Hungary's media council stops Ringier/Springer merger
The Hungarian Media Council is reported to have spoken out against a merger between Axel Springer Verlag and Ringier Verlag. According to the NMHH, the country's top media regulatory body, a merger would jeopardize media diversity.
Specifically, an analysis has shown that the merger of the Hungarian papers clearly and significantly endangers the legal right to diverse sources of information, as guaranteed by the Media Act. This was said by authority spokeswoman Karloa Kiricsi, according to Pesterlloyd.net. Therefore, the approval for the merger was not given, the Media Council wrote on its website on Thursday.
According to a provision in the new Hungarian media law, the ruling of the Media Council is binding for the Competition Authority GVH. The statement is based on an inquiry made by the Office of Economic Competition at the beginning of the year, as reported by the Balaton Newspaper, Hungary's German-language monthly newspaper. The Hungarian part of the Axel Springer Group owns a daily business newspaper, regional newspapers and numerous weekly magazines. Ringier Springer and wanted to merge their holdings in five Eastern European countries.
