The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joined its Austrian affiliates, the Austrian Press Union (GPA) and younion – The Community Trade Union, in urging the federal government to propose an alternative plan to finance Wiener Zeitung in order to avoid job losses and further deterioration of media pluralism.

The plans announced by the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) and Greens coalition are by no means new. The mandatory public advertisements of companies in Wiener Zeitung’s official gazette have been discussed and criticised for some time. Such advertisements include announcements of companies’ establishments or terminations, the publication of annual financial statements or invitations to general meetings. Now, with the implementation of the EU directive – expected to come into force in January 2022– on the “use of digital tools and procedures in company law”, the state-owned newspaper would lose this income, which constitutes three quarters of the funding for its print version.

Such substantial removal would leave the historical Wiener Zeitung without a sustainable funding model. So far, the government only alluded to plans to create a “new business model for the Wiener Zeitung with the aim of maintaining the brand”. However, details of how this massive loss of revenue should be compensated for have not been disclosed. The continuation of the print version is impossible without compensation.

In the evening of 9th March, radio presenter Hazım Özsu was killed by a person who came to his house in Altınova Neighborhood in Osmangazi district. According to local media reports, the suspected killer was a long-term listener and had previously called the radio station to make complaints and demand corrections about its content.

The Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) calls on the Turkish authorities to ensure a swift and thorough investigation and prosecution that results in the perpetrator being held to account in court.

The decision on 11 March by the Hungarian media regulator to again deny the bid by Klubrádió to return to the airwaves is yet another afront to press freedom which must be met by an immediate response by the European Commission. It was announced that the Hungarian Media Council, which is appointed and controlled by the ruling Fidesz party, had again rejected the application of Klubrádió for the 92.9 MHz frequency in Budapest and ruled the tender invalid.

The regulator’s decision-making panel provided several groundless justifications for its decision, accusing Klubrádió of “illegal management” and citing miniscule material programming errors and unjustified concerns over Klubrádió’s business plan.

The announcement of the decision comes just one day after a plenary debate by MEPs in the European Parliament which focused on attempts by the Hungarian government and others to silence free media.

On 9th and 10th March, a number of pro-Government media outlets alleged that KRIK is coordinating with Belivuk to monitor or threaten the Serbian President, Aleksandar Vučić. Tabloid newspapers, including The Serbian Telegraph, Kurir and Alo published front-page articles that KRIK is Belivuk’s private media. Alo stated in its coverage, that KRIK ‘served on the one hand as a megaphone of the criminal clan of Veljko Belivuk, and on the other as an instrument of police officials who eavesdropped on the President of Serbia and his family.’ 

On 9 March, pro-government Pink TV, a leading commercial broadcaster, stated in its news show that “it is suspected that people from the top of the police provided KRIK journalists with data on the movements of President Aleksander Vučić’s family members.” Little verifiable or corroborated evidence has been shared to verify these claims.

The MFRR joins the coalition of eight Serbian journalists’ and media associations in calling for the Serbian Public Prosecutor’s Office to ‘deny completely unfounded and dangerous insinuations about KRIK’s connection with criminal groups’. We will continue to monitor the situation and call for thorough investigations into the smear campaign and assurances that KRIK and all staff are protected.

For illiberal governments bound by the democratic architecture of the European Union, efforts to silence independent journalism and insulate the public from critical reporting have to be far more complex and, most importantly, calibrated to avoid direct rebuke from Brussels.

This steady erosion of press pluralism in Hungary would be worrying enough if it were not also empowering and inspiring other illiberal governments in EU member states to employ similar tactics.

In Poland the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party has over the last five years engaged in a calculated cherry-picking exercise and selected elements of Hungary’s model that can be adapted to the Polish media landscape, according to a recent report by the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR).

Last year the Slovenian government introduced proposed legislative changes which would financially weaken the public broadcaster, RTVSLO, leading to stark warnings about its finances and future.

Another proposed amendment would give the government greater opportunities to select the supervisors and dismiss the director of the Slovenian Press Agency (STA), which has also come under fire from Janša. Most concerningly, the Government Communication Office (UKOM) suspended the financing of the STA twice in three months, in what the Slovenian Journalists’ Association said was another attempt to destabilize the press agency through financial pressure.

Ultimately, until the EU strengthens its ability to ensure this kind of divergence from the democratic values and principles has real consequences, the illiberal model for media capture and control remains a viable option for any EU leader wishing to solidify its control and remain in power.

Article 11 of the European Union’s Charter on Fundamental Rights is under threat as media freedom and media pluralism deteriorates alarmingly in Hungary and Poland.

Over the past decade, Fidesz has perfected the process of state capture of media. Through the misuse of legislative, regulatory and administrative tools it has muzzled critical media while building a vast array of government cheerleaders that dominate the national media landscape.

The failure of the EU to act has emboldened the Hungarian government and now Poland’s Law and Justice (PiS) government is cherry-picking elements of the Hungarian model to fit the Polish system.

The model of media capture is a subtle, complex and direct threat to the public’s right to know. It is carried out through indirect means or formally independent bodies, providing governments with plausible deniability when accused of dismantling of media freedom.

Yet the effects are clear. Independent journalism is under unprecedented threat as the two governments distort and reshape the media market to their advantage, with damaging implications for both media freedom and democracy in Europe.

Similar developments are also apparent in Slovenia where the SDS government is attacking public service media and stoking hostility towards critical journalists whilst backed up by a media operation with significant investments from Fidesz linked companies.

The EU has sat on the sidelines for too long. Repeated inaction to stop the undermining of media freedom and pluralism first in Hungary, and then in Poland, has allowed this model of media capture to grow and spread to other Member States. The cost of further inaction is simply too high. It is time for the European Commission to act.