Press Freedom Fully Guaranteed By Hungarian Regulations, Says Minister

  • 5 Mar 2021 12:31 PM
  • Hungary Matters
Press Freedom Fully Guaranteed By Hungarian Regulations, Says Minister
The freedom of the press is fully guaranteed by Hungarian legislation, media operate on a market basis and the government of Hungary has “neither the right nor the intention to interfere in such matters in any way”, Finance Minister Mihály Varga said in a letter addressed to his Dutch counterpart.

In the letter, which Varga posted on Facebook on Thursday, he said he regretted to learn Wopke Hoekstra had told the Dutch daily De Volkskrant that the freedom of the press was restricted in Hungary.

Varga said Hungarian media outlets operate on a market basis and everyday experience also showed “that there is real diversity in public debates and in the media in Hungary”.

“All objective analyses show that the market share of government-critical media in Hungary is well above 50%,” he added.

“The vast majority of the most-read Hungarian online news portals strongly criticise the government, and a … Hungarian commercial TV channel with the highest viewership is among the most critical channels,” Varga said.

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