Governments start by attacking the press verbally, questioning their credibility and refusing to talk to certain journalists or outlets (Photo: Helena Malikova)

Hungary - how the government crippled the media

EU Political

Opinion

by Jamie Fly, Berlin/Washington,

Last year, as I was laying the groundwork for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's return to Hungary after a 27-year hiatus from Hungarian language programming, a Hungarian-based expert I was talking to make a startling comment.

"If you are a teenager living in Hungary today, you likely have never seen your political leaders questioned on camera by truly independent journalists."

As president of a news organisation operating across Eurasia, I witnessed this reality firsthand in centr...

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EU Political Opinion

Disclaimer

The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author’s, not those of EUobserver

Author Bio

Jamie Fly is a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States and previously served as president and CEO of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

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Governments start by attacking the press verbally, questioning their credibility and refusing to talk to certain journalists or outlets (Photo: Helena Malikova)