Hit against opposition broadcaster in Hungary
In Hungary the pro-government business tycoon Zsolt Nyerges has taken over the opposition news broadcaster Hír TV. No sooner was the change of owners completed than several journalists were fired. Since the parliamentary elections in April the two newspapers Magyar Nemzet and Heti Válasz as well as the radio broadcaster Lánchíd have been shut down. Is the free market at play here or could it all be part of a government crackdown against media it doesn't like?
This is capitalism
Once again the knee-jerk reaction of the opposition is to cry out that there is no press freedom in Hungary, the pro-government website 888 comments angrily:
“There is no dictatorship in Hungary, there is no state party, and nothing is being nationalised. The parties can win free elections and companies compete freely with each other. This is what is known as democracy and capitalism. Those who own media decide for themselves what they do with their papers or TV broadcasters. They decide who works for them and what orientation they have. They sell them, close them down or restructure them as they see fit.”
Government trying to dupe the people again
It is a deliberate lie that Fidesz was not involved in the affair, the anti-government daily Népszava argues:
“Why do the government representatives think they can blithely lie to the public by saying they had nothing to do with the events at Hír TV? Sure, they had nothing to do with the closure of the daily paper Népszabadság either. And naturally it's pure coincidence that restructuring measures like that at Hír TV always put people who move in Orbán's orbit in leading positions. ... The only thing the government camp wants is to put all the strings in this country in the hands of Viktor Orbán. For dissenters, by contrast, the oxygen is running out.”