CMCS researcher, Eva Bognar on Hungarian government’s crackdown on media freedom

CMCS researcher, Eva Bognar spoke about the recent government crackdown on civil society and media freedom in Hungary in an Al Jazeera report. She commented on the new advertising tax that the Hungarian government is introducing and that can seriously endanger the financial survival of certain media outlets:

‘Eva Bognar of the Center for Media and Communications Studies at Budapest's Central European University, said advertising can offer sustenance for independent media outlets which, unlike state-owned media, cannot rely on the government. "Some more independent outlets would be in trouble" because of the tax, Bognar said.’

She also talked about the firing of Origo’s, one of Hungary’s leading online news portal’s editor-in-chief, who was allegedly removed from the Magyar Telekom owned company due to government pressure in the wake of reports criticizing a politician’s use of public funds:

“Bognar claimed that Magyar Telekom wanted to appease the government in hopes of getting a tender for broadband services. "The Origo case is really worrying," she said, adding that it appears as if online media and foreign-owned companies are being strongly influenced by the government. "The government is using different means … to make critical voices either harder to hear, harder to access [or] preferably just non-existent."

You can read the full article here.