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

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As regards ownership concentration, the same regulationapplies to the press and media as to other industries. <strong>The</strong> onlydifference is that the Broadcasting Act forbids vertical concentration,i.e. no one can own both a nationwide newspaperand a nationwide radio station or television channel. Atthe same time, the law does not limit horizontal concentrationand, in recent years, several local radio stations havejoined some <strong>of</strong> the major, quasi-nationwide, radio networks.OwnershipMost <strong>of</strong> the Hungarian nationwide and regional qualitynewspapers were privatized in the early 1990s and acquiredby Western investors, including, among others, Axel Springer,VNU, Bertlesmann and Ringier. Despite repeated efforts toestablish new titles, the same four newspapers are availableon the market <strong>of</strong> nationwide quality dailies today as beforethe political transformation. <strong>The</strong> same holds for the regionalmarkets where the former county dailies, once published bythe local bureaus <strong>of</strong> the communist party, have managed topreserve their leading position – indeed, a de facto monopoly– after the political transformation in all but one or two<strong>of</strong> Hungary’s 19 counties. Foreign investors, however, havemodernized the Hungarian press in terms <strong>of</strong> both style andcontent. Whereas the nationwide quality dailies advocate amarked political stance, the regional dailies seek neutralityand internal plurality in daily political matters.<strong>The</strong> local newspapers (i.e. town weeklies) are owned byHungarian companies or the local municipalities. Most <strong>of</strong> thepolitical weeklies are also owned by Hungarian companies.<strong>The</strong> Hungarian state had a major share in the newspapermarket especially in the mid-1990s through Postabank, yetmost <strong>of</strong> the press portfolio <strong>of</strong> this state-owned bank waslater sold to private publishers. <strong>The</strong> political parties too, havea marked presence in the (weekly and bi-weekly) newspapermarket through partisan newspapers many <strong>of</strong> which,however, pretend to be independent.Likewise, the nationwide commercial television channelsRTL Klub (CLT-UFA) and Tv2 (MTM-SBS), as well as the136 THE IMPACT OF MEDIA CONCENTRATION ON PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISM
nationwide radio stations Hit Radio and Danubius Radio(British and American investors) have been acquired by foreigncompanies, whereas cabel television channels and localradio stations are predominantly owned by Hungarian ones.Standards <strong>of</strong> Political Journalism<strong>The</strong> contemporary press and media in Hungary display astrange mixture <strong>of</strong> at least three kinds <strong>of</strong> journalism tradition.Firstly, that <strong>of</strong> cause promoting or partisan journalismas it existed in most <strong>of</strong> Western Europe earlier in the twentiethcentury. Secondly, that <strong>of</strong> the Soviet-type agitation andpropaganda journalism, loyal to the government <strong>of</strong> the day.And, last but not least, that <strong>of</strong> objective, fact-based andpolitically neutral journalism which is marked by the spread<strong>of</strong> United States-based global communication.<strong>The</strong> Hungarian journalistic community is deeply dividedalong political cleavages which is demonstrated, amongother things, by the conflict fraught co-existence <strong>of</strong> severaljournalists’ organizations as well as fierce debates in thepress and media.Self-Regulation<strong>The</strong>re was practically no journalistic self-regulation until thelate 1990s when, however, the major journalists organizationsadopted a common code <strong>of</strong> ethics. Yet this code,which is based on the objectivity-doctrine, is frequentlyignored by journalists: unethical behaviour, including thefaking <strong>of</strong> news and conflicts <strong>of</strong> interest, is not an exceptionin Hungary. According to longitudinal empirical studies conductedby sociologist Tibor Závecz, the prestige <strong>of</strong> the Hungarianjournalism community was steadily declining in theearly 1990s, but has remained practically unchanged since1996. In recent years, an increasing number <strong>of</strong> newspapersand broadcasters have passed their own codes <strong>of</strong> ethics.Moreover, dialogue between politically divided journalistshas improved and the journalistic community is more unitednow than a few years ago when it comes to pointing tounethical journalists, regardless <strong>of</strong> their political stances.COUNTRY REPORTS – HUNGARY 137
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REPRESENTATIVE ON FREEDOM OF THE ME
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ContentsPrefaceby Freimut Duve 9Int
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6. Conclusions 187AnnexQuestionnair
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advertisement is very insecure, mak
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industrial lobbying groups still di
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1. The Imp
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sidents” had been imprisoned. “
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determined Freedom of</stro
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co-operate fully with the OSCE Repr
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Such independence, however, comes a
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and mirror of the
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30 million rely exclusively on info
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Unchecked, concentration will reduc
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protected, a certain level
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indication of the
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time, as the concept of</st
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It appears, however, that this posi
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1.7 New Threats on the Horizon1.7.1
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owns or controls not only the three
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Target countries sometimes interpre
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independence proposed by the OSCE R
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groups to grow. And there is the in
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areas of Central a
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Directly or indirectly Mr. Silvio B
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Yet this simple notion appears to b
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newspaper firms. Using the argument
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a contribution to democratization a
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tation of this for
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This limitation in no way indicates
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press is ridiculous. Journalists co
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But these progressive aspects <stro
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Nevertheless, the loss of</
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may well be true for journalists fr
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Is there a works council at your ne
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will go to television, this being t
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Economic revenue (%) Fig. 61234510,
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Good relations with the business co
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Further, how can a newspaper, whose
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Service for civil society (%) Fig.
