Reporters Without Borders has included Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in its annual list of “enemies of press freedom”.
It is the first time that the head of a European Union government appears on this list, along with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, and others.
The media observer said that Orban and his party Fidesz “have brought the Hungarian media landscape, step by step, under their control” since taking power in 2010.
The group said Orban targeted the media with tools such as “political-economic fraud, discredit and self-censorship”.
According to Reporters Without Borders, Hungary’s regional press has been fully owned by entrepreneurs who are friends of Orban since the summer of 2017.
“In the fall of 2018, nearly 500 pro-government media companies have merged into one company to coordinate their coverage,” Reporters Without Borders said.
In the Press Freedom Index, compiled by Reporters Without Borders this year, Hungary is ranked 92nd out of 180 countries.
The list of “enemies of press freedom” includes 37 heads of state and government who suppress media freedom.
The list includes Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Belarus’ Alyaksandr Lukashenko, Chechnya’s Ramzan Kadyrov, Tajikistan’s Emomali Rahmon and Turkmenistan’s Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov.
