Today the European
Federation of Journalists expressed its outrage at the recent closure of the well-known
radio station Klubrádió, and calls on the Media Authority to apply
international standards on pluralism and media freedom, and to take into
consideration Klubrádió’ s unique position when allocating licences.
"The decision to take away Hungary’s well-known politically engaged
Klubrádió's frequency is clearly another political purge," said EFJ President Arne König. "The
move is a sign that Hungary’s new model of media regulation is undermining
media pluralism and freedom of expression in Hungary. We believe the Media Authority must demonstrate that
its regulatory decisions are being made independently of political inclination.
Klubrádió is mainly talk radio, a format well suited for discussions about
important matters in a democratic society. Now the change goes in the direction of entertainment and avoiding necessary
debate of the important issues in society.”
On
December 20, the Hungarian Media Authority reassigned the frequencies of Klubrádió's
Budapest stations, removing one of Hungary’s only remaining independent
stations from the airways with effect from 1st January 2012. Its licence went
to an unknown new company's programme (Auto
radio).
Klubrádió, a characteristic voice of the political opposition, has some 500
000 committed listeners, who also financed the channel through individual
donations - thousands of people "bought" twelve minutes of
programming time for 12,000 forints each in support of the station. Klubrádió, which has been on air since 2002, sued
the media authority in the past for removing a frequency previously used by the
station.
Károly Tóth, President of the major EFJ affiliate in Hungary, the Hungarian
Association of Journalists, said “that according to the present media
legislation, the decision of the Media Authority is legal, yet it deeply hurts
media pluralism and the free expression of opinions”.
Together with other media freedom watchdog groups the EFJ calls on the EU
and the Council of Europe to monitor the developments of this frequency
competition and to put pressure on the Hungarian government to protect media
pluralism.
Earlier this week, the Hungarian Constitutional
Court vetoed part of the media law for violating the constitution by limiting
press freedom. Under the media law, radio stations must devote at least 25 per
cent of airtime to Hungarian music. Hungary has only two private radio
stations, and three public radio stations. The five-member Media Authority,
consisting of members from the Hungarian Prime Minister’s Fidesz party, has the
authority to fine radio stations for unbalanced coverage and in some
circumstances to ban public subsidies to media outlets.
The EFJ is the European group of the International
Federation of Journalists.
The EFJ represents over 260,000 journalists in over
30 countries.
For more information contact the EFJ at +32 2 235.2200