Region: Media layoffs spark controversy

A large number of recent and expected upcoming redundancies in the Hungarian public media sector have ignited the anger of journalists, analysts and free media organizations who say the ruling Fidesz party is discriminating against free-thinking journalists as it lays off hundreds of public service media workers.

"The layoffs are targeting the more independent-minded, good professionals [and] watchdog journalists," Attila Mong, a prominent Hungarian journalist, told The Prague Post.

In June, 570 writers and technicians were let go, while another 500 are expected to receive pink slips in the coming months. The government argues that the layoffs are necessary to reduce government expenditure and debt levels, arguing that what is happening in Hungary now is no different from the situation of redundancies taking place in Britain with the BBC.

Mong, who recently spent one year working with Hungarian public media, disagrees, saying he sees little similarity in the cases. While acknowledging that public media in Hungary "do need reorganization to work more efficiently," he said, "You must make efforts to keep up standards in order for the public media to act as a 'watchdog' and not just to serve the purposes of the government. This is not the situation in Hungary, where the government chooses to keep more loyal journalists."

In July, 250 demonstrators took to the streets to vent their anger at the latest cuts. So far, dissenting voices have been rather muted, with journalists from the public media reluctant to speak publicly on the issue for fear they might lose out on severance packages.

Opposition parties and political analysts, however, have been much more vocal in discussing the matter.

"The government is firing anyone who doesn't work in line with its directives," said Hungarian Socialist Party leader Attila Mesterházy.

"The government used the occasion [and] the pretext of the rationalizations to also dismiss those employees who might be critical of the government," said Tamás Boros of the think-tank Policy Solutions in Budapest.

Peter Kreko, research director at Budapest-based think tank Political Capital Institute, said he believed the layoffs were not "politically neutral."

Media assault

The layoffs are the latest in a series of attacks on the media since the right-wing government of Viktor Orbán came to power in May 2010 with a two-thirds ruling majority. Such a majority has allowed it to pass legislation largely as it sees fit.

In January, following the passage of a controversial and restrictive media law package, Mong and his colleague Zsolt Bogár observed a minute's silence on Kossuth's radio morning news program. They were suspended from their jobs and underwent disciplinary hearings lasting six months, a move that he described as an "overreaction." Mong now works with popular private online media portal Origo.

With Hungary then in the spotlight as holders of the six-month rotating EU Presidency, the European Commission was forced to intervene, striking down aspects of the law package deemed incompatible with EU law.

"The commission may have been satisfied, but we and other observers of the media still have major concerns," said Anthony Mills of the International Press Institute.

In particular, Mills is concerned with the powerful new media council appointed exclusively by the governing party Fidesz and with the prime minister's direct appointment of its head, Annamária Szalai.

"As the governing super-majority chose all members of the media council, there have been no checks on its exclusive influence," said Peter Molnár, one of the principal drafters of the 1996 Hungarian media law and now a senior research fellow at the Center for Media and Communication studies at Central European University.

"This situation created a huge chilling effect on the freedom of speech and of the press, freedoms that are fundamental parts of Hungary's tradition," Molnár said, citing the 1996 media law's allowance of parliamentary opposition parties, even if they possessed less than one-third of the seats, to nominate the same percentage of the members of the media supervisory boards as governing parties.

"Then an independent journalist could know that, if he or she were critical of the government, the regulatory structure would block the governing majority from taking action against him or her. This is what is missing now," Molnár added.

The council now has the power to sanction both public and private sources with fines of up to 200 million forints ($1 million).

"The fines are extremely severe," Mills said. "They intimidate the private media, and we believe this is leading to a form of self-censorship, the fear that if published, they could be fined."

Hungary finished its EU Presidency in June, and many now fear that, with fewer eyes on Budapest, the government will be more ruthless in pushing through its reforms.

"Just because Hungary is no longer in the spotlight, [doesn't mean we should] lose sight of what is happening," Mills said.

Cillian O'Donoghue can be reached at
codonoghue@praguepost.com