Dragomir Quoted by BBC Russia

It’s a serious problem that journalists don’t have the adequate opportunity to ask questions, our Director, Marius Dragomir said to BBC News Russian.

State authorities answer only selected questions of selected journalists, and doctors are too afraid to speak to independent outlets, BBC News Russian writes in the article covering the media situation in Hungary.

The article quotes Marius Dragomir, Director of the Center for Media, Data and Society, who said that during the current pandemic, authorities in many countries are trying to restrict access to information.

“At such a time, many topics go unnoticed, and journalists should really have more access to information, there should be more transparency, more opportunities to ask questions,” he said, adding that journalist don’t have adequate opportunities to investigate certain issues and ask questions about them, which is a serious problem.

The article also mentions that spreading misinformation related to the pandemic can now result in a prison sentence in Hungary. According to Dragomir, the main result of this law is not in real repression, but in the fact that journalists are afraid to write anything that could cause a sharp reaction from the authorities.

"The journalists will think twice because there can be problems, and there is nothing they can do about it," the article quotes him.