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The Buzz Around the Ballot 2|2017 2(11)|2017 ISSN 2084-8250 | GBP€4.99 | EURO€6.00 | PLN 16.00 FOLLOW US @VISEGRADINSIGHT The Buzz Around The Ballot www.visegradinsight.eu ISSN 2084-8250 11 Media Landscapes and Disinformation in the V4 9 772084 825077 VI 11 cover.indd 1 21.11.2017 13:14 PROSPERITY — SOLIDARITY — INNOVATION Focus on Central Europe 7 December 2017 Warsaw Conference organizers: THOU G H T PROVOKI N G Conference partners: Get your digital copy: www.visegradinsight.eu/shop VI 11 cover.indd 2 21.11.2017 13:14 2 (11) | 2017 CIRCULATION: 6,000 FREQUENCY: twice a year EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Wojciech Przybylski (Res Publica, PL) twitter: @wprzybylski DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS Magda Jakubowska (Res Publica, PL) [email protected] + 48 694 40 19 80 EDITOR Galan Dall (Res Publica, USA) [email protected] ONLINE CONTENT EDITOR Gabriela Rogowska (Res Publica, PL) [email protected] SENIOR ASSOCIATE Marcin Zaborowski (Res Publica, PL) twitter: @MaZaborowski ASSOCIATE Anna Wójcik (Res Publica, PL) twitter: @annawojcik ECONOMY SECTION EDITOR Martin Ehl (Hospodářské noviny, CZ) twitter: @MartinCZV4EU INTELLIGENT MIND EDITORS Éva Karádi (HU) Marta Šimečková (SK) BOOKS EDITOR Julia Sherwood (SK) CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Juraj Čorba (SK) Katarína Kucbelová (SK) Marek Sečkař (CZ) Sophie Shevchuk (UA) Máté Zombory (HU) GRAPHIC DESIGN PUBLISHED BY Fundacja Res Publica im. H. Krzeczkowskiego Gałczyńskiego 5, 00-362 Warsaw, Poland 0048 22 826 05 66, [email protected] ORDERS AND INQUIRIES: [email protected] WEBPAGE www.visegradinsight.eu Cover by Paweł Kuczyński Visegrad Insight is an analysis and opinion journal led by accomplished editors from the Visegrad Group countries: the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. Its aim is to provide a platform for high profile debate on the perspectives and challenges for cooperation of the Central European governments, business and communities. Published by Res Publica, Poland. ThoughT provoking 2 VISEGRAD INSIGHT 2 (11) | 2017 EDITORIAL The buzz around the ballot PIOTR BEKAS Every period in history has its jokes including the Post-truth era. This one has been told following the occupation of Crimea: if it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck and denies it’s a duck, it’s a Russian duck. In truth, our duck does not quack – it tweets! The acronym of the Russian IRA stands today for a new kind of terrorist organisation – the Internet Research Agency (AKA the troll factory) whose operations were recent- ly revealed in relation to the electoral campaign in the USA. What makes the Russian fake-news campaign so successful? It appears that the con- temporary masters of lies the IRA are able to considerably influence the global demo- cratic process. Is it due to their strength or more due to our weakness? The latter explanation makes more sense. During the recent digital revolution – a rapid process that had a vast impact on our societies, we let hostile scouts take over part of our domestic electoral agenda. This autumn, Twitter’s self-audit revealed that nearly half of the American population has been exposed to this Russian campaign of hate and fake-news. The goal, apparent- ly, was not only to have Donald Trump elected but to polarise the American society. The IRA sponsored both radicalism of the right and of the left. But why was it possible in the first place? Two particular developments revived this mass scale disinformation. First – the 2008 WOJCIECH PRZYBYLSKI financial crisis that struck down traditional media all across the world, and second Editor-in-chief – the rapid growth of social media. Capitalism and the internet, neither one a Russian invention, quickly became the new weapons of the information age. THE SWIFT GROWTH OF SOCIAL Central Europe, in many ways, has become more exposed than the USA or other EU MEDIA TOOK REVENUE FROM TRA- partners. The swift growth of social media took revenue from traditional media outlets DITIONAL MEDIA OUTLETS AND EX- and exposed societies to pure political propaganda. Editorial oversight, often referred POSED SOCIETIES TO PURE POLITICAL to as gatekeeping, no longer safeguards social media followers and friends from direct PROPAGANDA exposure to divisive practices. As a reaction, Facebook introduced its own editorial oversight that was revealed earlier this year, but it might not have been soon enough for countries that had already been heavily exposed. As we show, compared to Germany, in 2017 more people in the V4 (+10%) prefer and have trust in so-called “alternative media” than in mainstream outlets. Trust in main- stream media is further undermined by poor business models that are not catching up with the quickly growing digital advertising market. In the Post-truth era, the fourth estate of democracy, counting social media in, has become a challenge to democracy. To build up democratic, resilience let’s start with resilience of quality media. 