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Freedom of the Media in Hungary, 1990–2002

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Freedom of the Media in Hungary, 1990–2002 Freedom of the Media in Hungary, 1990–2002 Péter Bajomi-Lázár Ph.D. thesis submitted to the Political Science Department at the Central European University Supervisor: Miklós Sükösd Second readers: András Bozóki, László Bruszt, Miklós Haraszti, Robert L. Stevenson Budapest, June 2003 Freedom of the Media in Hungary, 1990–2002 Contents 1. Democratic consolidation and the transformation of the media 6 2. Key concepts 9 2.1. The concept of media freedom 10 2.2. The consolidation of media freedom 19 2.3. Further key concepts 27 2.4. The political actors of post-communist Hungary 35 3. Status of the media in a comparative perspective 37 4. Literature review and working hypotheses 44 4.1. The institutiuonal dimension 45 4.1.1. The institutional background of the broadcast media 47 4.1.2. The institutional background of the print press 50 4.2. The behavioral dimension 53 4.3. The attitudinal dimension 55 5. The transformation of the media in Hungary 60 5.1. The media policies of the communist governments 61 5.1.1. Orthodox communist media policy 61 5.1.1.1. Media regulation, 1948–1956 62 5.1.1.2. Media policy declarations and measures, 1948–1956 63 5.1.1.3. Public reaction, 1948–1956 66 5.1.2. Reformed communist media policy 67 5.1.2.1. Media regulation, 1957–1987 68 5.1.2.2. Media policy declarations and measures, 1957–1987 69 5.1.2.3. Public reaction, 1957–1987 77 5.1.3. The abolition of the institutions of political control 78 5.1.3.1. Media regulation, 1988–1990 80 5.1.3.2. Media policy declarations and measures, 1988–1990 81 5.1.3.3. Public reaction, 1988–1990 87 5.1.4. Summary, 1948–1990 88 5.2. The media policies of the post-communist governments 90 5.2.1. Media regulation, 1990–2002 92 5.2.2. Media policy declarations and measures, 1990–2002 95 5.2.3. Public reaction, 1990–2002 109 5.2.4. The impact of political pressure on the media in post-communist Hungary 111 5.2.4.1. Pro-government bias in the public service media 111 5.2.4.2. Journalists’ perception of political pressure 116 5.2.6. Sumary, 1990–2002 117 6. The institutional dimension of the consolidation of media freedom 118 6.1. Broadcasting regulation in a comparative perspective, 1990–1995 118 6.2. Broadcasting regulation in a comparative perspective after 1995 129 6.3. The regulation of the print press in a comparative perspective, 1990–2002 139 6.4. Summary 151 2 Freedom of the Media in Hungary, 1990–2002 7. The behavioral dimension of the consolidation of media freedom 151 7.1. Media policy declarations 151 7.2 Media policy measures 160 7.2.1. Political intervention into the ownership of the press and media 161 7.2.2. Political intervention into the nomination of top media personnel 164 7.2.3. Political intervention into the distribution of resources 166 7.2.4. Political intervention into media content 173 7.3. Summary 175 8. The attitudinal dimension of the consolidation of media freedom 176 8.1. Public reaction to political intervention into media freedom 177 8.2. Public responsiveness to issues of media freedom 180 8.3. Summary 188 9. Conclusions 189 Appendix: Media policy proposals 193 1. State ownership of the press and media 193 2. Transparency of the print press 194 3. Financing of the print press 195 3 Freedom of the Media in Hungary, 1990–2002 List of tables 1. Freedom House annual surveys of press freedom, 1994 – 2002 (selected countries) 40 2. Years of regulation and privatization, and average Freedom House scores in selected countries 126 3. Supervision and funding of public service broadcasting in selected countries 136 4. Selected countries with and without press subsidies and Freedom House average scores in 1994–2002 144 5. The Soviet, European, and Anglo-saxon models of the press and media 158 6. “How important are the following institutions?” 180 7. “How interested are you in issues of press freedom?” (percentage) 181 8. “The press in today’s Hungary is...” (percentage) 182 9. “Do you like, are you indifferent to, or do you dislike the following?” (percentage) 183 List of figures 1. “How important do you think it is that every one be free to impart their opinion?” (percentage) 184 2. “How important do you think it is that the politicians do not intervene into media content?” (percentage) 185 3. “How important is the freedom of the media for a democratic system to work?” (percentage) 186 4. “How free are the media in Hungary?” (percentage) 187 4 Freedom of the Media in Hungary, 1990–2002 I wish to thank Miklós Sükösd, László Bruszt, Miklós Haraszti and Robert L. Stevenson for their valuable help and comments on the early drafts of this thesis. I am grateful for the ideas and data that Otilia Beszedics, Miklós GyĘrffy, Gordana Jankovic, Krisztina Kertész, Mónika Mátay, Ildikó Szabó, András SzekfĦ, Mária Vásárhelyi and Tibor Závecz shared with me while I was writing this thesis. I highly appreciate the generous support of the Network Media Program of the Open Society Institute in Budapest whose two-year grant in 1999–2000 allowed me to conduct research on this subject. 