In April, Matej Voda reported on new coronavirus legislation in Hungary that could lead to the arrest of journalists. Parliament revoked the emergency law in June, but media freedom remains under threat in the country.

Last week, it emerged that the Hungarian government is gathering information about foreign travel by journalists. A team of reporters at the new independent media outlet Telex obtained an email sent in June by József Magyar, deputy under-secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Hungarian embassies in EU states. In it, he requested details of foreign study programs and training courses attended by journalists, and which local media they had interacted with while away.

“Independent media has been under attack since 2010 and the pressure from the government is rising. This story is a good example of the mood around the independent media in Hungary,” Telex journalist Tamás Fábián told me in an email.

The reporters who brought the leaked email to light are former employees of Index, once a leading independent Hungarian news site. In July, more than 70 journalists resigned from the publication after the dismissal of editor-in-chief Szabolcs Dull. The threat to Index began in March, when Miklos Vaszily, a businessman affiliated to Prime Minister Viktor Orban, took 50% ownership of Indamedia, the company that manages Index’s advertising and revenue.