US envoy rebukes Hungary over press interference

BUDAPEST: The United States' top diplomat in Budapest on Tuesday condemned Hungary's clampdown on press freedom, denouncing in particular a list published by a pro-government website denouncing critical journalists as "foreign propagandists".
"In recent years, the US has spoken on multiple occasions about negative trends in the sphere of press freedom in Hungary," David Kostelancik, the US charge d'affaires, told reporters in Budapest.
"Unfortunately these negative trends are continuing," he said.
Kostelancik said "government allies have steadily acquired control and influence" over the media market without objection from anti-monopoly authorities.
Journalists at outlets bought by "pro-government figures" were being forced to "follow pro-government editorial guidelines dictated by the outlets' new owners".
Lucrative, publicly funded advertising contracts meanwhile are directed to outlets "friendly" to the government, he said.
Kostelancik also condemned a recent list published on the 888.hu website, run by an ally of rightwing Prime Minister Viktor Orban, of journalists who it said were "agents" of Jewish US billionaire George Soros.
"This is dangerous to the individuals, and also to the principles of a free, independent media," Kostelancik said.
"The United States unequivocally condemns any attempt to intimidate or silence journalists," he added.
In a recent speech, Orban warned that "media operated by (Soros)" was an "external force" to be fought against ahead of the next parliamentary election due by April 2018.
The populist premier has repeatedly assailed the 87-year-old Soros over his liberal, pro-refugee stance in Europe's migrant crisis, which erupted in 2015.
Orban has accused him of being a "national security risk" and a "public enemy" over his alleged support for what the premier calls the dangerous mass immigration of Muslims into Europe.
Last week five journalists quit the government-friendly Origo.hu website after an anti-immigration article was published without their approval.
Foreign ministry spokesman Tamas Menczer dismissed Kostelancik's remarks as "without foundation".
There are "countless" examples of government-critical media in Hungary, he told the state newswire MTI. — AFP