The Impact of Media Concentration on Professional ... - OSCE

Newspaper reach (%)All Adults 30.1Men 35.3Women 25.6MHS (Main Household Shopper) 27.7Source: World Association <strong>of</strong> Newspapers (2003) World Press Trends 2003.A 17.6 per cent share <strong>of</strong> the largest Hungarian broadsheet, Nepszabadsag(198,000) 86 , is held by the German Bertelsmann Groupthrough Gruner + Jahr. This paper is owned within a joint venturewith Axel Springer and Ringier. Bertelsmann also owns 49per cent <strong>of</strong> the leading commercial television station in Hungary,RTL Klub, that was launched in 1997 by the RTL group just afterthe market was partly liberalized and national frequencies weresold to private companies. 87Axel Springer also is very active in the Hungarian market.While its main focus is magazine publishing, Springer still haseight daily regional titles and one Sunday title with a circulationbetween 20,000 and 50,000 each. 88 Springer is also involved ina joint venture with Bertelsmann and Ringier regarding thedaily Nepszabadsag.<strong>The</strong> German media group WAZ also publishes five dailiesin Hungary, but the dominant player is the Swiss publishinggroup Ringier. 89 It publishes Blikk (208,000), the second dailynewspaper, Vasarnapi Blikk (180,000), which is a Sunday paper,as well as the old-established daily sports paper Nemzeti Sport(65,000), the third placed daily newspaper. Ringier also ownsthe Hungarian quality paper Magyar Hirlap (38,000) and has animportant level <strong>of</strong> participation in the leading newspaper Nepszabadsagin a joint venture with Axel Springer and Bertelsmann.90134 THE IMPACT OF MEDIA CONCENTRATION ON PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISM