EU needs to urgently protect civic space in Hungary
The EU should accelerate legal action against Hungary and seek the suspension of the repressive Law on the Protection of National Sovereignty.
Hungary: Constraining media freedom, undermining access to information
“The Hungarian government’s interference with media freedom and pluralism, part of its systematic attack on the rule of law, obstructs the work of independent journalists in holding the authorities to account and prevents the public from accessing information” – HRW
Hungary passes controversial ‘Sovereignty Protection Act’
Leading editors and journalists from independent press in Hungary warn that the law could be used to make life more difficult for those media critical of the government.
Hungary: Draft Sovereignty Protection Act poses fresh threat to independent media
“The proposed law would effectively open the door to state-sponsored pressure on those media which receive foreign funding and produce journalism critical of the government” – MFRR partners
Hungary’s “defence of sovereignty” bill is an attempt to stifle dissent
“This legislation, reminiscent of the stigmatising 2017 LexNGO and the 2018 Stop Soros laws, is yet another affront to Hungary’s constitutional, international, and EU commitments” – HCLU
Cyberattack on IPI: Evidence points to retaliation for press freedom work in Hungary
In early September, a series of DDoS attacks took the International Press Institute’s (IPI) website offline. Although the website is back online, IPI continues to face cyberattacks.
Hungary: DDoS attacks pose major new threat to media freedom
Since April 2023, at least 40 media websites – predominantly ones that are critical of the government – have faced Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks.
Hungary: Media freedom groups welcome EU court referral over Klubrádió frequency
“This decision by the EU’s executive body to take Hungary to court over the alleged breach in EU telecoms rules regarding Klubrádió’s frequency licence is a belated but important signal that the Commission is increasingly willing to use the tools available to it to defend independent media, freedom of expression and media pluralism where they are most threatened.”
Hungary: RSF asks prime ministerial candidates to prioritize press freedom and the right to information
“If the future government does not take concrete steps to dismantle this political system which has enabled the concentration of media ownership as well as the deliberate attacks on media independence, Hungary would risk becoming a black hole from which no reliable news and information emerges.”
Hungarian government continues to undermine press freedom
Ahead of April’s general election, IPI’s new report finds that the Fidesz government has continued to systematically erode media pluralism, muzzle the independent press and manipulate the market to further entrench a pro-government narrative.
MFRR Report: State Capture and Media Freedom in Hungary, Poland and Turkey
“In Hungary, Poland and Turkey, increasing control of ruling parties over state-controlled companies, advertising agencies, media regulators, competition watchdogs and even the courts, has allowed for a steady intensification and diversification of campaigns against critical press.”
Hungary: Call for inquiry into use of Pegasus spyware against journalists
“IPI calls on the Hungarian national security committee to hold an urgent session to assess how long this illegal monitoring has been carried out for, who is responsible for approving the surveillance and assessing how many journalists have been targeted.”
Hungary’s government continues to target civil society despite moving to scrap the NGO law
Almost a year after the ECJ declared the discriminatory NGO law illegal, the government has submitted a draft to parliament to repeal it. However, groups assisting asylum seekers are still criminalised in law and organisations that criticise the government continue to face smear campaigns.
Rights groups say EU must act on media freedom in Poland, Hungary and Slovenia
“The EU has sat on the sidelines for too long. Repeated inaction to stop the undermining of media freedom and pluralism first in Hungary, and then in Poland, has allowed this model of media capture to grow and spread to other Member States. The cost of further inaction is simply too high.”