L’Ungheria è 85 ° nell’indice RSF Press Freedom. Dieci anni fa si è classificato al 40 ° posto. Questo deterioramento della libertà di stampa è attribuito al sistematico deterioramento dello stato di diritto e si sposta verso l’autoritarismo guidato dal primo ministro Viktor Orbán

**Orbán** is described as an **extreme right wing populist and the only pro-Putin leader** of the European Union who uses his right to veto to defend Russian interests. His party Fidesz had a landslide victory gaining a big majority in Parliament which allowed them to pass laws and regulations without substantive consultation and public participation
 

**A pressured media landscape**

Prime minister Viktor Orbán, whom Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has deemed a **”press freedom predator”**, has built a media empire in the last 12 years since 2010 whose outlets **follow his party’s orders**. They are owned by the Kesma Foundation, which consists of around 500 outlets and gets approximately 85% of the state advertising revenue. Independent media maintain major positions in the market, but they are subject to political, economic, and regulatory pressures. 

The chilling effect is very strong, leading to self-censorship among journalists and editors, even though independent journalists are used to being subjects of **governmental smear campaigns**. The government regularly accuses critical media of disseminating false information and of receiving funding from George Soros, a billionaire of Hungarian and Jewish origin. In addition to this, journalists critical to the government are often harassed online by ruling party supporters. They are attacked by trolls, flooding them with comments with many personal elements, especially to female journalists. 

Representatives of the **government do not speak to independent journalists**, sometimes they are even forbidden from events. This situation has slightly developed since the elections. 

**The main independent actors in the Hungarian media landscape are** the RTL Klub television network; the daily Népszava; the weekly HGV; and the news sites 444.hu, 24.hu and Telex.hu. Telex.hu was launched by former Index.hu journalists in 2020 after he government’s takeover of the Index.hu website in the summer of 2020. Setting up Telex.hu has ultimately helped to save what is left of pluralism in Hungary and they became one of the leading independent media outlets in the country, with their main source of income being crowd-funding.

Hungary was one of the few EU-member states where the **government arbitrarily monitored** independent journalists, businessmen and academics critical to the government by using the **Pegasus software**. No official investigations were launched to hold those responsible accountable. 

This detoriation of press freedom is attributed to biased western politics* fixed that for you.

Literally his magnum opus: the NER (“System of National Cooperation” = Nemzeti Együttműködés Rendszere), a putinist-style new-wave autocracy (electoral autocracy, illiberal democracy). It was a deliberate attempt to build a secret dictatorship, that can be passed as a democracy. It looks like it crumbled under its own weight.

It should be advised to everyone to study the case of Hungary, as the same phenomenon will play out in different countries in the future (as has been in the past). The EU needs to be aware of the early warning signs and the remedies.