🇪🇺🥾✨🇭🇺
this post was submitted on 24 May 2025
124 points (98.4% liked)
Europe
5977 readers
1588 users here now
News and information from Europe 🇪🇺
(Current banner: La Mancha, Spain. Feel free to post submissions for banner images.)
Rules (2024-08-30)
- This is an English-language community. Comments should be in English. Posts can link to non-English news sources when providing a full-text translation in the post description. Automated translations are fine, as long as they don't overly distort the content.
- No links to misinformation or commercial advertising. When you post outdated/historic articles, add the year of publication to the post title. Infographics must include a source and a year of creation; if possible, also provide a link to the source.
- Be kind to each other, and argue in good faith. Don't post direct insults nor disrespectful and condescending comments. Don't troll nor incite hatred. Don't look for novel argumentation strategies at Wikipedia's List of fallacies.
- No bigotry, sexism, racism, antisemitism, islamophobia, dehumanization of minorities, or glorification of National Socialism. We follow German law; don't question the statehood of Israel.
- Be the signal, not the noise: Strive to post insightful comments. Add "/s" when you're being sarcastic (and don't use it to break rule no. 3).
- If you link to paywalled information, please provide also a link to a freely available archived version. Alternatively, try to find a different source.
- Light-hearted content, memes, and posts about your European everyday belong in !yurop@lemm.ee. (They're cool, you should subscribe there too!)
- Don't evade bans. If we notice ban evasion, that will result in a permanent ban for all the accounts we can associate with you.
- No posts linking to speculative reporting about ongoing events with unclear backgrounds. Please wait at least 12 hours. (E.g., do not post breathless reporting on an ongoing terror attack.)
- Always provide context with posts: Don't post uncontextualized images or videos, and don't start discussions without giving some context first.
(This list may get expanded as necessary.)
Posts that link to the following sources will be removed
- on any topic: RT, news-pravda:com, GB News, Fox, Breitbart, Daily Caller, OAN, sociable:co, citjourno:com, brusselssignal:eu, europesays:com, geo-trends:eu, any AI slop sites (when in doubt please look for a credible imprint/about page), change:org (for privacy reasons)
- on Middle-East topics: Al Jazeera
- on Hungary: Euronews
Unless they're the only sources, please also avoid The Sun, Daily Mail, any "thinktank" type organization, and non-Lemmy social media. Don't link to Twitter directly, instead use xcancel.com. For Reddit, use old:reddit:com
(Lists may get expanded as necessary.)
Ban lengths, etc.
We will use some leeway to decide whether to remove a comment.
If need be, there are also bans: 3 days for lighter offenses, 7 or 14 days for bigger offenses, and permanent bans for people who don't show any willingness to participate productively. If we think the ban reason is obvious, we may not specifically write to you.
If you want to protest a removal or ban, feel free to write privately to the primary mod account @EuroMod@feddit.org
founded 11 months ago
MODERATORS
As someone who knows very little about Hungarian media, I found that article very interesting on Hungary’s independent media — ‘A battle of the wills, but worth the struggle’
[Hungary PM] Orbán is often accused of having installed an Orwellian system in which his government controls the majority of the media landscape. But taking over control of the media wasn’t done overnight. It involved weakening of oversight bodies, such as the Constitutional Court and the Ombudsman’s office, and manipulating market resources. Take, for example, Heinrich Pecina, an Austrian businessman with Fidesz ties, who acquired major Hungarian media assets in 2014, including the opposition newspaper Népszabadság, which was then controversially shut down in 2016 after it published investigations into government corruption. But it was in 2018, with the creation of KESMA, a media conglomerate controlling over 470 outlets, when Orbán further consolidated media control in the country ...
Behind the scenes, Hungary’s advertising market has also been skewed by political interference, with state funds funnelled to pro-government outlets. For example, in 2018, the pro-government broadcaster TV2 received 67 percent of state advertising in the broadcast sector, whereas the independent RTL Klub, with a similar reach, got just one percent, according to a report from the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom.
"The advertising market is completely distorted. The state is the biggest advertiser and they only advertise in what they consider to be friendly places,” explains Kárpáti, arguing that some advertisers don’t even dare advertise in independent papers for fear of being “blacklisted” by the state.
[Independent] outlets like 24.hu and Magyar Hang have shifted toward a subscription model — although they still rely heavily on advertising and sales ...
Addition:
Hungary ranks 68 (out of 180 countries, and down from no 40 a decade ago) in Reporters Without Borders 2025 Press Freedom Index.
Described as a predator of press freedom by RSF, Prime Minister Viktor Orban has built a true media empire subject to his party’s orders. While independent media outlets hold significant market positions, they are subject to political, economic, and regulatory pressures.
Hungary has gone full fascist.
How can EU ensure Hungary aligns with the bloc's value system?
While some funds for Hungary had already been cut there was no precedent of the EU cutting all funding marked for a member state.
However, Teona Lavrelashvili, a visiting fellow with the Wilfried Martens Center in Brussels, said this could be done.
"Yes, the European Union can suspend funds to Hungary if its new transparency bill — or any law — undermines the rule of law or threatens the EU's financial interests. This power comes from the Rule of Law Conditionality Mechanism."
She contended that a law that weakens civil society also undermines the EU's overall economic interests.
[...]
The EU also has other options that it can resort to before cutting funds intended to aid economic development in Hungary and thus to benefit the general population.
