The International Press Institute (IPI) and the Media and Journalism Research Centre (MJRC) today have launched the Hungarian edition of the Media Capture Monitoring Report, an annual assessment of media capture in EU member states. The reports in this series assess the compliance of national legislation with the newly adopted European Media Freedom Act (EMFA), aimed at combating media capture.
Hungary has long been the model of media capture in the European Union using the tools of the state to turn public media into government propaganda, to ensure political control of the media regulator, to misuse state advertising to reward media allies and punish its critics and to use government aligned oligarchs to ensure private media is closely aligned with government.
The Hungary report sheds light on how, despite a legal framework that appears to protect the political independence of public broadcasters and media regulators, these entities have become fully captured by the governing party.
It is the latest report to be published in a series of seven country reports to be released in 2024.
The Media Capture Monitoring Report is part of IPI’s Media Freedom Rapid Response Program, which monitors and addresses press freedom violations in new member states and candidate countries.
The report is available here.
The project page can be accessed here.