Viktor Orban and Hungary’s faltering media opposition
Was the suspension of Hungary’s main opposition paper due to low sales or a media crackdown?
On The Listening Post this week: The main opposition newspaper folds in Hungary. We examine the government’s tightening grip on the press. Plus, journalism in a post-fact world.
Low sales vs Viktor Orban’s media crackdown
It’s the latest chapter in the story of a media landscape transformed. When Nepszabadsag, Hungary’s most influential opposition paper was suspended, owners cited low sales – but journalists say it is part of a wider media suppression.
On our radar:
- The number of Palestinian journalists in Israeli jails is on the rise – none have been charged, none have been put on trial.
- Wikileaks made public a trove of emails that shed light on the inner workings of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and its relationship with the American media.
- A Serbian cartoonist fired from his paper for supposedly criticising the country’s prime minister has been given his job back – apparently, he had the same prime minister to thank.
Journalism in a post-factual world
Against a never-ebbing tide of false claims stands a small but growing army of specialised fact-checking journalists and news outlets. But do they really make a difference? Are people not happier to live in worlds built out of their own facts?