Press Freedom Crackdowns Demand an Antidote

Donald Trump’s retribution campaign to weaken a robust independent free press is in full flight. These weeks have proven Trump’s abilities to run roughshod on civil society programs, as the halting and gradual shutdown of USAID as well as a slew of other humanitarian programs worldwide, are the tip of the iceberg for an American President who basks in demolishing the uniformly accepted world order.

Trump’s nonchalance to Western norms by favoring a draconian approach to suppress press freedom mirrors a global trend within many illiberal democracies. In fact, the European press is growing vulnerable to these increased dangers. For those working in Visegrád countries, such as Hungary and Slovakia, things have long grown increasingly hard for journalists. The term “foreign agents” floats freely to designate news agencies as enemies of the state in a repressive campaign to intimidate hard-working journalists.

Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party is set to discuss a legislative package instituted by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to eliminate “Soros agents,” a derisive term to decimate all independent media, which pose a threat to his rule of law. Hungarian media outlets, which receive funding from abroad, will also reportedly soon face severe sanctions. Orbán said in his annual assessment speech on Feb. 22 that he would take down the “Soros network” by Easter. This means, in practice, it will be the complete erasure of Hungary’s independent press.

Hungary’s PM Viktor Orbán leads an illiberal democracy. (Photo retrieved from Viktor Orbán’s Facebook page).

In neighboring Slovakia, Prime Minister Robert Fico sent a letter to Elon Musk requesting a list of individuals receiving American funding in recent years.

Here are some case studies of news media outlets and intrepid journalists addressing severe threats posed to their companies and entities.

• CubaNet and Diario de Cuba (Cuba): These U.S.-funded media outlets are actively seeking alternative funding sources in light of the pending USAID shutdown. They have continually reached out to readers for donations to continue their operations.
• Olga Rudenko (Ukraine): The editor-in-chief of The Kyiv Independent said in recent weeks that the USAID freeze has caused and likely will continue to harm independent Ukrainian journalism. The Kyiv Independent has been the essential global news arm since Russia’s full-scale invasion and war in Ukraine began on February 24, 2022. Rudenko underscored that the situation could worsen if the freeze is not reversed.
• Denys Bihus (Ukraine): Bihus, an investigative journalist also in Ukraine, said that because USAID grants have financed nearly two-thirds of his organization’s projects, there will soon be significant threats to its media operations.
• Anna Babinets (Ukraine): Babinets, the CEO and co-founder of Slidstvo.Info, an independent investigative media outlet in Kyiv, has warned that the cessation of USAID could lead to increased influence of Russian money in the Ukrainian media market. This will lead to a surge in government propaganda.

The cessation of USAID funding has led to the closure or downsizing of numerous independent media outlets, resulting in severe layoffs and financial uncertainty for journalists. The absence of international support for USAID’s programs emboldens authoritarian leaders to uniformly suppress independent journalism. It also increases the rate of daily harassment and potential imprisonment for reporters. Authoritarian states can also easily sanction or eliminate financial support for these media institutions.

There is one aspect these repressive governments cannot control, however: private donations from individuals.

Reportary, a new startup, is the brainchild of Hungarian-born entrepreneur, publisher and sociologist Levente Nagy-Pál. It is the primary mission of Reportary to provide solid reporting with a robust social media platform. In this way, Reportary gives added incentive and opportunities for journalists as well as their editorial teams to be compensated and a viable forum to do good work. Journalists will receive direct support from the public for their valuable work, articles, and investigative reports. Transparency, too, remains paramount.

Levente Nagy-Pál, the brainchild of Reportary, seeks to help journalists and editorial teams combat unfair slashes of funding for international media. (Photo provided by Mr. Nagy-Pál).

“The challenge of social media has not been met by the traditional media,” says Nagy-Pál. “With the rise of extremist politics, the classical press, as we know it, is slowly disappearing. Trust in the classical media is at unprecedented lows. It is a situation to which our free press must adapt, and we cannot allow the future of the press to be marked by [untraceable] trolls, programmed bots and fake news intelligence services. Reportary will hopefully be the first antidote to the current ‘freak world’ where there is no objective truth [just] opinion,” adds Nagy-Pál.

Time will tell how startups like Reportary can serve as a viable cure to offset the wave of dangers adversely affecting global independent media. Reportary may serve as the needle to inject a lifeline for journalists and newsrooms, which are suffering from cuts by these media-hostile governments.

Hungary is seen as an “illiberal democracy” in the minds of many political observers. (Photo by Balázs Béli).