Hungarian radio station to go off the air after court ruling

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — One of Hungary's last remaining independent radio stations will be forced off the airwaves and limited to online broadcasts after a court on Tuesday upheld a decision by the country's media regulator not to extend its broadcasting license.

The court dismissed a challenge by Klubradio, a liberal-leaning commercial station broadcasting in Budapest and the capital's surrounding areas, to the September decision by Hungary's Media Council. The council refused to renew the station's claim to the radio frequency it used, a move that has led to accusations of the government infringing on media rights and political bias among the body's members.

Klubradio CEO and director Andras Arato called the court's verdict “shameful,” and told The Associated Press that the company plans to appeal at Hungary’s highest court, the Curia.

“We are witnesses to a verdict that serves an endlessly cowardly, anti-democratic, illiberal system. It is not a surprise, but it is still sad,” Arato said.

While Hungary's media regulator says it acted in accordance with the law when it refused to extend the station's broadcast license, the case has reinvigorated a debate over freedom of the press and outsized political influence in Hungary's media market.

In a statement last week, the National Association of Hungarian Journalists called Klubradio “the only remaining... public service broadcaster in Hungary whose content is not under government influence.”

“The hegemony of pro-government broadcasters would increase to 100% with the silencing of Klubradio, which would be completely unprecedented in Europe,” the group wrote.

Critics of the Hungarian government, which Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his Fidesz party have led since 2010, warn of a systematic assault...