The so-called “Transparency Law”, currently pending approval, significantly undermines freedom of expression in Hungary — and its impacts are unlikely stop at the country’s borders.
This should be a non issue. News sources should be fully financed by their audience in every country to avoid any conflict of interest. Advertising, foreign investment, donations, even being a regular business, it all comes with a conflict of interest.
The problem is that poor people cannot afford their own news sources but they need it to know which party improves their lives. For a fair democracy, there needs to be a way to finance news sources independent of the income of their audience.
The simple solution does not work. Having subsidies that depend on number of views will only lead to a race to the bottom of clickbait content.
Ironically, Hungarian independent press is indeed financed by their readers, they are very much ahead of the curve on this one. Shit conditions bred innovation and all that.
Orbán is trying to crack down on exactly this, he does not want any press independent of big money.
And actually, Hungary has had a way that was strangely untouched by Orbán to finance such organizations, that I think the rest of the world should copy; every year you can donate 1% of your already paid income taxes to an NGO of your choice (no choice means the money goes to the govt with the rest). This is basically a subsidy that bullshit politics couldn’t take away until now.
This should be a non issue. News sources should be fully financed by their audience in every country to avoid any conflict of interest. Advertising, foreign investment, donations, even being a regular business, it all comes with a conflict of interest.
The problem is that poor people cannot afford their own news sources but they need it to know which party improves their lives. For a fair democracy, there needs to be a way to finance news sources independent of the income of their audience.
The simple solution does not work. Having subsidies that depend on number of views will only lead to a race to the bottom of clickbait content.
Ironically, Hungarian independent press is indeed financed by their readers, they are very much ahead of the curve on this one. Shit conditions bred innovation and all that.
Orbán is trying to crack down on exactly this, he does not want any press independent of big money.
And actually, Hungary has had a way that was strangely untouched by Orbán to finance such organizations, that I think the rest of the world should copy; every year you can donate 1% of your already paid income taxes to an NGO of your choice (no choice means the money goes to the govt with the rest). This is basically a subsidy that bullshit politics couldn’t take away until now.
Can they take it away now if a newspaper does not accept foreign donations?