CPJ welcomes Hungary vote to partially decriminalize defamation
Berlin, May 25, 2023—The Committee to Protect Journalists on Thursday welcomed a recent vote by the Hungarian parliament to partially decriminalize defamation and called on authorities to fully reform laws threatening the press with criminal penalties. “We welcome the decision by Hungary’s parliament to take a step in support of press freedom by partially decriminalizing…
Editor Tamás Bodoky on threats to Hungary’s independent media funding
“Átlátszó” means “transparent” in Hungarian. Since launching an independent nonprofit media outlet under that name, editor-in-chief Tamás Bodoky and his colleagues have worked hard to live up to it, publishing detailed funding reports on their website, he told CPJ in a recent interview. But that hasn’t stopped pro-government institutions from accusing Átlátszó of serving foreign…
David Kaye: Here’s what world leaders must do about spyware
In late June, the general counsel of NSO Group, the Israeli company responsible for the deeply intrusive spyware tool, Pegasus, appeared before a committee established by members of the European Parliament (MEPs). Called the PEGA Committee colloquially, the Parliament established it to investigate allegations that EU member states and others have used “Pegasus and equivalent…
Hungarian journalists targeted by spyware have little hope EU can help
Szabolcs Panyi was not even remotely surprised when Amnesty International’s tech team confirmed in 2021 that his cell phone had been infiltrated by Pegasus spyware for much of 2019. Panyi, a journalist covering national security, high-level diplomacy, and corruption for Hungarian investigative outlet Direkt36, had already long factored into his everyday work that his communications…
Special report: When spyware turns phones into weapons
How zero-click surveillance threatens reporters, sources, and global press freedom By Fred Guterl Published October 13, 2022 Aida Alami has always been wary of surveillance. As a journalist from Morocco, a state with a track record of intercepting phone calls and messages of political rivals, activists, and journalists, she habitually took precautions to protect her…
Hungarian journalists fear Orbán will use election win to tighten grip on independent media
As Hungary’s right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orbán celebrated his landslide election win on Sunday with jubilant jibes at the European Union’s “bureaucrats in Brussels” and international media, the country’s independent journalists braced themselves for an even harsher media climate during his Fidesz party’s unprecedented fourth consecutive term in office. Orbán has systematically eroded Hungary’s independent…
Hungarian government bypasses court order allowing journalists to report from public hospitals
Berlin, February 11, 2022 — Hungarian authorities should not grant state media preferential access to public facilities, and should ensure that independent news outlets can cover the COVID-19 pandemic freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. On February 4, the Hungarian government’s executive branch issued a decree empowering the Operational Corps, the government pandemic…
Hungary’s Szabolcs Panyi on how Pegasus surveillance has hindered his reporting
It took five months for Hungary to acknowledge publicly that it had bought the Pegasus spyware allegedly used to hack the phones of hundreds around the world. In November, Lajos Kósa, a top official from Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party, acknowledged the purchase in a media interview after a parliamentary meeting; Minister of the Interior Sándor…
Hungary’s Klubrádió owner András Arató on how the station is responding to the loss of its broadcast license
After more than 10 years providing a key platform for reporters and listeners to voice criticism of Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán via FM radio, the Budapest-based Klubrádió station is now operating entirely online after authorities blocked its broadcasting license. The move was the culmination of a long campaign to force the station off air,…
Hungarian court convicts reporter Júlia Halász on criminal defamation charge
Berlin, May 28, 2021 — Hungarian authorities should not contest journalist Júlia Halász’s appeal of a recent criminal defamation verdict, and should reform the country’s laws to decriminalize speech, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On May 6, an appellate court in Budapest upheld a lower court’s November 12, 2020, ruling to convict Halász,…