Abstract
In this chapter outlines the structure of Transylvania’s Hungarian-language media and the media-consumption patterns of Transylvanian Hungarians. Hungarian elites have been building a separate Hungarian-language media system, combining elements of autonomous media structures (privately owned newspapers and commercial radio stations) with features of a media system based on the minority protection model (Hungarian editorial offices in public radio and TV). However, they have not been particularly interested in influencing the content of Romanian-language media, which often led to discriminatory and “unauthentic” representations of the community. The language of media consumption is primarily Hungarian, the dominance of Romanian-language media being limited mainly to dispersed Hungarian communities. It is also important that TV channels from Hungary are the most popular, over which Transylvanian Hungarian elites have little influence.
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Notes
- 1.
Reports, shadow reports, and other documents are produced within the monitoring mechanism of the Charter. This clearly increases the visibility and influence of the language preservation discourse in the field of minority media. The Mercator Research Center should also be mentioned in this context. See https://www.mercator-research.eu/en/.
- 2.
Under the circumstances of globalization, this issue also arises at the transnational level due to the predominance of English, so that even some languages with official status could become overwhelmed and thus endangered (Moring 2013).
- 3.
For a comparative analysis concerning Transylvanian Hungarians, see Vincze (2013). This author makes no difference between media content produced in the kin-state and by minority actors.
- 4.
MPM is a project founded by the EU. It assesses the risks to media pluralism in the member states. See Valcke et al. (2015) for a general presentation.
- 5.
- 6.
For the distinction between ranked and unranked systems of groups, see Horowitz (1985, pp. 21–36).
- 7.
One should emphasize that segments for media marketing are obviously socially constructed, and in this process, not only “objective characteristics” (such as territorial dispersion or concentration) but also perceptions matter. From this perspective, the problem is that the perception that ethnic parallelism does not work in the economic sphere is widely shared.
- 8.
As Cormack (1998, p. 41) highlighted, the weakness of central government and the strength of relevant regional bodies is constitutive, as “governments are not likely to give anything to a minority”. Klimkiewicz (2003) also argued that autonomous regional bodies are the most important financers of autonomous media systems (where they exist).
- 9.
The Janovics Jenő Foundation, created in 2004. Erdély means Transylvania in Hungarian.
- 10.
The survey was repeated in 2016; however, the results of this second wave have not been published yet. Consequently, we must rely on the earlier wave, pointing out, where necessary, the changes that have occurred in the institutional structure of the Hungarian-language media since 2010.
- 11.
See Kiss et al. (2016). The sample size of the survey was 1600.
- 12.
Since 2012, there has only been one Hungarian-language daily newspaper targeting Transylvania as a whole, as Új Magyar Szó was discontinued in print form, being transformed into a Web portal.
- 13.
One should emphasize that it is not an easy task to determine the real circulation figures. The majority of the Hungarian-language media organs do not take part in the process of monitoring carried out by BRAT (the Romanian Joint Industry Committee for Print and Internet). In 2010, only 4 of the 15 newspapers had taken part in the monitoring process, while in 2017 only 2 of the 14. In 2010, three of the newspapers did not respond to questions concerning circulation figures either. In the case of others, the reported figures are obviously exaggerated.
- 14.
According to information we received from personal discussions with journalists, the figure for Krónika from 2010 is no longer valid for 2017.
- 15.
In some counties where the number of Hungarians is lower (such as Brașov/Brassó, Timiș/Temes, Sălaj/Szilágy, and Maramureș/Máramaros), Hungarian-language newspapers are weeklies, not dailies.
- 16.
Hungarian-language newspapers existed in Arad, Bihor/Bihar, Brașov/Brassó, Cluj/Kolozs, Covasna/Kovászna, Harghita/Hargita, Mureș/Maros, Satu Mare/Szatmár and Temes/Timiș counties (Apró 2012).
- 17.
Udvarhelyi Híradó, Csíki Hírlap, Vásárhelyi Hírlap, and Gyergyói Hírlap (established in 2014).
- 18.
See http://www.erdelyfm.ro/?belso=rolunk. We also rely here on informal interviews conducted with RMDSZ stakeholders, as well as journalists and radio station owners.
- 19.
Only two of the local stations with a sizeable audience maintained a partnership with Erdély FM until 2016.
- 20.
The survey was carried out by the Center for Research and Consultancy in Culture (Bucharest) and the Romanian Institute for Research on National Minorities using a nationwide sample of 3500 and on an additional Transylvanian Hungarian sample of 1200 respondents.
- 21.
One should highlight that listening to the radio usually occurs simultaneously with other activities (driving, working, cooking, etc.).
- 22.
The survey was carried out by the Romanian Institute for Research on National Minorities using a 1200 sample representative for Transylvanian Hungarians.
- 23.
In this area where Hungarian TV programs could be received, it was not only Hungarians but also Romanians who regularly tuned in during the 1980s.
- 24.
Unpublished survey data. The survey was conducted by the Research Center on Interethnic Relations (CCRIT) using a sample of 1178 respondents, representative for Transylvanian Hungarians.
- 25.
Unpublished survey data; survey conducted by TransObjective Consulting using a sample of 1200 respondents, representative for Transylvanian Hungarians.
- 26.
The 1997 survey was carried out by the ELTE-UNESCO Minority Studies Department (1200 respondents); the 2004 one by CCRIT (1100 respondents). The 2011 (CCCDC-RIRNM) and 2015 (RIRNM) surveys have already been mentioned.
- 27.
Languages other than Hungarian and Romanian could also be mentioned, although the proportion of respondents who mentioned any other language did not in any case reach 1%, so these responses were treated as missing values when the figure was created.
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Kiss, T. (2018). Media Consumption and the Hungarian-Language Media in Transylvania. In: Kiss, T., Székely, I., Toró , T., Bárdi, N., Horváth, I. (eds) Unequal Accommodation of Minority Rights. Palgrave Politics of Identity and Citizenship Series. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78893-7_8
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