By Adrienn Kácsor
“A message for my friends who are planning to immigrate to the West: I am staying for the adventure.” Ironically enough, but this common saying, which was originally popular amid the underground Hungarian opponents of the Communist era, now became absolutely fashionable again: this time amongst the leftist rivals of the present Hungarian government. Unfortunately, today's opponents have every reason to use the legendary rhetoric from the past.
The present ruling party Fidesz gained an absolute majority in the Parlament this April, when the last elections were held; Fidesz now seems to use this power in an utterly undemocratic way.
After electing a previous sportsman as the President of Hungary, in this way getting rid of one political power that would normally be able to balance the government, Fidesz took an even more serious step toward a totalitarian-styled power; this time Fidesz eliminated the Constitutional Court (which, now let's say that used to function as the Supreme Court in Hungary). “Europe needs to send Hungary a signal,” pointed out La Guardian writer Jan-Werner Mueller, clearly stating his opinion: it is really time for the European Union to stand up against the Hungarian government's attacks on democracy. It was a long-awaited reaction; however, today's news show that these signs have not made Fidesz rethink its policy at all.
The latest news that arrived today: Hungary's two public television channels, public radio channel and public news agency will work under the umbrella of one centralized organization. News producing will be headed by a journalist arriving from the far-right media, who in an interview today said that “a public medium must be loyal to its government and fair with the opponents.”
As things are going in Hungary now, it sadly seems much more possible that the new centralized media organization will only keep loyalty in mind, but not fair play.
It is time to say goodbye to the freedom of the public media in Hungary...
No comments:
Post a Comment