Radio Free Europe’s Hungarian Service Shuts Down After Trump Funding Cuts
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Radio Free Europe’s Hungarian service, Szabad Európa, ceased operations Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration said it would no longer fund pro-democracy news broadcasting.
Funded by the US government, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty was first established during the Cold War to provide news and information to people living in the Soviet Union and behind the Iron Curtain. Its programs are broadcast in 27 languages in 23 countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East.
The Hungarian-language service was discontinued in 1993 but was restarted in 2020 after the United States Agency for Global Media, an independent federal agency, and the U.S. Congress approved relaunching the service in response to Hungary’s sharp decline in media freedom under Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
In a statement announcing the end of operations on Thursday, Szabad Európa wrote that it “works devotedly to provide Hungarian readers with the best journalism and objective information.”
The statement stated, “We thank you for the trust, interest and support we receive from our target audience,” and stated that their articles will continue to be published online.
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The closure of Szabad Európa comes as the Trump administration takes a major step forward cuts to international broadcasters as well as local broadcasts such as Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Voice of America public broadcasters PBS and NPR.
Failed Arizona governor and U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake, whom Trump appointed as a senior adviser to the U.S. Agency for Global Media, told Congress in a letter earlier this month that the agency would no longer fund Szabad Európa, writing that its operations in Hungary were “not consistent with the national interest of the United States” and that they “undermined” Trump’s foreign policy.
In a post published two days later on X – that day Trump hosted Orbán Of the White House talks, Lake wrote: “Globalists are more than ready to hate our ally Viktor Orbán.”
“What they do not have the right to do is use YOUR money to destabilize the Hungarian regime through taxpayer-funded programs at Szabad Európa. We are putting a stop to this,” he wrote. Orbán responded to her post with gratitude, writing: “Thank you!”
Trump ally Orbán has overseen the construction of a massive building since returning to power in 2010. pro-government media machine Many independent newspapers and publications in Hungary were closed or taken under the control of people with close ties to the government.
According to press watchdog Reporters Without Borders, Orbán has built “a veritable media empire subject to the dictates of his party”, using media buys from government oligarchs. The group estimates that such acquisitions give Orbán’s party control of around 80% of Hungary’s media market resources. In 2021, he put Orbán on the media’s “predators” list, becoming the first European Union leader to earn this title.
Earlier this year, Orbán’s party introduced this law. blacklist and sensitive critical media outlets People who receive financing or grants from abroad.