5 Freedom of the Media in Hungary, 1990–2002 1. Introduction: Democratic consolidation and the transformation of the media The liberation of the media was an axiom of the political transformation in the countries of East Central Europe, and the demise of the communist regimes in 1989–90 put an end to formal censorship. Yet freedom of the media has been repeatedly challenged in all of the region’s countries in the past 13 years: from Poland to Bulgaria and from the Czech Republic to Russia, virtually all of the new political elites have exerted pressure on the media in an attempt to propagate their policies and to suppress criticism. Many of their attempts have suceeded, and the performance of the news media has fallen short of both rhetorical expectations and the standards set by the media in the advanced democracies (Paletz et al., 1995; Giorgi, 1995; Gross, 1995; Jakubowicz, 1995; Köpplova & Jirák, 1995; Sawisz & Mikulowski-Pomorski, 1995; Nicholchev, 1997; Gunther & Mugham, 2000; McGil Murphy, 2002; Sükösd & Bajomi-Lázár, 2003a). Why was media freedom repeatedly challenged in the post-communist democracies after the formal abolition of censorship? This thesis aims explain this puzzle. In an attempt to do this, this thesis will merge two related approaches: that of media transformation studies with democratic consolidation theory. Most works representing the first approach and focusing on the transformation of the media in the post-communist democracies have described the process in terms of Schramm et al.’s classic ‘four theories of the press’ (e.g., Gijsbers, 1993; Kováts, 1995), and in the context of the development of civil society (e.g., Splichal, 1994; Sparks & Reading, 1998; Gross, 2002). The transformation of the media has primarily been conceptualized as a gradual move from the ‘totalitarian’ or ‘authoritarian’ toward the ‘libertarian’ or ‘socially 6 Freedom of the Media in Hungary, 1990–2002 responsible’ models, i.e., from complete or partial state control toward the full autonomy, or the full social control, of the media. Despite the growing number of works devoted to the transformation of the media in East Central Europe, however, no widely accepted theory has yet been developed to frame the systematic analysis of the process. The media transformation literature has been criticized for failing to cover all aspects of the process and to explain regional differences (Downing, 1996). The degree and success of media transformation across the countries of East Central Europe has been judged on the basis of fragmentary data and qualitative descriptions of the various post-communist countries’ media landscapes. By contrast, those representing the second approach and focusing on democratic consolidation have devoted several works to the establishment of a theory that helps to analyze the various aspects of the political transformation, to assess the degree of democratic consolidation, and to explain regional differences (Linz & Stepan, 1996; Plasser et al., 1998; Hollis, 1999; Berg et al., 2001; Pridham & Ágh, 2001). However, most of them focused on changes in the party system, the economy, and civil society, while—despite the media’s central role to democracy—devoting much less, if any, attention to the transformation of the media. In an attempt to merge these two approaches, this thesis applies a theory of democratic consolidation to the transformation of the media in the post-communist democracies. More specifically, it puts forward the concept of the consolidation of media freedom as a framework for the systematic analysis of the various aspects of media transformation, and operationalizes it in the context of one selected country: Hungary. 7 Freedom of the Media in Hungary, 1990–2002 The ultimate objective of this thesis is to identify the factors hindering the consolidation of media freedom in the post-communist democracies. In order to do this, I will, firstly, recall theories that justify the freedom of the media as the only rule compatible with the democratic system. I will also define the ends and limits of media freedom (chapter 2.1). Then I will recall theories of democratic consolidation for an analogy to define and operationalize the concept of the consolidation of media freedom (chapter 2.2.). Secondly, I will explain why Hungary was chosen as a case study. I will demonstrate that political pressure on the media was more intense in post-communist Hungary than in other East Central European countries with a similar historical legacy, and therefore a better understanding of why media freedom has not consolidated in Hungary provides special insight on the puzzle described above (chapter 3.).
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