Gábor Polyák
Dr. Gábor Polyák is a lawyer and media expert. He is professor at the Eötvös Loránd University and the head of the Department of Media and Communication of the Faculty of Humanities. Further, he is a senior researcher at the Institute of Law of the Social Sciences Research Centre. He is the head of the Mertek Media Monitor, a Hungarian watchdog organisation dealing with media policy research. Previously, he was the head of the Department of Communication and Media Studies at the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Pécs. From 2014 to 2016 he worked as a researcher at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität in Münster. Prior to that, he was a lecturer at the Faculty of Law of the University of Pécs. In 2020, he won the Voltaire Prize for Tolerance, International Understanding and Respect for Differences at the University of Potsdam. His latest book: Algoritmusok, keresők, közösségi oldalak és a jog – A forgalomirányító szolgáltatások szabályozása [Algorithms, Search Engines, Social Media and the Law - Regulation of Traffic Management Services] (Budapest: HVG-Orac, 2020).
Phone: +36702641133
Address: Hungary
Phone: +36702641133
Address: Hungary
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Papers by Gábor Polyák
Media Pluralism Monitor (MPM) country reports of the past years show, the risks have been steadily increasing in the country due to restrictive regulation and increasing interference in the media market by the
government and government-aligned actors. The laws concerning media are increasingly ambiguous, access to information is made harder, while the media market is distorted by media capture through ownership by government-aligned owners and by the unfair allocation of state advertising – just to name a few examples.
In the MPM2023, three areas scored high risk: Market Plurality, Political Independence and Social Inclusiveness. At the same time, Fundamental Protection registered a medium risk score. This year’s assessment has benefited from a deeper legal analysis than previous rounds; as such a detailed assessment of the risks in legal variables resulted in higher scores than recorded in past years. Part of the report's legal assessment is based on published pieces of work on Hungarian media regulation by one author's work, mainly in the context of Mérték Media Monitor.
The project focuses on nine professional fields: 1. Storytelling in social media, 2. Graphic journalism, 3. Improving democratic sensibility, 4. Covering migration, 5. Foreign coverage, 6. Journalism for voice-activated assistants and devices, 7. AI and journalism, robot journalism and algorithms, 8. Verifying and analysing fake news, 9. Debunking disinformation.
The project team consists of journalism and media scholars and journalists from the University of Pécs (Hungary), the Erich Brost Institute for International Journalism, an NGO named Hostwriter (Germany), the University Insitute of Lisbon (Portugal), the University of Bucharest (Romania) and the Masaryk University (Czech Republic).
The aim of this research was to introduce the new project fields in more depth and lay the foundations of the curricula and e-learning development. In the report we covered:
- the current status of these types of new skills and tools of journalism in the media field of the partner countries,
- the main media outlets and journalists that are using these skills and tools, some outstanding examples of these types of journalism,
- the needs of journalists and market players regarding the innovations in journalism education.
Therefore, we made an analysis of literature on the given topics, and interviews with four or five journalists per field from the participating countries. The interviews were based on a semi-structured interview guide consisting of both field-specific questions and a set of education-related questions, which were the same across all fields. We interviewed 41 journalists between March and June 2021, either via video calls or in written form through email-based questionnaires.
The results will help our consortium throughout the next steps of our project, as this research report is the outcome of just the first phase of NEWSREEL2. All educational materials produced by the project will be made openly and freely accessible through open licenses via the project’s website http://newsreel.pte.hu/ in English.
Lehetetlen pontosan számba venni azokat a politikai befolyásolási formákat, eszközöket, módszereket, amelyek torzítják a választói akaratot, azaz olyan döntésre veszik rá a választókat, amit tényszerű, valós információk alapján nem hoznának meg. E tanulmány egy gondolatkísérlet, egy olyan fiktív szabályozási elképzelés főbb pontjainak végiggondolása, amely átfogóan kezeli a választói akarat tisztességtelen befolyásolására alkalmas kommunikációs formákat. A gondolatkísérlet előképe az Európai Unió fogyasztóvédelmi szabályozása: a tisztességtelen kereskedelmi gyakorlatokról szóló szabályozás. A fogyasztóvédelmi szabályozás két koncepcionális eleme lehet mintaadó a politikai befolyásolás szabályozása számára: egyrészt a fogyasztói döntésekre gyakorolt hatás, mint a szabályozói beavatkozást megalapozó kiindulópont azonosítása, másrészt a visszaélések lehetőség szerint pontos, ugyanakkor nyitott meghatározása.
