Poll Finds Concerns About Media Freedom on the Rise in Slovakia and Hungary

Compared to last year’s survey, worries in Slovakia grew by 3 points, but fell 18 points in Poland. This reflects political changes, such as Fico assuming power in Slovakia and trying to turn public broadcaster into a government mouthpiece.

Slovak PM Robert Fico (R) and Culture Minister Martina Šimkovičová (M) at the Ministry of Culture on 22 April 2024, in Bratislava. TASR PHOTO – Pavel Neubauer

A day after Slovakia’s government approved draft legislation to replace the public broadcaster with what is feared would be a propaganda channel, an annual survey found rising public worries over media freedom in that country as well as in its neighbour Hungary.

The third annual Medium Freedom Poll, which surveyed about a thousand people in each of the four Central European countries between March 13-24, found that a majority in each expressed concern about the current state of media freedom, with Slovaks displaying the highest concern (65 per cent) followed by Hungary (62 per cent).

Compared to last year’s survey, concerns in Hungary grew by 6 percentage points and in Slovakia by 3 points, though fell significantly in Poland, from 71 per cent to 53 per cent.

Václav Štětka of Loughborough University and the compiler of the survey, which was conducted by MEDIAN on behalf of the Prague based Committee for Editorial Independence, said the results were clearly driven by political changes.

In 2023, the Polish liberal-democratic coalition led by Donald Tusk took over from the radical-right government of Law and Justice (PiS) and instituted changes to return editorial independence to the public broadcaster, while Robert Fico and his Smer party returned to power in Slovakia and has set about passing a variety of illiberal laws.

The latest is Fico’s cabinet approving draft legislation on Wednesday that, if passed by parliament, would scrap Slovakia’s public service broadcaster RTVS and replace it with an outlet renamed Slovak Television and Radio (STVR) under the control of the government, which media freedom watchdogs believe will act as a mouthpiece for his illiberal coalition.

During his current and previous terms as prime minister, Fico has pursued a hostile relationship with RTVS and the rest of the independent press, which he complains are “not being objective enough.” The coalition will dismiss the current director general of RTVS and create a new Ethics Commission that will be made up of political rather than expert appointees.

In response, an initiative of 1,200 RTVS employees and freelancers will organise “A Black Day of RTVS” on Thursday, at which employees will dress all in black.

“What [Hungarian Prime Minister] Viktor Orban did in a decade, Robert Fico is trying to do in a very short time. He’s trying to do the media capture thing in a very concentrated manner and, moreover, he’s doing it under the watchful eyes of the European Union,” said Beata Balogova, editor-in-chief of Slovakia’s largest daily, SME.

The European Commission has already expressed its misgivings about the law and many suspect it will fall foul of the new EU Media Freedom Act, which is designed to preserve press freedom in the bloc and will become fully effective by the end of 2024.

The driver behind that EU legislation, European Commissioner for Values and Transparency Vera Jourova, will be in Bratislava on Thursday where she will meet with Prime Minister Fico and his ministers.

In the survey, a majority of respondents in each country (ranging from 57 percent to 63 per cent) agreed with the idea that EU sanctions should be applied to governments which interfere in media freedom.

The survey also found that Russia remains the biggest source of concern in the information space for citizens in Central Europe, with 67 per cent either very concerned or rather concerned with its influence.