Page 12 - bne_newspaper_April_27_2018

Central Europe
April 27, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 12
Of Poland, the index report states: “Nothing seems to be able to stop Law and Justice, the national- conservative party that won the October 2015 gen- eral election, from pushing on with its plan to radi- cally reform Poland as it sees fit, taking no account of those who think differently. Press freedom is one of its project’s main victims. The public media have been formally renamed ‘national media’ and have been transformed into government propaganda mouthpieces. Their new leaders tolerate neither opposition nor neutrality from employees and fire those who refuse to comply.”
The remarks on Hungary are less damning
but may be a touch too generous given recent media landscape developments in the country. The report summarises: “Businessmen with close ties to Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s party, Fidesz, not only managed to acquire new
Mass protests continue in Hungary against Orban government
bne IntelliNews
Hungarian anti-government demonstrators filled the streets of Budapest for a second straight weekend on April 21, protesting for press freedom and against the government's anti-civil society ac- tions. But keynote speakers also blamed disunity among opposition parties for the Fidesz party's resounding victory in the April 8 election.
Organised as a follow-up to last week’s demon- stration, the event "2.0 We are the majority! – An- other protest for democracy" drew an estimated 100,000 people, a strong crowd given the unsea- sonably warm weather in the capital.
media outlets in 2017 but also to replace foreign media companies that had invested in Hungary’s media. Their biggest success was getting control of the last three regional daily newspapers
in the summer. Nevertheless, the Hungarian media landscape is still varied, and both print and online outlets do not hesitate to publish investigative coverage of alleged corruption involving top Fidesz and government officials.”
But across the EU, Bulgaria is ranked the
lowest (111th place), which also puts it below
the aspiring EU members from the Western Balkans. Corruption and collusion between media, politicians, and oligarchs is widespread in Bulgaria, the report noted, singling out former intelligence chief Deylan Peevski, whose New Bulgarian Media Group controls nearly 80% of print media distribution in the country.
At least 100,000 people turn up at anti-government rally in Budapest
The anti-government rallies of the past eight days have been organised by people with no declared party affiliations. The peaceful weekend march attracted a mixed though mainly younger crowd, covering all political sides from Jobbik to Demo- cratic Coalition (DK) to Politics Can Be Different (LMP) supporters.
There is widespread discontent among leftist, lib- eral and liberal-conservative voters against oppo- sition parties, who they feel have betrayed them. Voters of all stripes blame politicians for failing to field a single candidate in each of Hungary's 106