The Hungarian government led by Viktor Orbán, which has been in power since 2010, often demonstrates its press and media freedom record by pointing out that no journalists are in prison or have been murdered in the country. While this remains accurate on these narrow terms, it is not the full picture. Because if there is more than one way to skin a cat, there is more than one way to threaten journalists and undermine media freedom.
Over the last decade, Hungary’s Fidesz government, as part of what Orbán calls ‘illiberal democracy’, has perfected the use of an alarmingly effective alternate set of tools to weaken media pluralism and independence. This model of media capture was again on show in a Budapest courtroom on February 4, where the court rejected the request for a temporary license extension from Hungary’s last independent radio station, Klubrádió. This followed a decision by the Media Council of the National Media and Communications Authority (ORTT) in September 2020 to not extend Klubrádió’s license.
The court’s decision will mean that Klubrádió may vanish from the airwaves after February 14, 2021.
