The end of the Viktor Orban era offers a historic opportunity for a democratic reset and a new era for media freedom in Hungary after a decade and a half of sustained backsliding, IPI writes in its analysis (full text here).

During 16 years of rule, the Fidesz party of Orban built and then maintained the most sophisticated system of media control ever developed within the EU, while at the same time applying sustained pressure to independent and watchdog media.

Over the years these policies had disastrous effects on press freedom in Hungary, which plummeted to among the lowest on the European continent and cemented the country as the EU’s poster child for media capture and authoritarian backsliding.

For the incoming Tisza government of Peter Magyar, there are indications that reform of this distorted media ecosystem – and the dismantling of the Fidesz propaganda machine that defined it – will be a priority issue. Its two-thirds majority in parliament provides both the mandate and political tools to do so. However, this will require a major legislative overhaul of 2010-2011 laws, the dismantling of Fidesz-era institutions, and the creation of a new legal and regulatory framework that fosters free and independent journalism, in line with EU values.

Even with a constitutional majority, this will be no easy task. Media framework reform is a sensitive issue. If done wrong, it could create political pitfalls and bring EU scrutiny over rule of law. But if handled carefully, Hungary could offer a timely example of democratic revitalization for both Europe and the world at a time of global media freedom erosion.

Inevitably, media freedom progress in Hungary will mean a direct confrontation with the system developed by Fidesz over 16 years of rule.

As the International Press Institute (IPI) has long documented, this media empire was constructed through an interlocking combination of regressive media legislation, sustained dominance over public media, the concentration of private outlets under the ownership of political allies, and the distortion of the media market via state advertising.

Through this coordinated exploitation of legal, regulatory and economic powers, it is estimated that Fidesz wielded direct or indirect control over 80 per cent of the media market. This drove a dramatic erosion of media pluralism and the solidification of political control over public discourse in a way not thought possible in an EU member state.

At the same time, the independent media faced hostile takeovers from pro-government business interests, while others have been forced off the airwaves due to discriminatory licensing decisions. Those media that managed to carve out a market position and retain their independence were kept off-kilter by years of smear campaigns, spyware surveillance, abusive lawsuits and investigations from the Sovereignty Protection Office.

Taken together, this represented the most sustained assault on press freedom ever seen within the EU. While the removal of Fidesz from power will mean an end to politically motivated attacks on the press, the system of media capture it created remains in place. A system constructed over more than a decade will not be easy to dismantle.