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Klub Radio, the by now infamous left-wing radio station in Hungary, has launched yet another desperate attempt this week in Brussels to convince international public opinion and policy makers that its fate is the sole measure of “freedom and pluralism” in Hungarian media. Klub Radio, which advertises itself as the only talk radio station with a “scrutinizing attitude towards government and social issues”, lost its Budapest frequency broadcast license in a public bid last year. The station is now turning its corporate predicament into a crusade against the “all powerful” Media Council, which decided the bid. The Media Council, established by Hungary’s new media law as the highest media regulatory authority, is not a flawless institution, but it is incorrect to blame the Council for wanting to “silence a critical voice” for political reasons.
Outside observers should take note of the fact that although its license expired more than a year ago, Klub Radio has been uninterruptedly airing since then. Even if it eventually loses its Budapest frequency (95.3 MHz) it could still broadcast across the country, on its other frequencies as well as via internet.
The inconvenient truth is that Klub Radio presupposed that it has a special right to stay on air in Budapest after its legal contract expired. In Hungary, no-one, not even established stations own their frequencies, which are considered public goods. Radio broadcasters rent frequencies for five or seven years and, upon expiration, the license is up for grabs. In the bidding process that follows, the Media Council announces a tender (public bid) based on criteria that every competitor is made aware of in advance. Klub Radio apparently believed the criteria should be tailor made to its own profile, which in and of itself would have raised concerns of anti-competitiveness.
The allegedly prejudiced Media Council actually gave the highest possible scores to Klub Radio in all the subjective categories of the bid (program flow plan, previous media experience, and ancillary media service). But in two objective categories, Klub Radio fell far behind other competitors. Firstly, the Media Council rated the amount of programming for the wider public, local communities, and musical broadcasts to be comparatively low. And secondly, the price bid that Klub Radio’s submitted as a usage fee was much lower than the bids of the competitor stations – including the winner. While undeniably inconvenient for Klub Radio and its listeners, it appears that the process was open, transparent, and thorough.
As Mandiner noted, back in 2009, Mr. Bolgár, the station’s primary anchor—himself argued that in a competition for radio station frequencies, the highest bidder should naturally win. Presumably, Mr. Bolgár changed his mind when it came to competing for his own frequency. If Klub Radio really felt it important to win the bid and stay on the air in Budapest, it should have submitted a more competitive offer instead of playing Russian roulette and then vilifying the decision makers.
Somewhat astonishingly, Klub Radio has joined ranks with certain foreign governments, international NGOs, and various unelected European institutions which have actively lobbied on Klub Radio’s behalf at the Media Council as well to the Hungarian government. Many of these same players loudly presupposed last year that the Media Council would not be an independent body, but would bow to political pressure. Now, the Media Council has made its independent decision based on publicly announced and straightforward bidding process. It is disingenuous for Klub Radio et al. to claim that this decision marks the fall of Hungarian media pluralism, and it is hypocritical for international NGOs and foreign governments to intimidate the Media Council which they hoped would remain independent.
Things are not perfect in Hungary in the realm of public policy, but it is a cheap political tactic to claim that every single policy decision is motivated by some sort of authoritarian agenda. Human rights NGO-s and good-will friends of the Hungarian people should realize that this approach polarizes the situation even further and does little to improve the real situation.
—Vera Molnár is a political analyst residing in Budapest, Hungary. She holds a degree in political science and international affairs.
I imagine the process for renewing the license was fair like it was for Sláger and Danubius. That is completely unfair, and the winning bidder put in an unrealistically high price, then awarded the tender, and then the council lowered the amount they had to pay due to economic circumstances.
The key part of this article, and the process, is how much the inning bidder offered to pay. And then watch to see how much they actually do pay.
[...] motivated licensing procedure resulting in the loss of Klubradio’s frequencies.” In fact, as this blog and other sources have pointed previously, Klubradio is still on the air. Klubradio has not yet [...]