{"id":4084,"date":"2017-12-06T22:08:51","date_gmt":"2017-12-06T21:08:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/amdf-centre.org\/?p=4084"},"modified":"2026-07-05T20:06:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T19:06:16","slug":"local-media-are-simply-disappearing-how-financial-pressures-are-killing-independent-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amdf-centre.org\/2017\/12\/06\/local-media-are-simply-disappearing-how-financial-pressures-are-killing-independent-media\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Local Media are Simply Disappearing’: How Financial Pressures are Killing Independent Media"},"content":{"rendered":"
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When staff at Hungary\u2019s left-leaning Nepszabadsag newspaper packed up their stuff on a Friday night a year ago, they thought they were just moving across town.<\/p>\n

As it happened, they were moving out altogether. Within hours, the paper had been shut<\/a> down, literally overnight. Within weeks, ownership of the other publications in the group had been transferred to a new holding company linked<\/a> to Lorinc Meszaros<\/a>, an oligarch ally of populist prime minister Viktor Orban<\/a> and mayor of Orban\u2019s hometown.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an ambush,\u201d recalls deputy editor Marton Gergely. \u201cAll the circumstances spoke against economic reasons for closing the newspaper down suddenly. We felt betrayed, lied about, cynically played. There were journalists close to retirement worried about their pensions, there were photographers, technical staff, and not all of them were opposed to Orban.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Nepszabadsag, which had suffered a decline in circulation and heavy losses according to claims from the owners, was no isolated instance. Across central and eastern Europe<\/a> \u2013 and indeed in some parts of the world beyond \u2013 political and economic forces are combining to put independent media under unbearable pressure.<\/p>\n

The combination of falling newspaper circulations and ad revenues has shattered the business model and left newspapers weakened and vulnerable to both political and corporate pressure. Some fear that as a result, the ideal of journalistic independence is being critically compromised.<\/p>\n

In Poland<\/a>, for example, liberal outlets claim that they are now unfairly treated by the centre-right government, which they say uses economic means for political ends.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince autumn 2015, there has been a drastic reduction \u2013 sometimes a complete ban \u2013 of subscription to some newspapers by public institutions, targeted mostly against two weeklies \u2013 Polityka, Newsweek \u2013 and Gazeta Wyborcza, which criticise the ruling party,\u201d says Piotr Stasi\u0144ski, deputy editor-in-chief of Gazeta Wyborcza. <\/a><\/p>\n