Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has signed a decree exempting the pro-government Central European Press and Media Foundation from oversight by media and competition authorities.
BBJ and index.hu report that the decree was published in the official gazette Magyar Közlöny and has come only six days since the first appeal was lodged with the Hungarian Competition Authority (GVH) into the formation of the foundation in late November.
As a result, it will now be impossible for the GVH to undertake an investigation into the foundation, which the decree says was created as a move of “strategic importance at a national level”.
As previously reported by Broadband TV News, the foundation includes the channels Hir TV and Echo TV among its assets.
