Organized Crime and Coruption Project

By Tamás Bodoky

The widely criticised new Hungarian media law could effect my work badly, because it regulates both print and online media in the same restrictive way it regulates electronic mass media. As an investigative journalist working for print and online publications, my work is already subject of a wide variety of pressures and restrictions, starting with political and economic pressures on media companies publishing investigative reporting, excessive self-censorship due the business interests of media owners, the lack of courage and political precautions of public service media, and legal threats from people whose wrongdoings I highlight in my work.

The internet is a powerful tool in the service of investigative journalists reporting on cross-border corruption and transnational criminal enterprises. Investigative reporting can reach a worldwide audience and have impact years after it has been published.  The internet has given investigative stories lives of their own because many are posted and re-posted on discussion forums and are indexed by search engines, used in Wikipedia presentations, quoted by bloggers or used by citizens seeking information.