"A crowded and rather poor media market, unable to secure the sustainability of media operations, a high level of job insecurity making the journalists vulnerable to political and economic pressures and – more often than not – leading to self-censorship – are some of the conclusions [...] The ... report reveals that across the region, journalists are making less than the national average salary, which indicates an erosion of the social respect for the profession. Paradoxically, the public media – still unreformed and subject to state influence – offer more stable and better paid jobs. This creates an opportunity for these media, as more and more journalists are seeking these jobs. It also reveals the need for a stronger associative effort on the part of journalists, to protect their rights." (http://www.seenpm.org) more

"The number of foreigners in Hungary (as a proportion of the total population) is a negligible two percent. The majority of immigrants are Hungarian nationals coming from the neighbouring countries. Given to the low number of foreign citizens, the ‘man in the street’ in Hungary relatively rarely ... meets an immigrant or asylum seeker. The attitude of Hungarians is nevertheless negative toward foreign citizens who are not Hungarian nationals. The average Hungarian despises the Roma even more. Members of this community encounter widespread discrimination and occasional physical violence. One of the media’s roles might be to foster social cohesion and the integration of minorities. These roles might be enhanced by programming from public service broadcasters, balanced news coverage from commercial media outlets, media content produced by members of the minority, and media campaigns which aim to integrate minorities. The public service broadcasters satisfy their legal obligations by way of providing programming for and about the national and the ethnic minorities. Though the length of the broadcasts in lower-reach periods is not proportionate to the size of the given national or ethnic minorities as compared to the total population, these programmes constitute the only fora where the average Hungarian can encounter these minorities. Several commercial media outlets have adopted codes of ethics, and our findings confirm that most of these include provisions on how the minorities should be portrayed. However, various studies on the media representation of minorities find that in the Hungarian media, the voice of the depicted minorities can hardly ever be heard in the news, with coverage generally focusing on problems and conflicts, and the context of events being covered superficially." (Summary and conclusion) more