It is particularly striking that the transformation of the media system occurred at several levels, yet the different steps were coordinated and mutually reinforcing. The basis for all this was the change in the regulatory environment, but this was quickly followed by further steps. The transformation of public service media into a propaganda machine, the upheaval of market power and the squeezing out of many foreign professional investors, as well as the making of journalistic work more difficult, have been observed step by step over the past period. Always a little hidden in the most analyses, but a very important development is the shrinking of local publicity and the struggle for survival of a few heroically struggling independent newsrooms.
The project was led by Mertek Media Monitor (HU), and involved MediaForum (CZ), ActiveWatch (RO) and Memo98 (SK).
The research pays special attention to the specificities of the media market and the situation of journalism, and analyses the legal environment not only on the basis of legislation but also on the basis of the practice of law enforcement. In contrast to other media policy analyses, the most important specificity of the research is that it focuses on the collection and processing of primary data instead of the secondary processing of expert interviews and literature sources. With its broad methodological background, it provides an evidence-based report that is a relevant starting point for media policy decisions by industry, government and the European Union.
Media Pluralism Monitor (MPM) country reports of the past years show, the risks have been steadily increasing in the country due to restrictive regulation and increasing interference in the media market by the
government and government-aligned actors. The laws concerning media are increasingly ambiguous, access to information is made harder, while the media market is distorted by media capture through ownership by government-aligned owners and by the unfair allocation of state advertising – just to name a few examples.
In the MPM2023, three areas scored high risk: Market Plurality, Political Independence and Social Inclusiveness. At the same time, Fundamental Protection registered a medium risk score. This year’s assessment has benefited from a deeper legal analysis than previous rounds; as such a detailed assessment of the risks in legal variables resulted in higher scores than recorded in past years. Part of the report's legal assessment is based on published pieces of work on Hungarian media regulation by one author's work, mainly in the context of Mérték Media Monitor.
The project focuses on nine professional fields: 1. Storytelling in social media, 2. Graphic journalism, 3. Improving democratic sensibility, 4. Covering migration, 5. Foreign coverage, 6. Journalism for voice-activated assistants and devices, 7. AI and journalism, robot journalism and algorithms, 8. Verifying and analysing fake news, 9. Debunking disinformation.
The project team consists of journalism and media scholars and journalists from the University of Pécs (Hungary), the Erich Brost Institute for International Journalism, an NGO named Hostwriter (Germany), the University Insitute of Lisbon (Portugal), the University of Bucharest (Romania) and the Masaryk University (Czech Republic).
The aim of this research was to introduce the new project fields in more depth and lay the foundations of the curricula and e-learning development. In the report we covered:
- the current status of these types of new skills and tools of journalism in the media field of the partner countries,
- the main media outlets and journalists that are using these skills and tools, some outstanding examples of these types of journalism,
- the needs of journalists and market players regarding the innovations in journalism education.
Therefore, we made an analysis of literature on the given topics, and interviews with four or five journalists per field from the participating countries. The interviews were based on a semi-structured interview guide consisting of both field-specific questions and a set of education-related questions, which were the same across all fields. We interviewed 41 journalists between March and June 2021, either via video calls or in written form through email-based questionnaires.
The results will help our consortium throughout the next steps of our project, as this research report is the outcome of just the first phase of NEWSREEL2. All educational materials produced by the project will be made openly and freely accessible through open licenses via the project’s website http://newsreel.pte.hu/ in English.
