Hungary Curtails Drone Use for Reporting
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's administration has put in effect a prohibition on using drones to obtain videos of property without permission. The decision comes a short time after investigative news site Atlatszo.hu had showed images of the estate of Hungary's richest man. Critics claim his wealth is built on close ties to the country’s leader, benefiting his access to public contracts.
A journalist for the site, Gabi Horn, said the law was aimed at curtailing reporters from doing their work in holding accountable their government. In recent years, Hungary has methodologically begun to control critical journalistic coverage.
"That makes it harder for journalists to investigate suspected misuse of public money and EU funds," Horn told Agence France-Presse (AFP) at Atlatszo's office in Budapest of what she said is the real aim of the law that began January 1.
In October 2020, Atlatzso used a drone to show the expanse of the estate of Lorinc Meszaros, a childhood friend and close associate of Orban, who regularly benefits from being awarded European Union funded contracts.
Horn was questioned by police, saying she first thought they were going to look into possible corruption but was surprised to find out investigators targeted the site instead.
"It turned out instead we had been reported for suspected 'illegal acquisition of data,'" said Horn. The case has now been dropped by prosecutors, but not until the law banning drones to video private property was adopted.
She said that wasn't a coincidence and that the law "targets curious reporters”. Under Orban’s administration, Hungary has fallen several places in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index, and is doing among the worst in the European Union.
In a 2019 feature on corruption in EU-funded agricultural projects, the New York Times reported government farmland sales in Hungary made the family and friends of Orban eligible for millions of euros in subsidies.
The Times investigation found he uses European subsidies as a patronage system that enriches his friends and family, protects his political interests and punishes his rivals.
The government said regulating drone use was done to protect privacy and set safety standards. Violators will be punished with up to a year in jail.
As governments – especially during the COVID-19 pandemic – impose further controls on journalists, drones have become an important element in the arsenal of investigative reporting tools.
Horn said the site turned to drones because they “almost never get answers through official channels," with Atlatszo also using drones to capture footage of the estates of Orban's father and son-in-law.
"When you stand outside a gated luxury ranch you don't see much, whereas drones can show everyday people the shocking scale of how well the powerful live, the images tell a thousand words," she told AFP.
She said even in Hungary she doesn't think it will lead to journalists being jailed and argued that they are important to verify information of public interest without invading privacy.
But she said she worries it will have a chilling effect deterring reporters from using them.
"We will continue, but the prospect of stressful criminal procedures is daunting," she said.
Monika Richlach, a media and data protection lawyer, told AFP that "press freedom in many cases outweighs the private sphere. It's a mistake that this is not reflected in the drone law.”