 2011 when Klubrdi, a liberal news
and talk radio station, lost its frequency.
Mr Orbans Fidesz government also extended criminal defamation penalties. Even
though no journalists have been imprisoned under these rules and the regulator has
not been the heavy sanctioning body some predicted, Amy Brouillette, director of the
European Media Project at Central European University, described the rules as an
unused hammer.
Mr Orban has defended his reforms as necessary to correct liberal imbalances. Even his
foes concede that political hires were commonplace under Fideszs socialist
predecessors.
Zoltn Kovcs, government spokesman, argues that Hungarys media is if anything
more diverse and less inhibited than western counterparts shackled by political
correctness. As an example, he points to the German medias alleged reticence in the
face of recent mass sexual assaults (http://next.ft.com/content/a1479c20-b3c9-11e5-b14
7-e5e5bba42e51) believed to have been carried out by some migrants in Cologne.
The signs of opinion distortion you find in Germany, for instance as in the press
coverage of Arabic immigrants attacks in Cologne are unknown in Hungary, Mr
Kovcs says.
But, like Mr Mong, other Hungarian journalists say the Fidesz government punishes
those who provide critical coverage.
Podcast

Brussels launches probe

into rule of law in Poland
(http://podcast.ft.com/2
016/01/13/brussels-launc
hes-probe-into-rule-of-la
w-in-poland/)

https://next.ft.com/content/15899580b9eb11e5bf7e8a339b6f2164

Gerg Sling, former editor of news website

Origo.hu, said he was forced out in 2014
when he published reports by his colleague
Andrs Peth on the travel expenses of a
senior Fidesz minister.
An executive at Origo, then owned by
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Warsaw has taken decisions about

the courts and media that are
causing concern across Europe,
prompting the European
Commission to launch an
investigation into the rule of law in
Poland. Gideon Rachman discusses
the unprecedented move with
Henry Foy and Neil Buckley.

subsidiary said Mr Sling left the website

by mutual agreement and the decision was
motivated by changing news consumption
habits. Mr Peth, who resigned, disagrees: I
left because I knew that despite what
they said we were under political
pressure.
International media watchdogs also give
Hungary poor marks. Freedom House and
Reporters Without Borders rank its media
independence 24th and 25th respectively
out of 28 EU countries, far behind
neighbours Poland, Czech Republic and
Slovakia.

Dunja Mijatovic, who oversees media freedom at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, warns that the media authoritys powers limit media pluralism and
put the media at risk of political control.
One of the governments strongest levers of control may be the purse. It has the ability
to direct a pot of public advertising money to media properties controlled by a clique of
businessmen, some with close ties to Fidesz.
Such funds account for more than 40 per cent of all advertising revenue at some big
papers. A 2014 study by Mertek, a media watchdog funded by the Open Society
Foundations, found distribution of these funds was opaque, unfair [and] based on the
political leanings of particular media.
The report noted that market leaders had lost out on funding since 2010, to the benefit
of the Fidesz-affiliated media empire.
Mr Orban has suffered setbacks in his campaign to reshape the media. Last year his
government withdrew a 50 per cent levy on advertising revenue that applied almost
exclusively to Bertelsmann-owned RTL Klub, a popular station that provides critical
coverage. The European Commission had dubbed the tax a political weapon.
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