“Dear Radio Helsinki listeners, you might not realize in your every work, but you are very lucky still having a free community radio station. We here in Hungary remain very few, as the number of free radios has fallen dramatically, due to the 2010 media law regulations, adopted by the current government.” Gábor Géczi, Civil Radio, Budapest.

Talking with Gábor from Civil Radio in Budapest. It’s history, it’s mission and the struggle to survive an “illiberal democracy” in Hungary.

The talk is a warning that “censorship” might not approach as a spectacular attack on free speech on first place. Structural censorship, as in Hungary is set up by regulations on defining selected content and sources. Furthermore the “smart censorship” appears technocratic, it forms bureaucratic rules, demands evaluations. All those governmental strategies avoid a direct censorship on free speech, but repress by structural burdens. In the end the result remains the same: free media is vanishing.

Recorded at Civil Radio with European Free and Community Radio Practitioners: Birgitte Jallow (CMFE, Denmark), Wilma Rall (Radio RABE, Bern), Liselotte Tännle (klipp & klang, Zürich). Interview by Walther Moser (Radio Helsinki, Graz).

Gábor Géczi:

• Volunteer editor and presenter since 2001
• Member of Editorial Board (monitoring, new programmes, surveys etc.)
• Member of Board of Civil Radio
• I also participate and help in Hungarian and foreign (mostly EU) projects.
• I have 2 radio shows:
  • Hangképcsarnok (Sound Picture Hall), a music show
  • Forgószínpad (Revolving stage), a show dealing with literature combined with music

Link to Civil Radio

Zu Gast bei Civil Radio in Budapest.

Wie der Name schon sagt, Civil Radio ist ein gemeinnütziges Radio im Dienst der Zivilgesellschaft. Mit mehr als 150 Sendungsmacherinnen und Sendungsmachern ist Civil Radio auch das größte nichtkommerzielle, freie Radio in Ungarn.

Was Civil Radio macht und unter welchen Bedingungen Freies Radio im Ungarn der illiberalen Demokratie unter Viktor Orban möglich ist oder unmöglich wird, das habe ich Gabor gefragt.

Bilder: Walther Moser, Bálint Ház, Budapest.