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All elections are media magnets. News outlets, typically, pull out all the stops, covering every detail. Where even the slightest bit of contention is felt reporters and news crews are on the scene. In this post-modern news age, there is no shortage of opinions to drive home, literally and figuratively, the story.
So it has been in Hungary, where parliamentary elections draw to a close this weekend (April 3). Major media outlets are girding themselves for non-stop election results reporting once the polls close Sunday evening. Recent polling (March 31) from Publicus show the Fidesz party of prime minister Viktor Orban and the United Opposition coalition, fronted by conservative mayor Peter Marki-Zey, tied at 47% each. Polling trends, however, continue to predict PM Orban remaining in office. War in neighboring Ukraine has affected public opinion but giving no advantage to the opposition. (See more about elections and media here)
Government-friendly TV2 has broadcast a series of programs during the campaign flattering PM Orban and criticizing Mr. Marki-Zey. In addition there have been campaign ads for Fidesz candidates, which may have violated election laws. HitTV, another pro-Fidesz channel, plans a rather long marathon - Hungary’s Choice - featuring current politicians discussing subjects close to the ruling political party. As the evening wears on, musical interludes will be on the bill and later movies. Another pro-government TV channel - ATV - also plans an all-day election program. State TV channel M1 and state radio channels will offer election results from early evening “until morning.” (See more about media in Hungary here)
Independent television channel RTL Klub plans special coverage Sunday evening beginning with poll results and political experts in a live studio setting ahead of voting totals. A different, larger panel will sort through results as they become known. Spot news coverage will available on the RTL HU website. RTL Klub, principally owned by RTL Group, has maintained non-partisan coverage of this and other political campaigns.
Much of the Hungarian election coverage will play out on the internet. Independent news portal Telex plans coverage Sunday from noon, followed by various panel discussions. In the early evening they will switch to rolling coverage from several locations in Hungary. As results are released later in the evening that will be the subject along with final statements from PM Orban and Mr. Marki-Zey. (See more about news online here)
Relatively new to Hungary’s independent online media scene is Partizan, essentially a YouTube channel. The channel has 270,000 subscribers, reported AFP (April 2). Partizan and independent news portal 24 HU are jointly offering a full evening of election coverage which will continue as Front Line, a regular online program. Noted the incomparable Mertek Media Monitor media analyst Agnes Urban, Partizan is "vulnerable as it could be switched off for any reason.”
Surprising nobody, Afghan Taliban extremists showed this week just how much they dislike foreign news media. Last Sunday (March 27) Afghan broadcast outlets carrying programs from international broadcasters Deutsche Welle (DW), Voice of America (VOA) and the BBC were ordered to curtail those services. The broadcasting ban appears coincident with the Taliban extremists backtracking on reopening girls’ secondary schools, which was widely reported by international news outlets.
A DW political talk show in Dari and Pashto on ToloNews, a privately-owned TV channel, was specifically targeted as well as science programs on Ariana TV and Shamshad TV, also privately-owned, noted DW (March 27). BBC television news programs in Dari, Pashto and Uzbek were banned from local channels. VOA news programs in Dari and Pashto regularly seen on ToloNews and Shamshad TV were also banned. Programs from Chinese state broadcaster China Global Television Network (CGTN) were also ordered removed. (See more about censorship here)
Strongly condemning the TV bans, officials from DW, VOA and BBC noted radio and online distribution was not - yet - disturbed. VOA announced (March 29) a new direct-to-home satellite channel for Afghanistan. BBC Persian TV remains available to those with satellite reception gear. (See more about media in Central Asia here)
"The fact that the Taliban are now criminalizing the distribution of DW programs by our media partners is hindering positive developments in Afghanistan,” said DW director general Peter Limbourg, in a statement. "This is a worrying development at a time of uncertainty and turbulence for the people of Afghanistan," said BBC World Service language services director Tarik Kafala. “The content restrictions that the Taliban are attempting to impose are antithetical to freedom of expression that the people of Afghanistan deserve,” said VOA acting Director Yolanda Lopez.
Through the week, the Taliban extremists detained or arrested several local reporters, said International Federation of Journalists (March 31). Two local radio station were ordered shuttered. In the midst of all this, the Afghan people continue to suffer under the extremist’s rule as international donors delay humanitarian support over Taliban decisions.
