Thursday

23rd Mar 2023

Hungary's largest news site warns independence at risk

Hungary's largest news site has sent out an emergency alert that its independence is at risk because of "external pressure".

Index.hu on Sunday (21 June) moved its "independence barometer", which it set up in 2018 after an ownership change, to "in danger" from "independent".

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

"Index is under such external pressure that could spell out the end of our editorial staff as we know it. We are concerned that with the proposed organisational overhaul, we will lose those values that made Index.hu the biggest and most-read news site in Hungary," its editor-in-chief Szabolcs Dull said in a statement signed by almost 90 employees.

Dull said the staff and the independence of Index are in "grave danger" and its fate will be decided in the next few days.

Index is one of the few remaining independent media outlets in Hungary, where prime minister Viktor Orban's government has moved to control an ever-larger segment of the country's media landscape.

The move against Index adds to concerns that the Orban government is tightening its grip on critical voices in Hungary, which stands at the bottom, among EU countries, of the Reporters Without Borders' World Press Freedom Index.

On Monday, Dull was reportedly removed from the board of directors of Index, but remained editor-in-chief, according to 444.hu.

Dull, on Sunday, revealed no details - but other independent news websites reported that a reorganisation attempt could see sections of Index outsourced to external companies, hollowing out the newsroom.

"At the end, it is about slicing up the editorial staff of Index," a source at Index told EUobserver on condition of anonymity, because the person was not authorised to speak on the issue.

"The Orban government is smart, we are not going to be beaten like they deal with journalists in China, but our fear is that under the disguise of untraceable business dealings, we will end up like a second Origo," the source said, referring to a news website that was stripped of its editorial independence in 2014.

The person described the mood among staff as "anticipation, filled with fear".

"The foundation of the organisation has been shaken by this attempt to influence," the source added.

50 percent stake

Media reports so far have centred on a businessman, Miklos Vaszily, who oversaw the pro-government transformation of Origo.hu, and has chaired pro-government broadcasters.

Index is owned by a foundation, formed to guarantee its independence, but Vaszily bought a 50 percent stake in March in a firm that manages Index's advertising revenues.

Over the past few years, several publications have been shut down, or turned openly pro-government as a result of Orban's efforts increase his control over the media.

These include the left-leaning Nepszabadsag, the country's largest newspaper, the conservative daily Magyar Nemzet, and Heti Valasz, a conservative weekly that had refused to push the government's line.

In 2018, hundreds of pro-government news outlets were consolidated into the huge Central European Press and Media Foundation. It had been exempted from competition rules, and its editorial content is under strict political control.

Meanwhile, state-owned media has for several years been pushing the government's narratives, including false information.

Orban-allies have also been moving into the Balkans to build up a media presence there.

Budapest's 'unprecedented control'

Asked by EUobserver, an EU Commission spokesman said it did not comment on media reports but it "follows the developments to get more clarity".

Christian Wigand said the the commission's position on the state of media freedom in Hungary is clear, and it has raised concerns on several occasions.

Wigand added that commission's new rule of law report, due out in September, "will cover issues related to media pluralism". "Democracy cannot work without free and independent media," he added.

Last December, a report by the international NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF) found "a degree of media control unprecedented in an EU member state", and called on the EU authorities to take action.

The RSF said that "there has been a dramatic decline in press freedom in Hungary", and that to silence media criticism, the government has used "a range of well-oiled methods including acquisitions of media outlets, forced closures, controlling the management of independent media, and smear campaigns against outspoken reporters".

Their report concluded that as a result, many Hungarians, especially in rural areas, have been deprived of independently-checked information.

Author bio

Disclaimer: Eszter Zalan worked as a journalist for Nepszabadsag between 2004 and 2014.

Hungary's new 'consultation' targets old foes

Migrants, Brussels, and US billionaire George Soros back in Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban's firing line, as politics returns and the pandemic dwindles.

Opinion

Orban-style 'media capture' is spreading across Europe

We hear a lot about the threats of social media and misinformation to our democracies. What we don't hear about is another anti-democratic disease that has already claimed multiple victims across the continent - 'media capture'.

Orban protests target state media in new front

Unprecedented protests against Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban's "illiberal" style mark a rare united front of opposition parties, amid new violence against opposition MPs.

Opinion

Hungary - how the government crippled the media

As president of a news organisation operating across Eurasia, I witnessed the reality of non-independent media in central Asia or in Vladimir Putin's Russia. Yet this trend is now becoming more commonplace in parts of the European Union.

Opinion

Turkey's election — the Erdoğan vs Kılıçdaroğlu showdown

Turkey goes to the polls in May for both a new parliament and new president, after incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdoğan decided against a post-earthquake postponement. The parliamentary outcome is easy to predict — the presidential one less so.

Latest News

  1. Sweden worried by EU visa-free deal with Venezuela
  2. Spain denies any responsibility in Melilla migrant deaths
  3. How much can we trust Russian opinion polls on the war?
  4. Banning PFAS 'forever chemicals' may take forever in Brussels
  5. EU Parliament joins court case against Hungary's anti-LGBTI law
  6. Three French MEPs to stay on election-observation blacklist
  7. Turkey's election — the Erdoğan vs Kılıçdaroğlu showdown
  8. When geopolitics trump human rights, we are all losers

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic and Baltic ways to prevent gender-based violence
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Economic gender equality now! Nordic ways to close the pension gap
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Pushing back the push-back - Nordic solutions to online gender-based violence
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: The Nordics are ready to push for gender equality
  5. Promote UkraineInvitation to the National Demonstration in solidarity with Ukraine on 25.02.2023
  6. Azerbaijan Embassy9th Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council Ministerial Meeting and 1st Green Energy Advisory Council Ministerial Meeting

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us