Making A List Not Just For Santa
Michael Hedges March 6, 2020 - Follow on Twitter
Authoritarians in our midst and various wannabes practice keeping inconvenient news away from their subjects. It’s a time honored tradition. The digital era promised relief from this practice, in the interest of preventing repression and promoting democracy. It has not worked out so well.
 That the Hungarian government under Viktor Orban keeps media outlets on a tight leash is also not news. It is the envy of authoritarians and “illiberals” everywhere. It has been so successful it’s now an export. The extent of this media control is occasionally reported outside Hungary. Inside everybody already knows how it is.
The extend which Hungary’s state media apparatus controls information flow within the country was reported earlier in the week by news portal politico.eu (March 2 and 3). The articles built on earlier reports by independent Hungarian news outlet Népszava (November 29, 2019) about “articles on sensitive topics going on mysterious paths.” politico.eu added screenshots of revealing emails and noted that senior editors with Hungarian state news outlets require prior approval for mention of environmental activist Greta Thunberg.
According to these and more recent reports, a “list of topics considered sensitive” the “comes from above” exists among senior management of MTVA (Media Services and Support Trust Fund), the umbrella organization that technically funds and practically operates state radio Magyar Radio, television channels Magyar Televizio and Duna Televizio as well as news agency MTI, which feeds government-friendly news content to government-aligned newspapers, online outlets and broadcasters. Topics including reports on migration, religious issues, “Brussels,” as well as references to Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are reviewed by political operatives. Managing editors do not explain decisions to reporters, the subject is simply “dropped.”
MTVA, in a statement quoted by independent news portal Index.hu (March 3) and 444.hu (March 2), said editorial decisions follow an orderly process “just like every other editorial office in the world.” Reporting from “fake news sites” Azonnali, Index and 24.hu - all recognized as independent and critical - was “conspiracy theories coordinated with foreign help” to harm state media. And just to get eyes rolling: “Our public media follows the (UK public broadcaster) BBC’s editorial and news policy. By attacking us, those principals are also attacked.”
Socialist Party (MSZP) member of the National Assembly (parliament) Agnes Kunhalmi brought forward the question of state censorship in a Wednesday Budapest press conference, reported news portal media1.hu (March 4). “Could a misdemeanor of malpractice have been committed if unauthorized persons outside the public service media system had unlawfully influenced news production activities? This can be considered for prosecution by the Attorney General.”
“It's censorship; clearly and simply,” said Reporters sans Frontieres (RSF) representative to European Institutions Julie Majerczak for the original politico.eu article. “This is unacceptable and worrying. Public media is not a government spokesman; it must be independent and neutral!” The 2019 RSF Press Freedom Index ranks Hungary 87th - between Sierra Leone and Israel - due to “extreme ownership concentration in the hands of oligarchs allied with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s ultra-nationalist government.”
Always direct, Greta Thunberg weighed in: “Lists like these should never exist. But since they do, I guess it’s an honor to be on them,” she wrote on Twitter, widely quoted. “This shows the importance of democracy. Freedom of the press is non-negotiable.”
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