Washington is apparently considering relaunching Radio Free Europe in Hungarian once again. The US-based radio station, also known as Radio Liberty, has not had Hungarian words spoken on it since 1993.
As nepszava.hu reports, sources say that American congresspeople are considering a relaunch of the iconic Radio Free Europe in the Hungarian language. The radio station used to provide reliable news in European countries behind the Iron Curtain: real information countering the communist propaganda coming from state-owned radio stations and television channels.
Radio Liberty has been sponsored by the US since the very beginnings, and apparently, Washington now feels restarting the independent media outlet would be beneficial for the cause of democracy once again. Similar relaunches took place this year in Romania and Bulgaria.
The idea was already considered in 2012, but no further steps were taken, and it died down relatively quickly. This time, however, a specific plan was put together to assist free and independent media all around Eastern Europe, the scope of which is said to be around 770.3 million dollars.
It has been reported that any future Radio Free Hungarian broadcast will be available via either a smartphone or a computer: the traditional shortwave version will not be coming back.
Freedom House Report has recently deemed the state of the media “partly free” in Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary; a step which has undoubtedly drawn the attention of numerous experts and laymen alike to the region.
Awful! Hungary dives down in the rankings of the World Press Freedom Index!