A close ally of Viktor Orbán is among those bidding for national TV licenses in Serbia.
Bidding began in April for four TV broadcast licenses, set for final allocation by Serbia’s Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media (REM) in August. Among those who have reportedly joined the tender process so far is Lőrinc Mészáros, a Hungarian businessman and close friend of President Viktor Orbán.
Mészáros’ involvement signals a potential extension of a pattern seen over the last decade in which allies of Hungary’s government have invested significantly in media outlets outside the country, including in Romania and North Macedonia, expanding a ‘media capture’ model that has grown domestically to the alarm of media freedom advocates.
Hungary is a “textbook case” of this model, Marius Dragomir, director of the Central European University’s media centre, told EURACTIV, stressing how it has been exported to countries such as Poland and the Czech Republic.
“You have this influence in many countries across Eastern Europe,” he said, but noted that the driving force behind it varies: “In some cases, you have people in power or oligarchs in other countries trying to replicate the model, and in other cases, the Hungarian oligarchs are expanding to other countries.”
Media-focused civil society organisations have already begun issuing calls for openness in the license allocation process following concerns raised in the 2021 Media Freedom Rapid Response Report, which described Serbia’s REM as a “highly politicised and ineffective” body.
In a letter published in May, several high-profile European media organisations urged the body to “ensure a fair and transparent tendering process” for the licenses, in line with national law and international freedom of expression standards.
The European Commission has also called for improvements to REM, emphasising in a 2021 report on Serbia’s progress towards EU accession that the organisation’s independence should be strengthened “to enable it to efficiently safeguard media pluralism.”
More could have been done at EU level to address the rise of media capture in general, however, said Dragomir. “What we have today – a big part of the blame is on the EU institutions. Fortunately, in recent years, we have seen more movement and not only on the level of legislation”.
Hungarian model
Among those reported as bidding for the four available licenses in Serbia is Mészáros, now one of the country’s wealthiest citizens.
This would not be the first media venture included in the business activities of Mészáros, who in 2017 purchased a 16.9% stake in Opimus, the owner of Mediaworks, a major media company in Hungary and publisher of several influential newspapers.
Mészáros’ investment in the country’s media landscape comes as part of a broader trend of “media capture” in Hungary, which has seen outlets bought up by investors associated with Orbán and Fidesz, the ruling party, since 2010, along with stricter control of public media, media regulation and state advertising.
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In a study published earlier this year, the International Press Institute mapped the influence of Hungarian capital in foreign media, finding significant investment and expansion in Slovenia, Romania, Slovakia, Serbia and North Macedonia, particularly in areas with Hungarian minority communities and therefore potential voters in Hungarian elections.
The IPI concluded that in Serbia, whose President, Aleksandr Vučić, has been closely linked to Hungary’s, there is considerable political influence in the Hungarian-language media ecosystem, both in terms of pro-Fidesz figures in local government and funding received from the Hungarian government via a local foundation.
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EU action
Dragomir also noted that the rise of media capture is not a new phenomenon: “It started more than 10 years ago, and there were many signals from experts and activists every time something happened when a regulator was taken over, or a country’s public media was filled with people close to the authorities.”
Despite these alerts, he said, the EU argued that no instrument could be used to remedy the situation, as media regulation was the responsibility of individual countries.
The Commission is set to release its Media Freedom Act this September, an executive initiative designed to safeguard media pluralism and independence by strengthening outlets’ financial sustainability and bolstering transparency regarding media ownership.
Last week also saw the Commission launch legal proceedings against Hungary over its Media Council’s 2021 decision to reject the broadcast license application of the country’s last independent radio station, Klubrádió.
European Commission goes after Hungary in salvo of proceedings
The Commission on Friday (15 July) started an infringement procedure against Hungary for its discriminatory fuel price policy and took Budapest to EU court over a law banning LGBTQ content to minors and the closure of an independent radio station.
“It is really important that we have these institutions waking up and trying to intervene and to build effective instruments”, said Dragomir, adding that transnational enforcement would be key to ensuring their effectiveness.
“I think if they are if they are linked with EU funding”, he said, “they are going to be very powerful because many of these countries rely on EU funds for everything, essentially, even for media capture.”
[Edited by Luca Bertuzzi/Alice Taylor]
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Source: euractiv.com
