Economy 6 June 2014, 3:57pm

Entire Origo News staff quits, Hungarian media in arms against planned ad tax

Portfolio

The entire staff of Origo News have decided to leave the news portal after their editor-in-chief was abruptly fired, reportedly on political pressure, i.e. for their stories opposing and criticising Viktor Orbán and his cabinet too much.

“We, the members of Origo News section, believe that after the departure of chief editor Gergő Sáling we cannot continue our work as before. Therefore - based on individual agreements - we are leaving Origo. We are greatly sorry that this story is ending this way," they said.
The signees were the following:
Albert, Ákos,
Dull, Szabolcs,
Fabók, Bálint,
Tamás, Fábián,
Joó, Hajnalka,
Rovó, Attila,
Sarkadi, Zsolt,
Szabó, András,
Vorák, Anita
Zöldi, Blanka.

Their departure have been preceded by the resignaton of another key journalist Zsolt Pethő, the author of a story about the extravagant travel-related expenditure claims by János Lázár, the PM’s chief of staff, which was apparently the ‘last straw’ for the cabinet, and also joining Péter György, one of the founders and editorial board member of the site.

Origo, owned by Hungarian Telekom, which is the local interest of Germany’s Deutsche Telekom, has rejected allegations of being under political pressure, cited consumers’ changing demand for media services as the reason for reorganisation and changing its editor.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) criticised the removal of Origo's editor as well as the planned ad-tax.

Euobserver cited Astrid Frohloff, a RSF spokeswoman in Berlin, as saying in a statement that after a resounding election victory in April, that "Orban's government wants to silence critical voices and curb civil society".

She also said the removal of Origo's editor is a severe blow to independent journalism in Hungary.

The press organisation asked for a statement from Deutsche Telekom AG.

Hungarian news portal 444.hu reported on Thursday that German economic interests in Hungary played a role in allowing Origo.hu's freedom to be compromised, with the Budapest government planning a comprehensive rural IT development project with Deutsche Telekom.The German firm said that its subsidiary, Magyar Telekom (the owner of Origo.hu) works independently, and that personnel changes are a result of an internal restructuring that Deutsche Telekom has not influenced.

Around 1,000 people, including many journalists, marched on Tuesday evening from the Origo offices to the Hungarian parliament in protest at the editor's removal. They chanted “free country, free media!" and walked to the Prime Minister’s Office next to Parliament, where the protest ended peacefully.

Protesting in a statement, the Association of Hungarian Journalists said that the gesture was a “message to the independent media".

“A power, which strives to intimidate and muffle the media it cannot control directly, is unacceptable in a democracy," the statement said.

In a separate act of protest at a proposed bill which would tax advertising revenue up to 40%, television channels and websites in Hungary went off air and radio stations fell silent for 15 minutes on Thursday evening. ore than 100 private media companies cut their services and newspapers planned blank front pages.

Two main daily newspapers ran a blank page each on Friday.

The Hungarian Advertising Association urged legislators to vote against the proposed tax.

"Content is not free. Advertising serves as a main income for the media industry. The proposed advertising tax will ruin the majority of media companies," the association said.

Media insiders say the new advertising tax, which would deliver the severest blow to television channel RTL Klub, which is majority-owned by German media conglomerate Bertelsmann, would cripple the industry and tighten the government’s hold on the press.

Hungary’s governing Fidesz party stands behind the bill on imposing a new advertising tax despite protest by local media companies, the future subjects of the new levy, and counter arguments presented by professional associations, said Antal Rogán, head of the party’s parliamentary group, on Friday.

Asked about the protest of several dozens of media companies against the new levy on Thursday, Rogán responded that everyone has the right to express their opinion, but he regards this protest as an exertion of pressure, a coercion of political figures, which the cabinet will pay no heed to.