“The combined effects of a politically controlled media regulatory authority and sustained and distorting state intervention in the media market have eroded the conditions for media pluralism and the freedom of expression in Hungary”, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights declares in a Memorandum published this Tuesday.
“Since 2010”, “the [Hungarian] government has consistently failed to recognise the importance of the role of independent institutions, whether regulatory authorities or the judiciary”, and “independent and professional journalism [has] been systematically crowded out. [The] free exchange of diverse opinions [has] been severely curtailed, particularly outside the capital”, adds Dunja Mijatović, stressing the importance of free political debate in view of the 2022 parliamentary elections.
To reverse this trend, she is calling for the amendment of media legislation so as to bring it into compliance with Council of Europe standards and for recognition that hate speech against journalists is a threat to society as a whole.
Link to the Memorandum: https://bit.ly/39usiNQ
Link to the Hungarian government’s response: https://bit.ly/3di5Zfk (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)