Lehetetlen pontosan számba venni azokat a politikai befolyásolási formákat, eszközöket, módszereket, amelyek torzítják a választói akaratot, azaz olyan döntésre veszik rá a választókat, amit tényszerű, valós információk alapján nem hoznának meg. E tanulmány egy gondolatkísérlet, egy olyan fiktív szabályozási elképzelés főbb pontjainak végiggondolása, amely átfogóan kezeli a választói akarat tisztességtelen befolyásolására alkalmas kommunikációs formákat. A gondolatkísérlet előképe az Európai Unió fogyasztóvédelmi szabályozása: a tisztességtelen kereskedelmi gyakorlatokról szóló szabályozás. A fogyasztóvédelmi szabályozás két koncepcionális eleme lehet mintaadó a politikai befolyásolás szabályozása számára: egyrészt a fogyasztói döntésekre gyakorolt hatás, mint a szabályozói beavatkozást megalapozó kiindulópont azonosítása, másrészt a visszaélések lehetőség szerint pontos, ugyanakkor nyitott meghatározása.
It is particularly striking that the transformation of the media system occurred at several levels, yet the different steps were coordinated and mutually reinforcing. The basis for all this was the change in the regulatory environment, but this was quickly followed by further steps. The transformation of public service media into a propaganda machine, the upheaval of market power and the squeezing out of many foreign professional investors, as well as the making of journalistic work more difficult, have been observed step by step over the past period. Always a little hidden in the most analyses, but a very important development is the shrinking of local publicity and the struggle for survival of a few heroically struggling independent newsrooms.
The project was led by Mertek Media Monitor (HU), and involved MediaForum (CZ), ActiveWatch (RO) and Memo98 (SK).
The research pays special attention to the specificities of the media market and the situation of journalism, and analyses the legal environment not only on the basis of legislation but also on the basis of the practice of law enforcement. In contrast to other media policy analyses, the most important specificity of the research is that it focuses on the collection and processing of primary data instead of the secondary processing of expert interviews and literature sources. With its broad methodological background, it provides an evidence-based report that is a relevant starting point for media policy decisions by industry, government and the European Union.
- Szerkesztői szabadság, a szerkesztői döntések függetlensége (4. és 6. cikk)
- A közszolgálati médiaszolgáltatók független működésének biztosítékai (5. cikk)
- Nemzeti szabályozó hatóságok vagy szervek (7. cikk)
- A médiaszolgáltatók működését érintő nemzeti intézkedések európai kontrollja (20. cikk)
- A médiapiaci koncentrációk értékelése (21. cikk)
- Az állami hirdetések elosztása (24. cikk)
- Der Weg zu der Orbán-Regime – Erwartungen und Misserfolge der politischen Wende 1989/1990
- Wertsystem der ungarischen Gesellschaft, die Rolle der Extremen
- Verschwundene rechtstaatliche Garantien
- Wirtschaft in Gefängnis
- Die Selbstüberlassenen - Abbau des sozialen Schutznetzes
- Gesteuertes Mediensystem
- Bildungspolitik fest gehalten
- Die guten und die bösen Zivilisten
- Rolle der Opposition
- Kein Fall für Europa?
Die Suche nach effektiven staatlichen Mitteln zur Umsetzung fachpolitischer Vorstellungen im Mediensystem wird immer wieder durch neue Akteure sowie die technischen und ökonomischen Rahmenbedingungen des Mediensystems herausgefordert. Der erste Teil des Buches behandelt die normative Darstellung der aktuellen medienpolitischen Vorgänge. Es wird eine systematische Analyse der Medienpolitik skizziert, insbesondere dadurch, dass die relevanten Begriffe, die Akteure, die Ziele und Instrumente, aber auch der inhaltliche Gegenstand der Medienpolitik und die mit ihr einhergehenden Entwicklungsfaktoren dargestellt werden. Im zweiten Teil des Buches wird sodann die Medienpolitik einer bestimmten Region und Periode, nämlich Mittel- und Osteuropa vom Systemwechsel 1989/1990 bis heute, genauer untersucht. Während sich der erste Teil insbesondere dem optimistischen Idealismus widmet, der Überzeugung, dass sich Mediensysteme aufgrund des Bedürfnisses an relevanten Informationen und umfassenden Kenntnissen sowie transparenten und professionellen Verfahren nach den Allgemeininteressen auszurichten haben, zeichnet der zweite Teil eine eher dunkle Realität nach, in der die Medienpolitik immer stärker von partikularen politischen und/oder ökonomischen Interessen vereinnahmt wird und das auf diese Weise geprägte Mediensystem immer weniger seine demokratischen Funktionen erfüllen kann.