Radio tenders won under political pressure, WikiLeaks says
It is “obvious” that media authority ORTT made its decision on the radio frequency tenders of commercial radio channels Sláger Rádió and Danubius Rádió under political pressure back in 2009, online news portal Origo reported, citing the documents of the Hungarian US Embassy leaked by WikiLeaks.
The documents showed that the American diplomats had strongly objected to the tenders to Gordon Bajnai, who was Hungary’s Prime Minister at that time. Bajnai himself also considered the case as a slur on his work as a PM and said that he had “no leverage” on the politicians so he could not prohibit such cases. In 2009, Hungary’s most popular radio channels, Sláger and Danubius unexpectedly lost their frequencies to NeoFm and ClassFM, radio stations reported to be in the interest of parliamentary parties Fidesz and MSzP.
ADVERTISEMENT
SUPPORT THE BUDAPEST BUSINESS JOURNAL
Producing journalism that is worthy of the name is a costly business. For 27 years, the publishers, editors and reporters of the Budapest Business Journal have striven to bring you business news that works, information that you can trust, that is factual, accurate and presented without fear or favor.
Newspaper organizations across the globe have struggled to find a business model that allows them to continue to excel, without compromising their ability to perform. Most recently, some have experimented with the idea of involving their most important stakeholders, their readers.
We would like to offer that same opportunity to our readers. We would like to invite you to help us deliver the quality business journalism you require. Hit our Support the BBJ button and you can choose the how much and how often you send us your contributions.
