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MFRR Podcast: Navigating Hungary’s new Sovereignty Protection Act

The situation for Hungary’s embattled independent media is about to become even more challenging. On 12 December, the Hungarian parliament voted to pass the Protection of Sovereignty Act. It was debated for less than two weeks and passed without any serious public consultation.7 Its stated motivation is the protection of Hungarian sovereignty from malign external […]

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Decoding Disinformation | Episode 6: Franziska Tschinderle – Attacked by Orbán’s state media

Austrian reporter Franziska Tschinderle was smeared and discredited for five days in a row on Hungary’s most important TV news broadcast simply for doing her job. The campaign targeting Tschinderle is the subject of a new case study published today by the German newspaper taz as part of the IPI-led Decoding Disinformation Playbook project. A […]

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MFRR in Focus: UN Special Rapporteur on media freedom in Hungary ahead of election

 Also available on With a general election in Hungary just days away, the newest episode of the MFRR In Focus podcast series examines how the ruling Fidesz party of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has used its influence over the country’s media ecosystem to skew the playing field in its favour and control the message […]

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Podcast: Will spying on journalists be the ‘new normal’?

What the journalistic community has long suspected – that surveillance of reportersis much more widespread than could be proven – became reality when Forbidden Stories and 16 other international news organisations released The Pegasus Project.  Based on leaked information, the story revealed that over 180 journalists were listed as suspected targets of phone hacking using […]

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