Keyword – press freedom

Martin, József Péter:

Sliding Hand-in-Hand

The first part of this paper discusses the challenges that researchers face when defining and measuring press freedom and corruption. The second part looks into the interplay of media freedom and corruption in general and in Hungary in particular. While both the slide of media freedom and the institutionalisation of corruption are in line with global trends, the Hungarian case evinces some peculiarities. Unfolding these helps us understand why systemic corruption has not been broken in Hungary despite investigative media covering corruption scandals.

Keywords: corruption, press freedom, media

Hammer, Ferenc:

When facts somehow just don’t bite

This paper addresses three main questions. First, it shows why an assessment of the praised democratic role of investigative journalism and fake news debunking cannot be complete without an account of what happens when fact-findings have no tangible consequences. Second, it identifies a few constitutive factors of the archaeology of silence and of silencing through international and Hungarian examples, with specific attention paid to the important context of media hybridisation. And third, by offering a methodological innovation—i.e., by juxtaposing the RSF freedom of expression index and the Freedom House democracy index—it provides an empirical understanding of which countries are presumably sliding upward or downward on the freedom/democracy scale and looks into the role that the lack of consequences of free speech may play in this decline.

Keywords: democracy, hybrid media, performance of media systems, press freedom

Vicsek, Ferenc:

Mass media versus mass informedness

The Political Propaganda Indicator (PPI) measures abuses of information management, following the models of the Democracy Index created by Freedom House and of the Corruption Perceptions Index compiled by Transparency International. It is a method for measuring how corrupted the information disseminated to the public is. The PPI shows what percentage of people accept news items spread by political propaganda as true, even though they are otherwise often difficult to verify as factually correct. It shows what share of the public has a false perception of reality because of propaganda and manipulated news services. It also shows what percentage of people fall prey to false news streams and, consequently, how many of them decide in free elections on the basis of misleading, deliberately false information or concealed information as compared to a situation in which there is a level informational playing field.

Keywords: brainwashing, fake news, information policy, informedness, media regulation, media system, propaganda, press freedom, social media

Polyák, Gábor:

Media in Hungary: Three Pillars of an Illiberal Democracy

The paper summarises the main tools of Viktor Orbán’s illiberal media policy. These tools can be grouped into three pillars. First, it presents the new organisational framework that has allowed for political influence to be exerted through the supervisory boards, then it offers an analysis of the tools of market manipulation, and finally it looks into how the ruling party dominates political discourse in Hungary.

Keywords: freedom of information, independent media supervision, media policy, press freedom, state advertising, self-censorship