Palma Bruder 
The issue of press freedom and oppressing certain voices is not a new phenomenon. However, it has received more attention the past year in certain countries. Hungary, for instance, is one of them.
Ever since national and international news are communicated to the public through mass media, it is only natural that not everyone will be satisfied with everything newspapers write and report. Some will even resort to lighter or heavier forces to impede journalists or media outlets from informing the general public.
This is something every country suffers from, to a smaller or greater extent. Meanwhile, some of them are doing a great job and are heading in a direction where the oppression of press freedom is the one that is oppressed; other countries lag behind and suffer the consequences of strong hands taking platforms away or even silencing some.
As the UN warned, journalism around the world is facing “drastic losses”.
The intergovernmental organisation thinks that information is a public good that needs to be spread worldwide. Especially during the time of a global pandemic when many countries experienced budget and job cuts, or even close-downs; meanwhile, other media outlets are targeted by political forces and can quickly become victims of “political capture”.
Last month, Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF), a Non-Governmental Organisation focusing on journalism, issued a global index on press freedom. Euronews.com mentions the list highlighting how authoritarian regimes have received an excuse to crack down on journalism, all due to coronavirus.
You can find all countries observed by clicking here.
Hungary is among the ten countries with the worst ranking in Europe,
according to RSF’s index. Other Eastern-European countries like Turkey, Ukraine and Russia are behind; meanwhile, Kosovo and Armenia, for instance, were ranked a bit higher.
This ranking may not come as such a huge surprise for our readers, as only some days ago, we wrote about a closed online conference with the participation of US State Secretary Antony Blinken. He talked to 8 chosen journalists from around the world, working in countries or regions where the freedom of the press is under attack in any way. Representative of Hungarian media outlet Telex was one of them.
Critical voices of the US government target Hungary
On the aforementioned global list, Hungary occupies the 92nd position,
just above Serbia. The US government is not the only one worrying about Hungarian “media freedom and pluralism”. The European Union also expressed its concerns over recent incidents happening in the Hungarian media, for instance, the case of Hungary’s first independent radio station whose licence was suspended in February by the authorities.
As euronews.com says, “Independent media has been under threat in the country since Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s return to power in 2010.”
Council of Europe: Hungarian press freedom is being compromised
During the time of the global pandemic that hits Hungary harder than many other countries, for instance, in terms of the number of deaths considering the total population, the government managed to pass legislation that criminalises what the ruling party calls “fake news”. Thus the access to information for journalists is blocked, meaning that the public will also have difficulties with acquiring credible information.
Source: euronews.com
6 comments
In 2013 Hungary stood at 56 in the world rankings out of 180 countries. In 2019 Radio Free Europe/Szabad Európa came back to Hungary after a 26 year break. At that time it stood at 87. Last year it stood at 89, so in a year it has dropped three places to 92. And some still maintain Hungary has free press?
Most media outlets in the west or EU are owned by globalists, that propagate leftwing, Marxist policies. This is done to gain total control over countries. The populations of the EU and US are so naive that they believe what they read in these papers. On top of this, the tech companies, e.g. Google, Face Book, Twitter, Amazon censure most conservative comments, or comments that do not agree with their oppressive policy. There is no such thing as free media in either US or EU.
Hungary’s media is free. Some leftist media outlets went bankrupt because there was no market for their product. The Hungarian population rejected the content of globalists’ leftist content.
Hungary should license Fox, to counter the destructive globalist media.
I have no sympathy for the media including the Hungarian media. Why? because they are for the most part NOT journalist. They claim to be journalist but in fact they are almost always paid propaganda presenters of a leftist leaning organization. When the right leaning news outlets have an opinion that does NOT conform to the viewpoint of the leftist media they whinge and name call the other side as “FAKE NEWS” but in fact they are projecting the spotlight away from themselves. Most journalist hate the people of Hungary because most Hungarians are conservitive and want to preserve their Hungarian culture and viewpoints. The media prest itutues want to destroy the family and turn ALL first world countries into melting pots of migrants that have no interest in anything other than what free items they think the first world countries should give them. It is a well known fact that many of these media outlets are in fact paid mouthpieces of a mentally ill former Hungarian.
I think most people here take what’s reported with a very large pinch of salt. I cannot for the life of me see how Hungary’s media is free and I’m not the only one. Anything that’s printed against the government or leftist is branded as fake news. Hungarians who have left have also commented on this. Once away they see how controlling the media is here. People don’t believe what they read in most papers regardless of where they live. Number 92 though, not a good statistic is it.
Cheer up, homo orbanicus, there is still more press freedom in Orbanistan than there is in North Korea.
Hey Mario. North Korea has been overtaken by Eritrea, can you believe it!