{"id":257,"date":"2024-11-21T08:36:21","date_gmt":"2024-11-21T07:36:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mediaforum.exot.hu\/?p=257"},"modified":"2024-12-20T13:12:29","modified_gmt":"2024-12-20T12:12:29","slug":"kiallunk-a-fuggetlen-ujsagirasert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mediaforum.hu\/en\/2024\/11\/21\/kiallunk-a-fuggetlen-ujsagirasert\/","title":{"rendered":"We Stand Up for Independent Journalism"},"content":{"rendered":"

The statements issued by the Sovereignty Protection Office regarding Atlatszo and the media at large reject the fundamental values of democratic public discourse. The undersigned publishers, editorial offices, journalists, and organizations engaged in the democratic public sphere stand in solidarity with Atlatszo under attack and present the following as our unified position:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Those who reveal information of public interest serve the interests of citizens and the country.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Those who disclose information of public interest serve the interests of citizens and the country.<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Those who support editorial offices that reveal and disclose information of public interest, without interference in content decisions, serve the interests of citizens and the country.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The press fulfills its most crucial social function when it reports on the workings of power. In a democratic state governed by the rule of law, the disclosure of public interest information should never be persecuted: it ensures transparency and accountability in government and power. To deny this is to prioritize the objectives of those in power, whatever they may be, over the interests of citizens, ultimately undermining the principle of popular sovereignty. However, if false facts are disclosed, action can be taken against those responsible for disseminating such information, as prescribed by Hungarian law.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Anyone who claims that the disclosure of information officially classified as being of public interest is detrimental is also denying a fundamental value of representative democracy. The platform through which public data and information of public interest are made available is irrelevant. If information is in the public interest, then, in a democratic context, the person or entity facilitating citizens’ access to it deserves praise.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Some media outlets, which perform essential functions for the operation of democracy, in Hungary today rely partly on funds from international tenders and foundations. While this is entirely normal, it also reflects the fact that the government has been working for over a decade and a half to obstruct the press from functioning freely and reporting on facts that are inconvenient to those in power. Transparent funding does not compromise editorial independence, nor does it give donors the power to influence content. It instead ensures that Hungarian citizens have access to information of public interest that would otherwise be unavailable. These same editorial offices would, of course, happily apply for Hungarian funding opportunities to support investigative journalism under similar conditions and safeguards, but such opportunities are nonexistent.<\/span><\/p>\n

    The ‘investigation report’ issued by the Sovereignty Protection Office, which fails to meet even the most basic standards of scientific or journalistic fact-finding methodology, deems the democratic functioning of the press and fact-based, public interest journalism as harmful. Specifically, it undermines citizens’ right to information about the workings of their government. This perspective is entirely unsupported by legal or media theory. It is incompatible with Hungary\u2019s constitutional tradition, as well as with the current Fundamental Law. The recent decision by the Constitutional Court to uphold the Sovereignty Protection Act which serves the government’s propaganda purposes, does not change this.<\/span><\/p>\n

    The continued prevalence of this viewpoint would inflict further, irreversible damage to Hungary\u2019s press freedom, and through it, to democracy itself. The establishment of the\u00a0 Sovereignty Protection Office, funding its operations by taxpayers, and the use of public funds to advertise its anti-democratic messages, all serve the destruction of Hungary’s already weakened democratic public sphere.<\/span><\/p>\n

    This above statement has been coordinated by the Mediaforum Association, the successor to the Editors\u2019 Forum Hungary. If you would like to express your support by signing this resolution, please contact info@mediaforum.hu.<\/span><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Signatories:<\/b><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Endre Bojt\u00e1r B., Magyar Narancs<\/span><\/p>\n

    M\u00e1rton Galambos, Forbes<\/span><\/p>\n

    M\u00e1rton Guly\u00e1s, Partiz\u00e1n<\/span><\/p>\n

    Zsombor Gy\u00f6rgy, Magyar Hang<\/span><\/p>\n

    Andr\u00e1s Peth\u0151, Direkt36<\/span><\/p>\n

    P\u00e9ter Uj, 444<\/span><\/p>\n

    Blanka Z\u00f6ldi, Lakmusz<\/span><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    21 November 2024<\/span><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Supported by:<\/p>\n

    Tibor F\u00e9nyi, Viszont.hu<\/p>\n

    \u00c1rp\u00e1d Gy\u0151rffy, Magyar \u00dajs\u00e1g\u00edr\u00f3k \u00e9s -K\u00e9sz\u00edt\u0151k Eur\u00f3pai Sz\u00f6vets\u00e9ge<\/p>\n

    J\u00f3zsef Martin, Eur\u00f3pai \u00dajs\u00e1g\u00edr\u00f3k Sz\u00f6vets\u00e9g\u00e9nek Magyar Tagozata<\/span><\/p>\n

    Andr\u00e1s R\u00e9vay, Kanadai Magyar H\u00edrlap<\/p>\n

    Updated: 28 November 2024<\/p>\n

    This is the English translation of the original Hungarian statement available here<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Illustration by P\u00e9ter Somogyi (szarvas) \/ Telex<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The statements issued by the Sovereignty Protection Office regarding Atlatszo and the media at large reject the fundamental values of democratic public discourse. The undersigned publishers, editorial offices, journalists, and organizations engaged in the democratic public sphere stand in solidarity with Atlatszo under attack and present the following as our unified position: Those who reveal … We Stand Up for Independent Journalism<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-szuverenitas-vedelmi-hivatal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaforum.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaforum.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaforum.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaforum.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaforum.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/mediaforum.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":270,"href":"https:\/\/mediaforum.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257\/revisions\/270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaforum.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaforum.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaforum.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}