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“Press freedom suppressed,” headlines Hungarian daily Népsabadság after parliament passed a bill to increase government control on the media. The new law will create a National Authority for the Media and Communications (NMHH), with most of its members belonging to the Fidesz party of PM Viktor Orban. Népsabadság publishes a front page photo of nearly 1500 demonstrators who gathered outside the parliament building on December 20 to protest against the bill. The new authority will also supervise all programmes on public sector media and will have the power to inflict substantial fines on private sector media if it does not respect the new law, Népsabadság writes. “The real loser will be the people from whom public debate and the possibility to think freely are being driven away,” the paper warns, comparing the law to a press “curfew”.
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