When the Threat Comes from Home

After conquering at least half of the Hungarian media landscape, government-close media entrepreneurs extended their network beyond the borders.

Free media is not necessarily viewed as an asset by many politicians. Media in its best form is critical, annoying and persistent, and rebels against any form of political control.

Authoritarian politicians tend to consider critical reporting as a personal offence and in many cases, especially when facing no real challenge from opposition parties, target the critical media as their main opponent.

Attempts to control the media are by no means a new phenomenon, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, but the current combination of financial controls, propaganda and disinformation as seen in some Central European countries, can effectively destroy democratic societies.