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<strong>of</strong> those mini-companies. Most <strong>of</strong> all, however, by way <strong>of</strong>such self-employment most Hungarian journalists today areeliminated from both public and company health and pensionschemes.All this does not play in favour <strong>of</strong> safeguarding pr<strong>of</strong>essionaljournalistic standards and ethics. <strong>The</strong> credibility rate <strong>of</strong> dailynewspapers is low. Ordinary citizens are convinced that a number<strong>of</strong> journalists are secretly on the pay roll <strong>of</strong> politicians. Positivelyreported articles are commissioned by both politicians andindustry. Normally these articles are presented as authoritativejournalistic content and not as promotional advertisement indisguise. “We could not trust the papers during the communisttimes”, complained the receptionist at the hotel. “But we can’tbelieve them today, either”. A leading member <strong>of</strong> the HungarianJournalist Association described the situation as follows: “InHungary you have to belong to something. If a journalist is notaffiliated to any political party or organization, he’s out!”Most Hungarian journalists contacted during this surveyconceded that cross-border ownership has prevented thenational print press from being monopolized by national powerelites. Foreign ownership <strong>of</strong> even several daily titles by one companyis not seen as detrimental to media pluralism and contentdiversity. Most <strong>of</strong> the journalists were even in favour <strong>of</strong> foreigncross media ownership in the national Hungarian market.“What problems we may have in the Hungarian media, they areneither the result <strong>of</strong> foreign ownership nor has the concentrationprocess co-stimulated by foreign media groups been detrimentalto our social and financial status. On the contrary, withoutforeign investors the situation would probably be worse”.<strong>The</strong> main complaint about foreign owners is their lack <strong>of</strong>interest in education and pr<strong>of</strong>essional training <strong>of</strong> a new generation<strong>of</strong> pr<strong>of</strong>essional Hungarian journalists. But foreign owners142 THE IMPACT OF MEDIA CONCENTRATION ON PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISM
steadfastly refuse to enter in anything but pr<strong>of</strong>itable businessdeals. Any involvement in reinforcing Hungary’s civil societyor education on democracy is not seen by foreign investors aspart <strong>of</strong> their duties.Within the existing limits <strong>of</strong> the Hungarian media law, foreignmedia groups have received licences for nationwide TVbroadcasting. Cross-media ownership is strictly limited. MostProgrammes on private TV channels may be imported and culturallybarely understandable by the majority <strong>of</strong> Hungarians.Still, foreign owned electronic media are widely preferred toHungarian public service TV, which has never been able to completelyshed the tarnished image <strong>of</strong> the dull State and party runtelevision monopolist <strong>of</strong> former times.As in Western Europe, the major part <strong>of</strong> Hungarian advertisers’budgets is also focused on private television channels.Newspapers have to fight for every advertisement from privateindustry. State run institutions and agencies, which know <strong>of</strong>the socio-political importance <strong>of</strong> the printed press, use theiradvertisement budgets to buy political loyalty. Not every Hungariandaily, for example, has the right to publish the results <strong>of</strong>the national lottery. Important government announcementsand weekly inserts only go to certain papers considered to bepolitically reliable.<strong>The</strong> monopolies <strong>of</strong> local and regional newspapers ownedby members <strong>of</strong> either the old or today’s political elites, havenot been tackled by foreign media conglomerates either. Generalfeeling among foreign investors is that although comprehensivemedia laws and regulations are in place, law and legalsecurity as a basic concept <strong>of</strong> any democratic society are onlyin their early stages.Most foreign media owners will not enter the fray <strong>of</strong> internalHungarian affairs. <strong>The</strong> policy <strong>of</strong> the German WAZ group,COUNTRY REPORTS – HUNGARY 143
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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
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Have you ever been put under pressu
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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 136 and 137: As regards ownership concentration,
Page 138 and 139: Financial BackgroundDespite the pre
Page 140 and 141: 5.4.2 Survey resultsIf Finnish jour
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
Page 186 and 187: Do you feel threatened in your posi
Page 188 and 189: emerging CEE countries with regard
Page 190 and 191: - 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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