Our latest publication, called 'The state of the media in the Visegrad Countries' has just came out with the support of Freidrich Naumann Stiftung für die Freiheit. The editor was our colleague, Dániel Mikecz. The writers of the chapters were Gábor Horn (Republikon, HU), Géza Tokár (Political Scientist, Slovakia), Blazej Lenkowski (Liberté!, Poland) and Sarka Prat (IPPS, The Czech Republic).
It is beyond any doubt that free press and freedom of speech are crucial prerequisites of democracies. These rights should not be taken for granted, but the freedom of press should be evaluated continuously. As the recent developments in the Hungary demonstrate, the freedom of speech does not necessarily ensure freedom of the press, which also depends inter alia does on the structure, the financing of media, and on a credo of journalism. The recent conference of Republikon Institute investigated the current media landscape in Hungary. Our aim was to start a discussion on the media consumption patterns, the ownership structure in the media and the distorting effect of advertising by the state and state-owned companies. Furthermore, a second panel was also planned for journalists to share and discuss their experiences about political pressure on the press.
You can download and read the publication HERE.