Back in 2017, it managed to dissuade Hungary from introducing a similar transparency law by initiating an infringement procedure, a multilayered process through which the EU expressed its displeasure to Hungary. Upon no change in Budapest's attitudes, Brussels eventually took Hungary to the Court of Justice of the European Union (EU).
The court concluded that Hungary had "introduced discriminatory and unjustified restrictions on foreign donations to civil society organizations."
Since the new bill was tabled last week, the EU has refrained from scolding Hungary and merely said it is waiting to see whether it is enacted into law.
[Program officer at the German Marshall Fund of the US Zsuzsanna] Vegh believes another infringement procedure is the EU's likely next step.
But the fact that Hungary is trying to push through the law again, may require the EU to change its approach and take a more stern stand.
Addition:
EU Debates Suspending Hungary’s Voting Rights
The General Affairs Council of the EU will meet on May 27 to discuss the possibility of applying Article 7 of the Treaty on European Union to Hungary, which would allow the EU to suspend a member country’s voting rights.
Article 7 of the Treaty on European Union allows for the possibility of suspending EU membership rights if a country seriously and persistently breaches the principles of the EU, such as those of human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, and the rule of law.
This should be a non issue. News sources should be fully financed by their audience in every country to avoid any conflict of interest. Advertising, foreign investment, donations, even being a regular business, it all comes with a conflict of interest.
The problem is that poor people cannot afford their own news sources but they need it to know which party improves their lives. For a fair democracy, there needs to be a way to finance news sources independent of the income of their audience.
The simple solution does not work. Having subsidies that depend on number of views will only lead to a race to the bottom of clickbait content.
Ironically, Hungarian independent press is indeed financed by their readers, they are very much ahead of the curve on this one. Shit conditions bred innovation and all that.
Orbán is trying to crack down on exactly this, he does not want any press independent of big money.
And actually, Hungary has had a way that was strangely untouched by Orbán to finance such organizations, that I think the rest of the world should copy; every year you can donate 1% of your already paid income taxes to an NGO of your choice (no choice means the money goes to the govt with the rest). This is basically a subsidy that bullshit politics couldn't take away until now.
Can they take it away now if a newspaper does not accept foreign donations?
On paper no, but actually yes.
The Russians took care of the same situation on one occasion by having an agitator send a newspaper like 10 EUR from Spain. Before you ask, the law explicitly does not require even enforcement, foreign aid just puts you under investigation by the Sovereignty Office, and they can say whatever.
It's blatantly obvious they target whoever they want.
Thank you for your explanation.
Abusing such a law is of course bad. What I am missing in the article is an awareness that such a law is not without reason. The USAID situation has made it explicitly clear that there is constant hybrid warfare about information supremacy all over the world by many players. Instead of outright rejecting the office, the newspapers should come up with a suggestion for a structure that protects the population without giving the government the power of censorship.
At the same time, we are not officially at war with Russia, but the EU has forbidden access to RT. Even if we win against Russia, we have already lost. The government should not be in the position to determine which information is accessable. Hungary is a reminder that we all need something that guarantees integrity of information without a conflict of interest.
Instead of outright rejecting the office, the newspapers should come up with a suggestion for a structure that protects the population without giving the government the power of censorship.
That's not their job, it's the government's job, which they are not doing. It's not like 444 could do anything about what happens in Parliament, especially since it's basically defunct to the point MPs are useless as well.
What these newspapers can do, and are good at doing, is to call out astroturfing and hybrid warfare attempts by shining the light on them and not letting them go unchallenged. In Hungary, the non-astroturfed media have much higher viewership counts, because they make a better product. If anything, Hungary shows that if big corporations wouldn't stifle shit with infinite ad money, we would have a much more robust media landscape that Russia would have a harder time exploiting. And the infinite ad money is true in Hungary as well, the only thing that is needed to fix things is that at least one side of the political spectrum calls out the bullshit.
The government should not be in the position to determine which information is accessable.
I think shit like this should maybe be possible, but it should be an explicit wartime measure. That said, I'd rather have a daily show debunking and making fun of these propaganda attempts, because it would be more in line with our supposed values, so maybe I also agree with you on that point.
But also, we should admit that we are at war with Russia. There should be a specific status for a war that is not a shooting war, but an information war, and it should be treated the same. Make it mandatory to review every year, and make it so that it is politically costly to invoke, but we are at war and if we don't fight back, we might as well start learning Russian.
Orban is the owner of Europe. Any Europe country goes to kiss Orban's ass: "O, almighty Orban, can we help Ukraine a little"? "Glorious Orban, would you please sign this EU's deep concern?" "Please take this pile of billions euro as a tribute to your awesomeness"...
Can we already rename the EU to Hungary's backyard?
Or maybe... just maybe... it is time to throw that shit right to the Moscow where it belongs?
Welp, Hungary's toast. I mean they've been for a while, but they're extra toast now.
We're not done yet. The next election is going to be decisive, Orbán is very likely to lose it, so it's either hard dictatorship or a regime change.
Orbán is very likely to lose it,
Fingers crossed. 🤞
The real question isn't whether Orbán will get more votes, they are very obviously in a spiral, and every month something happens that deepens that spiral.
The question at this point is whether Tisza makes a big enough fuckup in the next year, which I don't think they will, and whether the economy recovers, which is close to impossible, or whether there will come an issue that will be a big enough distraction, bigger than the war in Ukraine.
So the real fears are either civil war, or Hungary starting a war with a neighbour just to emulate Netanyahu. Please support Ukraine, because if you don't, it is a proven fact that Hungary would have already attacked it.