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Vásárhelyi, Mária
ungarische Soziologin und Medienforscherin
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3 articles of this author have been cited in the European Press Review so far.
The end of press freedom in Hungary
Freedom of the press in Hungary had been eroded long before the introduction of the internationally controversial media law, sociologist and media expert Mária Vásárhelyi writes in the liberal weekly Élet és Irodalom: "It was in people's hearts that freedom of the press died first. Not on the day the media law was passed, nor on the day it went into effect, but much earlier, sometime in the second half of the 1990s. The free and independent media is at the mercy of the politicians who have been attacking it since the birth of the Third Republic. The new media law put an end to a twenty-year war. This war ended with the total defeat of press freedom. The destruction of a democratic public sphere and the intimidation and atomisation of the journalistic profession began with the first free elections in Hungary."
» full article (external link, Hungarian)
More from the press review on the subject » Press freedom, » Media, » Hungary
A farewell to democracy in Hungary
Viktor Orbán's right-wing conservative Fidesz party won a two-thirds majority in the Hungarian parliamentary elections last April. Since he took office in May, Prime Minister Orbán has undermined democracy in Hungary, the sociologist Mária Vásárhelyi comments in the liberal weekly newspaper Élet és Irodalom: "The reasons for the death of Hungary's Third Republic are to be sought in a tangled web of problems, distortions and shortcomings. ... Even as the Third Republic was born its hereditary diseases and abnormalities could already be diagnosed. It is now common knowledge that for the majority of society the economic transition [1989/90] brought existential insecurity, social losses and a lack of prospects. ... The political transformation, for its part, could have taken place with far better results, as the examples of other countries which formerly belonged to the Soviet empire show. The complete breakup of the political system in Hungary can be put down to the almost total lack of democratic traditions, the suppression and ignorance of historical traumas and wounds, and to the hopeless enmity of intellectuals and politicians of all stripes who are constantly at each other's throats. ... In 2010 all of Hungary's democratic institutions have proven an utter failure."
» full article (external link, Hungarian)
More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Hungary
Hungary's campaign against press freedom
The right-wing conservative parliamentary majority of Hungarian President Viktor Orbán recently approved a controversial media law strengthening the government's control over state media. Sociologist and media researcher Mária Vásárhelyi criticises the law in the leftist daily Népszava: "The campaign against press freedom is devastating, yet it comes as no surprise. Anyone who has observed politics in recent years knows what Fidesz [the ruling party] was up to as regards the media. … Every step Fidesz took was predictable: its aggressive expansion in the media landscape and its measures against press freedom. … In this respect the Socialists (MSZP) bear huge responsibility. ... Although MSZP was at the helm for eight years it basically did nothing to put a stop to the expansion of far-right media. ... Fidesz is now making inroads into state media."
» full article (external link, Hungarian)
More from the press review on the subject » Media policy, » Press freedom, » Hungary
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