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The Norwegian medi
Page 86 and 87: Have you ever been put under pressu
Page 88 and 89: Do you feel threatened in your posi
Page 91 and 92: 4. Number of Title
Page 93 and 94: 5. Country Reports5.1 Germany5.1.1
Page 95 and 96: Süddeutsche Zeitung (463,000), Lei
Page 97 and 98: publisher, the Axel Springer Verlag
Page 99 and 100: A three directional strategy is wha
Page 101 and 102: 5.1.2 Survey ResultsBacked by tradi
Page 103 and 104: Cross-ownership has also increased
Page 105 and 106: Economic revenue (%) Fig. 61234515,
Page 107 and 108: Service for civil society (%) Fig.
Page 109 and 110: Understandably all German journalis
Page 111 and 112: Do you feel threatened in your posi
Page 113 and 114: As also seen in Germany, the data p
Page 115 and 116: 5.2.2 Survey ResultsFinland compete
Page 117 and 118: Newspaper chains were the logical r
Page 119 and 120: 5.3 United Kingdom5.3.1 Country Rep
Page 121 and 122: • Daily Mail and General Trust: D
Page 123 and 124: Is there a works council at your ne
Page 125 and 126: Economic revenue (%) Fig. 61234510,
Page 127 and 128: Service for civil society (%) Fig.
Page 129 and 130: Do you feel free to voice and write
Page 131: Do you feel threatened in your posi
Page 134 and 135: Newspaper reach (%)All Adults 30.1M
Page 138 and 139: Financial BackgroundDespite the pre
Page 140 and 141: 5.4.2 Survey resultsIf Finnish jour
Page 142 and 143: of those mini-comp
Page 144 and 145: for example, is very clear on this
Page 148 and 149: 5.5.2 Survey ResultsAn anonymous It
Page 150 and 151: portfolio. In addition, as democrat
Page 152 and 153: Mr. Berlusconi’s TV advertisement
Page 154 and 155: 5.6 Lithuania5.6.1 Country ReportCa
Page 156 and 157: is quite remarkable. The</s
Page 158 and 159: Lithuania is a small country with a
Page 160 and 161: Another tendency is that newspapers
Page 162 and 163: Only in 2003, the daily newspaper L
Page 166 and 167: October 22 2003 was an historic dat
Page 168 and 169: 5.7.2 Survey ResultsSince the end <
Page 170 and 171: y a mostly anonymous to the general
Page 172 and 173: On a daily, practical basis there
Page 174 and 175: Newspaper reach (%)All Adults 15Sou
Page 176 and 177: so-called “human interest” stor
Page 178 and 179: indicated that Rodipet applies a di
Page 180 and 181: 5.8.2 Survey ResultsAlthough a smal
Page 182 and 183: 12345Objectivity (%) Fig. 57,114,32
Page 184 and 185: Strengthening of d
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Do you feel threatened in your posi
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emerging CEE countries with regard
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- Create in all OSCE participating
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Organization for Security and Co-op
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1. In which country are you working
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17. Who defines the editorial line
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29. How would you describe the situ
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- This common code of</stro
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Personal and business interestsIt i
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Orkla Media’s
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www.osce.org/fomJohannes von Dohnan
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