An Illiberal Model of Media Markets – Soft Censorship 2017 (Mertek Booklets 15.)
Mérték Médiaelemző MűhelyThe present Soft Censorship report differs somewhat from the customary format of previous reports.
Bleeding out the Simicska Empire
Mérték Médiaelemző MűhelyThe biggest development in the media market this year was undoubtedly the disintegration of Lajos Simicska’s independent but politically conservative media empire. The shuttering of the one of Hungary’s oldest and most established dailies, Magyar Nemzet, and of Lánchíd Rádió, along with the termination of the print edition of the weekly Heti Válasz and the […]
The end of Magyar Nemzet
Mérték Médiaelemző MűhelyApril 10 marked another dark day for media freedom in Hungary. One of the country’s most prestigious dailies, Magyar Nemzet, is being shut down, and Lánchíd Rádió will fall silent, too. The newspaper, which used to be staunchly pro-Fidesz but has morphed into a critical media outlet over the past three years, has been generating […]
Mérték Media Ombudsman: How did the online media present Soros’ response to the government’s claims about the “Soros Plan”?
Mérték Médiaelemző MűhelyThe government held a so-called national consultation to find out what the Hungarian public thinks about the “Soros Plan.” In a statement released on 20 November 2017, George Soros denied the claims in the government’s consultation questionnaire. The sixth analysis of the Mérték Media Ombudsman reviewed the coverage of this issue by nine Hungarian online […]
Mérték Media Ombudsman – The Marton case in the online media
Mérték Médiaelemző MűhelyOn 14 October 2017 the actress Lilla Sárosdi recounted in a public Facebook post how twenty years earlier a “prominent [theatre] director” had demanded that she perform oral sex on him in a car in they were sitting at the time along with a (male) friend of the director. On 19 October Sárosdi followed up […]
Mérték Media Ombudsman – How the media reacted to Ukrainian language law
Mérték Médiaelemző MűhelyOn 5 September 2017 the Ukrainian parliament adopted a new education law. Among other things, the act specifies that the language of instruction in schools must be the national language, that is Ukrainian, though some exceptions are allowed. Although in principle the goal is to bolster the position of the Ukrainian language while limiting the […]
Mérték Media Ombudsman – Neo-Nazi violence in the US
Mérték Médiaelemző MűhelyOn 12 August 2017, a far-right rally — the organisers of which also included neo-Nazi groups – was held in the US city of Charlottesville, Virginia, which resulted in violent incidents between the far-right demonstrators and counter-demonstrators. U.S. President Donald Trump did not expressly condemn the racist extremists, and instead referred to violence from “both […]
State advertising 2006-2017
Mérték Médiaelemző MűhelyMérték Média Monitor has been analysing the changes in state advertising spending for years. Our regularly published Soft Censorship report reviews the developments of the foregoing year, but it is also important to take a look at the impact of state advertising on the media market situation from a wider angle, as a long-term process. […]
Mérték Media Ombudsman – The media echo of the BKK hack
Mérték Médiaelemző MűhelyOn 13 July 2017, the Budapest Transport Authority (abbreviated as BKK in Hungarian) launched a new system for the online sale of public transportation tickets. Within hours, users had discovered the bugs and security flaws in the system. In our analysis, we wanted to find out whether the online media were helpful in understanding the […]
Mérték Media Ombudsman – The media echo of the NGO law amendment
Mérték Médiaelemző MűhelyOn 13 June 2017 the National Assembly adopted the Act on the Transparency of Organisations Receiving Foreign Funds. Our analysis seeks to examine whether the online media were helpful in understanding the issue, whether their coverage of the subject served to inform the public and provided a basis for the formation of sound opinions about […]