Author: Otmar Lahodinsky
Media freedom has come under severe pressure in several European countries and also in the USA. In Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s ruling Fidesz party has gained control of most of the media. Only a few independent media, especially on the internet, still report critically on the government.
In Slovakia, the left-wing populist Prime Minister Robert Fico is imitating this course. He has brought the public broadcaster completely under his control and has also reappointed most of the management positions. There are protests by employees and demonstrations.
In Austria, the right-wing populist FPÖ party, which became the party with the most votes in the parliamentary elections at the end of September 2024 with 28 per cent, has laid claim to the position of chancellor (head of government). It is now negotiating a coalition with the conservative ÖVP, which has fallen to second place.
FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl has announced plans to domesticate critical media by withdrawing state press subsidies and public advertising. In particular, the public broadcaster ORF is to be brought into line with the government. To this end, the new fee financing system introduced only last year – compulsory contributions from every household and company in Austria – is to be abolished and replaced by budget contributions.
The Viennese FPÖ leader Dominik Nepp has savagely insulted the liberal daily newspaper ‘Der Standard’ and threatened to withdraw state funding and advertising. The FPÖ, which was also particularly critical of the EU during the election campaign and sits in the right-wing ‘Patriots for Europe’ group in the European Parliament, has a network of party-owned media – several magazines and two TV channels. No questions were allowed at FPÖ leader Kickl’s ‘press conference’ at the start of the coalition negotiations and several critical media such as the weekly newspapers ‘profil’ and ‘Falter’ were not allowed to attend.
In Germany, the far-right party ‘Alternative for Germany’ (AFD) is stepping up its attacks on independent media, which it describes as a ‘lying press’. The interview that AfD leader Alice Weidel gave to the head of ‘X’, Elon Musk, was criticised.
The latter had previously described the AfD as the only party that could deal with the problems of migration in Germany. After the terrorist attack in Magdeburg, Musk also mocked German Chancellor Olaf Scholz as a weakling.
A US oligarch and close confidant of the new US President Donald Trump has thus directly interfered in the German election campaign ahead of the federal elections at the end of February. As his platform ‘X’ (formerly Twitter) has also stopped fact-checking, the EU Commission is now demanding that ‘X’ disclose its algorithms and has initiated proceedings for violating the Digital Services Act, which prohibits fake news, disinformation and hate speech.
It is to be feared that the users of ‘X’ will increasingly receive one-sided and whitewashed reports about Trump’s activities via Musk’s influence. NGOs and platforms that investigate cases of disinformation are to lose state subsidies. Trump also wants to deal with state research institutions that investigate violations of media freedom or discrimination against dissidents.
Trump sees this as censorship and a restriction of freedom of expression.
In the EU, media freedom is seen as an integral part of European values. Conflicts between the US and the EU can therefore also be expected in the area of media policy.
