The recordings were made in the 2019 European Parliament election campaign.Continue reading
The Hungarian government coldly received German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle’s (DW) recent announcement about its plans to begin broadcasting to Hungarian audiences. The Secretary of State for International Communication and Relations suspects political motivations and cultural imperialism.
DW’s Director General Peter Limbourg announced last week that the channel would begin creating content for Hungarians, arguing that “media plurality in Hungary is in danger, and independent and critical press is under pressure.”
Besides recalling earlier incidents on German public channels, like when ZDF comedian Oliver Welke compared Prime Minister Orbán to Hannibal Lecter, or when later he called him an “idiot” and proposed to set up an EU “without the stupid Hungarians and Poles,” Kovács suspects political motivation in the timing and “a little German cultural imperialism.”
“What kind of content will Deutsche Welle produce in Hungarian? Programs on European 20th century history, perhaps? No. A look back at the era of colonialism in Africa? No. Profiles of Marx, Engels and other modern German disruptors?” he ironically noted on a government portal.
Kovács also insists that in Hungary, media and press conditions are shaped by the market. “Perhaps it is no coincidence that the “real stories” Deustche Welle seeks to provide on topics like LGBTQ or other minority rights don’t appear in Hungary to the extent a German public TV desires,” Kovács wrote.
On his Facebook page, he even used the famous clown meme to illustrate what he thinks of the German public broadcaster’s plan to start a Hungarian channel with “under-represented topics in the Hungarian media,” one year before the election.
featured photo via Facebook