Hungary Moves to Rule by Decree, Press Freedom in Jeopardy

Unchecked by the European Union, Hungary’s authoritarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban pushed through the Fidesz-controlled Parliament a law allowing him to rule by decree. The measure, which has been introduced without a time limit, will also affect the work of journalists. Ostensibly a measure to deal with the COVID-19 Coronavirus, critics call the move a ruse to expand autocratic control. Orban has increasingly been consolidating authority in recent years, moving to control courts and creating a media monopoly for voices supportive of his agenda.

As other governments are also cracking down on reporters for writing about their responses to the pandemic, the Hungarian measure would jail anyone reporting “falsehoods” or “distorted truths” without providing clear definitions.
The law suspends elections and existing laws, effectively giving Orban total authority in what a commentary in the Atlantic magazine headlined as: The EU Watches as Hungary Kills Democracy.

Some in the European Parliament, such as Italy’s former premier Matteo Renzi, said Hungary should be ejected from the EU. Bloc leaders however have remained largely silent on the matter.

Hungary’s step toward quasi-dictatorship is part of a trend: The Committee to Protect Journalists Executive Director Joel Simon noted that governments worldwide are using COVID-19 as a cover to further weaken the press and other institutions.

Andras Petho, cofounder of the investigative outlet Direkt36, told The Columbia Journalism Review that Hungary’s independent journalism is withering under the assault of the government. Just shortly ahead the COVID-19 crisis, the organization published a blistering report about administrative upheaval weakening Hungary’s public-health system.

CPJ also said Hungary has, under Orban, “systematically dismantled media independence and used verbal attacks, lawsuits, and other means to harass critical journalists,” falling 31 places to 87th in the World Press Freedom Index.
In 2018, loyalists founded a consortium grouping 500 friendly outlets with the government calling it an asset of “strategic national importance” and exempted it from competition rules and with the government controlling media advertising contracts.

After criticism mounted over the EU’s timid response, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis joined 11 other national leaders of the European People’s Party in asking its President, Poland’s Donald Tusk, to eject Orban and Fidesz.