3 CONTENTS EUROPE POLITICS IN THE BUZZ 6 Survey – The Impact of the Internet on Media and Politics Szabolcs Töhötöm Tóth, Karel Kovář, Zuzanna Ziomecka, Tomáš Bella, Eric Maurice 10 House Undivided – How pro-Putin ideologues have united both the far-right and the far-left in their unwavering support of the Kremlin’s geopolitical agenda Péter Krekó, interview with Lóránt Győri Robert Pszczel from 13 Fire and Brimstone – Deception and the NATO HQ Dread in Central Europe Galan Dall 16 From Tweets to Tanks – interview with Robert Pszczel from the NATO HQ ECONOMY PAGE 16 Illustration: Kuczyński Paweł SOCIAL MEDIA 18 Report: Media Consumption Trends – in cooperation with weCAN network 20 The Vulnerable V4 Miriam Lexmann WHAT ARE MEDIA MEDIA CONSUMPTION POPULISM & POWER TRENDS IN V4 24 The Cassandra Curse Danuta Dobrzyńska-Schmimer 26 The Czech Elections and the Future of Media Independence Václav Štĕtka 28 The New Enemy Zselyke Csaky 30 The Shadow over media Michał Kobosko 34 Journalism’s Growing Pains in Visegrad Beata Balogová PAGE 38 Making lemonade 18 Zosia Wasik 40 The Pitfalls of Censoring Fake News Barbora Bukovska in conversation with Aleksandra Eriksson SECTION 43 Imbalance and Glass Ceilings Greta Gober 45 Gender Equality in CEE Media, Helena Chmielewska-Szlajfer SECURITY CYBER 48 The State of Cyber Security in the V4 Botond Feledy 51 June 2017 Cyber Attack in Ukraine Michael Chertoff, former Secretary of Homeland Security 52 How vulnerable is the Polish Cyber World to Attacks Tomasz Matuła PAGE 24 4 VISEGRAD INSIGHT 2 (11) | 2017 CONTENTS INTERVIEW EU ON THE EDGE TheTHE HURDLES Hurdles Ahead 55 TremorsThe Report in Europe’s Card Foundation AHEAD FOR Roland Freudenstein CENTRAL Their European EUROPE Foil for Central Europe V4 ABROAD FUTURE OF EU Iveta Radičová 59 The End of Convergence Cornelius Ochmann, Wojciech Przybylski 60 The Different Faces of Visegrad Kai-Olaf Lang 61 The Hurdles Ahead for Central Europe Iveta Radičová 64 Germany and Central Europe Michal Kořan 68 The Euro, Always on the Central European Edit Inotai 70 Additional Conditions Zoltán Kovács, Secretary of State of Hungary, on the adoption of the euro in Hungary PAGE 71 Eurozone membership – the Facts, 61 the Game, and the Debate – flash report by Visegrad Insight Their European 72 The Parisian Mirror Milan Nič Foil 75 Who Will Be Served at the Table and Who Will Be Served for Dinner, PAGE 84 Edit Zgut 78 The Small Steps of Europe Paweł Kowal, former deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Rastislav Káčer 82 What German Elections mean for Central Europe Marcin Zaborowski INTELLIGENT MIND SLOVAKIA 84 Don’t Merchandise Doubt Rastislav Káčer BOOKS FICTION WE LOVE 89 In Literature Julia Sherwood 90 PAGE Emöke Szabó Lovas 89 92 Magdalena Mullek 93 Anna Zaranko 94 Michal Jareš Julia Sherwood, Emöke Szabó Lovas, Magdalena Mullek, Anna Zaranko, Michal Jareš 5 EUROPE POLITICS IN THE BUZZ We have asked five internet savvy editors about the buzz around the ballot. What was the impact of the internet on media and politics SURVEY in recent years? 6 VISEGRAD INSIGHT 2 (11) | 2017 POLITICS IN THE BUZZ EUROPE SZABOLCS TÖHÖTÖM TÓTH Editor-in-Chief of Magyar Nemzet (Hungarian nation), a Hungar- ian daily founded by Sándor Pethő in 1938. He is also project leader for the online development of the newspaper. ith Donald Trump rising to power, the debate on To make things worse for those Hungarian news outlets fake news has engulfed editorial pages, prompt- that still try to resist this surge, the government has become ed hosts of news stories and provoked myriads one of the biggest advertisers in the media market. In fact, W of twitter posts all over Europe and in the United according to the CANnual Report 2017 (see pages 18–19 in States. Less attention has been paid though to another dan- this issue), the Prime Minister’s Office was the second biggest gerous phenomenon. One that I would call the “fake media”. advertiser in Hungary in 2016, following the German telecom- In Hungary, the government has managed to create one munication giant Telekom. so successfully that newspapers, television stations and online Of course, this advertisement money goes to friend- news sites belonging to its propaganda machine now threaten ly media companies. To add more insult to injury, there is a to suffocate the real thing: those who still try to maintain ed- widespread perception that private companies are under pres- itorial independence and work with the traditional watchdog sure by the Hungarian government not to place ads in news approach to those in power. outlets that are perceived as enemies by Fidesz, Hungary’s In the last three or four years, through friendly business- ruling party. men and thinly veiled direct funding, the Hungarian govern- This brutal interference has resulted in an extremely dis- ment has channeled hundreds of billions of forints into buying torted media market, where independent players are bound existing media companies and creating new ones.
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