Reporters Without Borders lists Viktor Orbán as 'press freedom predator' - only EU leader on the list

Merlin Sugue
Politico
Mon, 05 Jul 2021 19:30 UTC

© Omar Marques/Getty Images

Reporters Without Borders has labeled Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán a "press freedom predator" for muzzling the country's media.

The NGO, known by its French acronym RSF, on Monday released a list of 37 heads of state and government who it says "embody in a particularly drastic way the ruthless suppression of press freedom." Orbán is the only EU leader on the list.

The Hungarian prime minister, RSF says, has together with his ruling Fidesz party "brought Hungary's media landscape under their control step by step" since coming to power in 2010, with government-friendly businessmen taking over outlets and targeting independent media.

Besides Orbán, RSF's "predator" list this year includes new additions such as Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam. Other figures remain on the list from the previous version in 2016, such as China's President Xi Jinping, Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

"New names have been added in all regions of the world. Their methods of suppression are different, but serve the same purpose: to prevent critical reporting at all costs," RSF Director Christian Mihr said, adding that it is "frightening that those responsible often go unpunished despite committing brutal crimes."

Comment: Poland and Hungary - especially Orban - are at the top of the list of EU thought criminals. They're the only European countries who have made some show of resistance against takeover by the EU's special brand of woke totalitarianism. Any flaws or deviations from the program will be brought into focus, magnified, and made an example of - no matter how hypocritical.

See also:

• EU in a kerfuffle over Hungary's legislation that would ban the promotion of transgender and homosexual content to children
• Hungary passes law banning LGBT propaganda targeted at children, passes 157-1
• Germany is ticked at Hungary's staunchly independent course, wants to end individual nation veto over EU foreign policy
• EU's attempt to sanction and isolate Hungary is an insult to the entire idea of a European community