Six major media freedom and rights advocates issued a scathing report on the state of the Greek media sector. It notes the usual range of sins; undermining journalistic activities, partisan allocation of state advertising and links to organized crime. It is a blunt assessment that everybody understands. “The situation of press freedom in Greece is becoming comparable to the one in Hungary,” said Reporters sans Frontieres (RSF) EU and Balkans desk chief Pavol Szalai to Euractiv (March 29).
“Newspapers and individual journalists that are ideologically on the side of the opposition or take a neutral stance are singled out by the government for unequal treatment that undermines their journalistic activities,” said the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) report (March 28). “This has been further compounded by a lack of transparency around the allocation of state advertising and its distribution based on established partisan lines.” The MFRR is led by the European Center for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF) and includes RSF, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), International Press Institute (IPI), Article 19, Free Press Unlimited (FPU), the Institute for Applied Informatics at the University of Leipzig (InfAI), and CCI/Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso Transeuropa (OBCT). The Athens Journalist’s Union also participated. (See more about press/media freedom here)
The report - Controlling the Message: Challenges for independent reporting in Greece - points directly at the right-wing New Democracy (Nea Dimokratia) party of prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis as “obsessed with controlling the message.” It specifically noted the slow-walking investigation of the daylight murder almost a year ago of Star TV investigative reporter Giorgos Karaivaz, a specialist in organized crime. “The press freedom violations faced by journalists doing so are linked to the government’s restrictive migration policy and an unwillingness to accept public scrutiny of it leading to obstructions to reporting such as arbitrary arrest and detention, restriction of access, surveillance and harassment.” (See more about media in Greece here)
“Every citizen can be freely informed, at any time, through the media of his choice,” said the non-response by the New Democracy party to the report.
Major German tabloid Bild is another casualty of infamous Russian regulator/censor Roskomnadsor. The Bild website has been blocked in Russia on the recommendation of the Russian Prosecutor General’s office. The Russian agencies did not specify a reason.
Bild is published by Axel Springer and has, in recent weeks, offered Russian-language translations as well as 24/7 reports on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This follows the blocking of websites of German international broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW), which followed German regulators terminating distribution of Russian propaganda channels RT (Russia Today) and Sputnik. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs added DW (March 28) to its infamous list of “foreign agents.” Bild editor-in-chief Johannes Boie promised to “give Russian citizens even more opportunities to inform themselves with news and facts beyond Russian government propaganda,” reported Tagesspiegel (March 27).
DW, Bild and numerous other news outlet have mastered the technology of workarounds. The Russian public has been made aware of VPNs - virtual private networks - and Tor browsers. Bild is also supplying news via a Telegram channel. Mirror sites, including from press freedom advocate Reporters sans Frontieres (RSF), also complicate the censors’ efforts. Last Friday (March 25), Russian president Vladimir V. Putin signed into law a new measure targeting foreign media. (See more about media in the Russian Federation here)
The weekend (March 27) interview by four independent Russian reporters with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has, so far, received only modest threats from Roskomnadsor. The video interview in Russian was conducted by reporters from TV Dozhd, Meduza and Kommersant. Author Mikhail Zygar (All The Kremlin’s Men) asked a question on behalf of Novaya Gazeta chief editor Dmitry Muratov, the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
Before the interview was even released the media regulator/censor “urged” publications and portals from reporting on the interview. After it was released on YouTube, they ratcheted up the warning as user comments were posted “thanking” Roskomnadsor for “the promotion,” reported news portal Lenizdat RU (March 27). A further warning came from the Prosecutor General’s Office threatening a “legal assessment of the content.”
Then, the next morning (March 28), Novaya Gazeta - considered the last independent news outlet in the Russian Federation - suspended publication. Its website was blank except for a droll statement: “We received another warning from Roskomnadzor. After that, we are ceasing covering both online and in print until the end of the ‘special operation on the territory of Ukraine.’” A third notice would bring a formal shuttering of all operations.
Said Novaya Gazeta reporter Pavel Novaya Gazeta to the BBC (March 28): “This is it.”
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