Hungary: Hungarian Politician Publicly Discusses The Hanging Of Journalist Boróka Parászka
Location: Hungary
Date: November 2, 2022
Barna Bartha, a politician from the Hungarian far-right Our Homeland Movement (Mi Hazánk Mozgalom) political party publicly discussed the hanging of journalist Boróka Parászka saying that it was a shame that Hungarians could not “hang” or “eliminate” the journalist. The Coalition For Women In Journalism is indignant at such nefarious discussions to censor free press through draconian measures.
On Wednesday, 2 November 2022, Barna Bartha, the leader of the extremist party’s policy cabinet, shamelessly suggested the hanging of prominent Hungarian journalist Boróka Parászka while addressing a party meeting. In an audio clip of the discussion published by the Hungarian outlet Telex, the politician is heard saying: “Or you can watch Parászka Boróka, you can listen to it on Marosvásárhelyi Rádió, so [if] the Hungarians can't hang such people, they can't eliminate them from among themselves, then it's no wonder we get to where we are". He then added that Parászka was “a terribly intelligent journalist, but I've never seen a bigger scoundrel in my life". During the meeting, Bartha also discussed the reunification of Transylvania, and attacked LGBTQ communities, Romanians, Roma and Jews. He further claimed that the broadcaster RTL Klub had had a “destructive” effect on Hungary.
Boróka Parászka is a well-known journalist who works for Radio Târgu Mureș, a Hungarian-language public radio in Romania, and contributes to the Hungarian weekly HVG. Due to her investigative reporting, the journalist has been harassed and has received death threats for many years. In 2013, 40 hours of audio recorded by Parászka Boróka in the archives of Marosvásárhelyi Radio was sabotaged by an unknown culprit, seemingly for political reasons: among the interviews were aural materials of Romanian and Hungarian opposition leaders, various minority communities, and members of the LGBTQ community.
The most recent series of attacks involving death threats began against the journalist when she published a fact-finding material about the Hungarian government's funding of the media in Transylvania, entitled The Unknown Addressee.
Parászka started her career as an editor at the Pallas-Akadémia Publishing House in Csíkszereda, and between 2003 and 2006 she was the editor-in-chief of the Marosvásárhely weekly periodical A Hét. Since 2012, she has been a correspondent for the regional channel of the Romanian Rádiótársaság Székelyföld (Marosvásárhelyi Rádió) with her daily cultural and political program Értsüns Szót.
As a journalist, Parászka deals with human, women's and minority rights issues. She has reported on various crisis areas, has published regularly on the Kurdish-Turkish conflict, Turkish-Greek border, European and non-European refugee zones, Bangladesh and Georgia. In 2017, along with her colleague, Zsuzsanna Fodor, Parászka launched the Crisis Zone column on the 168 Óra website, which is published in English and Hungarian.
The National Association of Hungarian Journalists (MÚOSZ) in Romania took a stand against the attacks on Parászka. They published a statement describing the comment as hate speech that risked inciting violence. The Romanian Broadcasting Society (SRR) labeled the comments as a “serious attack against the basic norms of democracy, the rule of law".
The Prime Minister of Romania, Nicolae Ciucă, condemned the threats against the journalist and called for the prosecution of those responsible.
On 4 November, the criminal investigation department of the Mureş County Police (IPJ) announced the opening of an investigation.
On Thursday, 10 November, Barna Bartha resigned from the leadership position in the party.
The Coalition For Women In Journalism vehemently condemns all forms of attack and censorship against free press and especially women journalists. We welcome the resignation of Barna Bartha and hope that hate speech directed at the media will no longer be a part of leadership rhetoric anywhere in the world. Democracy cannot survive and justice cannot prevail when freedom of expression and information dissemination are under constant scrutiny.
The Coalition For Women In Journalism is a global organization of support for women journalists. The CFWIJ pioneered mentorship for mid-career women journalists across several countries around the world and is the first organization to focus on the status of free press for women journalists. We thoroughly document cases of any form of abuse against women in any part of the globe. Our system of individuals and organizations brings together the experience and mentorship necessary to help female career journalists navigate the industry. Our goal is to help develop a strong mechanism where women journalists can work safely and thrive.
If you have been harassed or abused in any way, and please report the incident by using the following form.