海角大神

Taking a page from Putin's book, Hungary's Orb谩n muffles his critics

Prime Minister Viktor Orb谩n openly admires the 'illiberal' models of Russia and China. Critics say his Fidesz party is using Putin-like tactics to cut the funding of newspapers and NGOs that conflict with the Orb谩n government.

It鈥檚 the start of another week at N茅pszava, one of the oldest daily newspapers in Hungary.

But once again, the editor-in-chief isn't in the newsroom. He's not out gathering news, but instead desperately searching for new investors and potential advertisers for the paper which this summer was on the brink of collapse.

鈥淥ur editor-in-chief is very busy these days, he鈥檚 looking for supporters,鈥� says Deputy Editor Gy枚rgy Sebes, explaining his colleague鈥檚 absence. 鈥淗e tries to get some money, [while] we are making the newspaper.鈥�

Since 2010, government advertising, an important source of money for newspapers, have been directed overwhelmingly to right-wing outlets that provide favorable coverage for the ruling conservative Fidesz party, which was re-elected in April.

It is just one of the ways that critics say Prime Minister Viktor Orb谩n and Fidesz are using tactics from Vladimir Putin's playbook 鈥� with open admiration for the Russian president's model of governing 鈥� to consolidate power and shut down opponents' voices in the public sphere.

鈥淭he feature which the Russian government and maybe the current Hungarian government share is some type of an inherent mistrust of grassroot activities,鈥� says Viacheslav Morozov, professor of EU-Russia studies at the University of Tartu in Estonia. 鈥淭here is this idea that politics is about manipulation [fundamentally], it鈥檚 not about people taking the initiative, people discussing things in a free way and coming up with proposals.鈥�

In the past four years, Mr. Orb谩n's government has tightened control over the media and cracked down on the civil society, drawing comparisons with Russia and straining ties with Western governments.

Orb谩n has strengthened relations with Moscow, criticized the European Union鈥檚 sanctions on Russia, and expressed support for autonomy for ethnic Hungarians in neighboring Ukraine.

Indeed, Orb谩n has said he plans to turn Hungary into an 鈥渋lliberal鈥� state in the model of Russia, China, and Turkey, which he has described as successful nations.

Relations with the United States in particular have grown tense. In September, , as well as Russia, China, and Egypt, for 鈥渆ndless regulations and overt intimidation鈥� targeting civil society in a speech at the Clinton Global Initiative.

Pressure on the press

Journalists working at N茅pszava, a left-wing daily linked to the Socialist party, say they are feeling the brunt of Fidesz' pressure on its opponents.

N茅pszava and the country's other major leftist paper, N茅pszabads谩g, received almost $500,000 total in state advertising funds between January 2013 and June 2014, according to N茅pszava. By comparison, two right-wing papers, Magyar Nemzet and Magyar H铆rlap, received over $6 million, despite having lower combined circulation numbers.

Under previous governments, public advertisements were much more equally distributed, says Mr. Sebes, the N茅pszava deputy editor. He adds that private companies are also hesitant to buy advertising space in N茅pszava, fearing they may be seen as loyal to the opposition and lose government contracts as a result.

The pressure has taken its toll on the paper. In the last four years, N茅pszava has lost 20 reporters. Nine were let go because of financial pressures and 11 left voluntarily. In June, the paper said its聽Swiss owner was pulling out and it needed to raise up to $62,000 more per month to survive; the Socialist party has also stopped funding the paper.

Zolt谩n Kov谩cs, a spokesperson for the government, denies any political motivation in the allocation of advertisements. He says public funds have 鈥渘othing to do with freedom of the press鈥� and decisions on where to advertise is based on an 鈥渁dvertising strategy that鈥檚 been set up by [an] agency, not the government.鈥�

Hard times for NGOs

The pressure on news organizations comes in concert with heightened scrutiny of Hungarian nongovernmental organizations by the government, which critics say resemble Russia's increasingly strict controls. Under a law passed in 2012, Russian authorities have the power to label NGOs that receive foreign funding and are deemed to be politically active as 鈥渇oreign agents.鈥�

Orb谩n has begun to use similar language: In July he called members of the NGOs under investigation 鈥減aid political activists鈥� and accused them of promoting 鈥渇oreign interests.鈥�

Last week, authorities announced that their investigation into 脰kot谩rs, an NGO, had found 鈥渕ismanagement鈥� and 鈥渋rregularities鈥� in its allocation of funds from a grant program financed mainly by Norway. The government investigators said they intend to file a criminal report against the organization.

The director of 脰kot谩rs says the findings provided 鈥渘o facts or data鈥� supporting these conclusions.

Like Hungary's opposition media, the NGOs under investigation are under financial pressure. Kr茅tak枚r, a theater group under investigation and which has refused to cooperate with authorities, has seen its state funding dramatically decreased from about $382,000 in 2009 to $23,000 in 2013. The group has not received any public money this year.

Kr茅tak枚r Managing Director M谩rton Guly谩s says the goal of the investigation is to intimidate NGOs and present them as 鈥渃orrupted organizations.鈥�

But Mr. Kov谩cs says the criticism 鈥� particularly Mr. Obama's lumping Hungary together with Russia, China, and Egypt 鈥� is 鈥渃ompletely unfounded."

鈥淲e have over 80,000 civil organizations who are in this country,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e are talking about about a dozen who are under investigation so any kind of comparison or suggestion that is trying to say that Hungarian civil society is under attack in this country is just absurd.鈥