Page 58 - bne magazine September 2020 russia melting

58 Opinion
bne September 2020
VISEGRAD BLOG:
The slow death of Hungary’s independent media
Tamas Szilagyi in Budapest
Around 80 people submitted their resignations from independent news website Index.hu on July 24 after the firing of the editor-in-chief the previous day.
The move is unprecedented in Hungary's media history. The collapse of the country's leading online news site further narrows the number of free media outlets in Hungary where the landscape is dominated by Prime Minister Viktor Orban's allies.
On Friday a rally was organised by opposition parties in support of media freedom. Several thousand people walked from the headquarters of Index to the prime minister’s residence in the Castle District.
However, Hungary’s state news agency's first report of the demonstration came hours after the end of the demonstration.
Index, with 1.8mn unique daily visitors, was Hungary's fifth- largest website and the number one in the news category. Since its foundation in 1999, it has vigorously pursued an independent stance. It was critical of both the right and left wing. Its journalists have received numerous awards over the last 20 years. To its credit, many high ranking politicians from the ruling conservative-nationalist Fidesz also openly admitted that they were avid readers of the news site.
From 2017 the Foundation for Hungarian Progress became the sole owner of the website headed by Laszlo Bodolai, who for a long time worked as a lawyer for the media company. Journalists held the view that this ownership structure would be a guarantee of independence.
The publishing and advertising rights were owned previously by Zoltan Speder. The former chairman of FHB, Hungary’s second-largest listed bank before 2018, Speder has fallen out of favour with the prime minister. Around that time he was forced to sell his stakes in the company, including the sales house Indamedia, to people close to the government.
This was the first warning sign in retrospect, local media wrote, as control over the funding of the portal was transferred to pro-government businessmen.
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A sad day for Hungary's media history. Journalists of Index resign fearing the loss of independence from government control.
Concerns about the outlet’s independence deepened after Miklos Vaszily acquired 50% control of Indamedia during
the state of emergency in March. An Orban loyalist, he
played an integral part in turning the internet news site, Origo, a competitor to Index and other outlets, taking it from being independent to a pro-government mouthpiece during his career.
In late June Index’s then editor-in-chief Szabolcs Dull came out with a shocking editorial about attempts at outside influence.
"The media outlet is under external pressure that could spell the end of our editorial staff as we know it, and we are not
“The media outlet is under external pressure that could spell the end of our editorial staff as we know it”
sure that we will be able to keep working this way for long,” he wrote. The website's independence gauge, a graphic used since 2018, was turned from "independent" to "in danger".
This came after a controversial business plan was put forward by consultants of Vaszily on the board that would have outsourced content creation, basically spelling the end of independent journalistic work at Index.
Dull was first ousted from the board and a week later from his post as editor-in-chief.
The official explanation for his dismissal was that he had created unfavourable market conditions by leaking the business plan and saying that the news site’s independence was at stake. The disarray led to a drop in revenue as advertisers stayed away, Bodolai said.
Journalists said the firing of Dull was the red line. On Thursday they called on Bodolai to rehire him, which he refused to do. After that some 80 journalists tendered their resignation on