No single political party will be able to completely control Hungary’s public-service media, only part of Fidesz’s media empire will survive, and serious challenges await independent newsrooms.
An earthquake – that is how the new media law, approved by parliament on 23 June, is being described in Hungary. It fundamentally reforms the public-service media, which became one of the symbols of Fidesz prime minister Viktor Orbán’s system. The law entered into force on Friday, and on Saturday the mandates of all existing directors of public-service media came to an end.
The law includes safeguards designed to prevent public-service media from being hijacked by government. European regulation will also be incorporated into the Hungarian legal order, bringing further guarantees.
The system of state advertising, which in recent years distorted the media market, will also change.
Media expert and lawyer Gábor Polyák, a professor at the Institute of Media Studies at ELTE University in Budapest, pointed out that a difficult period awaits not only Fidesz-aligned media, but also independent newsrooms: after the elections, readers will spend less money on maintaining independent media.
