The Hungarian Media System. Stopping Short or Re-Transformation?

As the institutions underlying the rule of law are being rolled back in Hungary, one of the increasingly obvious democratic deficiencies to emerge in the past few years has been a severe deficiency in the public sphere. Various measures enacted by the government have made this deficiency readily apparent. Yet the success of the government's actions shows that these deficiencies were characteristic of the Hungarian political and social system long before the current government took office. The public sphere's disorders can be traced back to political, economic, and social factors. The present study reviews the factors and processes that have been shaping the Hungarian public sphere since the 1990s in order to sketch its main characteristics, identify the key features of Fidesz's media policies, and assess their impact.