Weaponize the levers of presidency for partisan political acquire. Pressure privately owned media corporations to toe the get together line. Punish the house owners who resist and reward the ones who acquiesce.
That’s how Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán consolidated management of the media in his nation, based on students who witnessed Hungary’s democratic backsliding firsthand.
President Trump and his allies seem like operating the similar playbook in opposition to media retailers in the US.
Using authorized maneuvers, monetary incentives and public stress campaigns, Trump is persuading corporations to make adjustments that profit his get together and bolster his personal energy. Wednesday’s resolution by Disney’s ABC to sideline Jimmy Kimmel is the newest instance.
Gábor Scheiring, who skilled Orbán’s autocratic energy performs firsthand as a member of the Hungarian parliament, advised NCS that “this story is very familiar.”
Scheiring, now an assistant professor at Georgetown University Qatar, mentioned that each ABC’s decision-making about Kimmel and final July’s transfer by CBS to cancel “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” reek of what’s generally known as “Orbanism.”
“A key underlying story is that media owners, both foreign and domestic, largely capitulated individually rather than mounting collective resistance, which enabled Orbán’s systematic capture strategy,” he mentioned.