Hungary’s leading independent radio station taken off the air

As a result of the 9 February ruling by the Metropolitan Court in Budapest rejecting Klubrádió’s appeal against the Media Council’s decision, this Budapest-based radio station will disappear from the air waves in a few days’ time, when its licence expires on the evening of 14 February.

The Media Council, which is heavily influenced by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government, gave a trivial reason for its decision last September not to renew Klubrádió’s licence – the radio station’s failure to keep the Council informed about its adherence to airtime quotas for Hungarian and international music.

Known for its outspoken and humorous criticism of the government, Klubrádió had previously been ordered to restrict the area covered by its broadcasts to the capital. From now on it will be limited to broadcasting on the Internet.

“With the Hungarian judicial system’s support, the Media Council has used an administrative pretext to deal a major blow to media pluralism,” said Pavol Szalai, the head of RSF’s European Union and Balkans desk. “The European Commission must delay no more in investigating the Council’s independence under the revised European directive on broadcast media, and in investigating the other curbs on press freedom, such as state aid to pro-government media.”

Klubrádió plans to take its appeal against the Media Council’s decision to Hungary’s supreme court. But its broadcast frequency is still put out to bid and its disappearance from the airwaves will have irreversible consequences, including the loss of listeners and advertisers.

The radio station thus joins the long list of victims of the censorship policies pursued by the government, which used political and economic pressure to dismantle the biggest independent news website, Index, last July.

Hungary is ranked 89th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2020 World Press Freedom Index.