|
 The government has said only state media are allowed into hospitals
and vaccination centres, but has denied restricting reporting. A
government spokesman did not immediately reply to an email seeking
further comment on Wednesday.
The news outlets said they were barred from speaking to medics.
Calls are regularly referred to the health ministry.
"Doctors and nurses are not free to talk to the public, while
journalists are not allowed in hospitals, so we cannot assess what
happens there," read the letter published in 28 independent
newspapers, websites and other outlets.
Hungary has had the world's highest daily per capita deaths in
recent weeks as the pandemic reaches an overstretched health care
sector, despite a vaccination campaign that has reached a fifth of
the population, among Europe's highest rates.
The journalists asked Orban to let them work inside hospital
premises and vaccination centres, allow health care workers to talk
to reporters and replace limited daily briefings with real-time
information.
[to top of second column] |
 "At a minimum, it has a moral
message which we wanted to send," said Tamas
Onody-Gomperz, who writes for the leftist
magazine jelen.hu. "The government has operated
censorship in the most important public matter
for a year. It's a scandal."
The Council of Europe said on Tuesday https://bit.ly/3wdSwh2
that Hungarian media workers faced increasing
problems covering the pandemic. The government
dismissed those remarks as "based on
presumptions and allegations".
Activists and international bodies have accused
Orban's government of cracking down on free
media since it took power in 2010. The
government and the ruling Fidesz party have
denied interfering with what they say is a free
press.
(Reporting by Marton Dunai; Editing by Andrew
Heavens)
[© 2021 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2021 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content |
