After the elections, the Poles stopped fighting about the media, the Slovaks and Maa, on the other hand, were afraid of the media. How are you?

Pafter the January elections to the Polish parliament, in which the pro-European coalition led by Donald Tusk became stronger, Poles’ concern about freedom of speech decreased. In Slovakia and Hungary, on the other hand, fears against Slovakia have increased with how aggressively Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has been in office, and with how the Hungarian government, according to the Oseks, has space for independent media.

The survey in the Visegrad countries was carried out by the agency Median on behalf of the Council for Editorial Independence of the media house Economia, the publisher of HN, and with the support of the Bakala Foundation. The results show that the least concern for freedom is among those countries. This concern was raised by only 51 percent of respondents in the survey, which took place in March 2024. In Poland it is 53 percent, in Hungary 62 percent and in Slovakia 65 percent.

A big change regarding copper work has recently taken place, mainly in Slovakia, after the rise of the fourth government of Robert Fico after the Polish general elections. The Slovak Cabinet has now approved a law that wants to control public television and radio RTVS. Politicians of the government coalition refuse to go on independent television talk shows and boycott any independent media.

Last year, according to the same survey, 71 percent of Poles were concerned about the freedom of the press. In the case of Hungary and Slovakia, on the other hand, there is an increase of 6 percentage points among the Hungarians and 1 percentage point among Slovaks. escape and stay on the same level.

From the same surveys to date concerning copper freedom in the V4 countries from 2022 and 2024, it appears that while in Hungary support for the view that the European Union should protect copper freedom has increased, this view is weakening in the other countries.

In Estonia, it weakens the opinion that the state’s economic support would contribute to freedoms, but in other countries this view is on the contrary weak.

The survey thus pointed to growing concerns about the penetration of Russian narratives into the domestic media and public opinion in Zemchvisegrad tyka. Vtina, the respondent, raised concerns about Russian influence. Poles (76.9 percent) and women (69.3 percent) are most worried about him. In the second place are concerns about our informed influence.

The survey was concerned about the influence of the billionaire George Soros, the founder of the philanthropic organization Open Society, whose election in Hungary and Slovakia is often seen as a populist as a magpie to be wary of. They fear its influence the most in Poland (45.6 percent) and in Hungary (42.1 percent).