Sabin Gherman, a journalist from Cluj, delivered a harsh rebuke to the Tisza Party. At the camp organized in Mures County by the opposition party led by Peter Magyar, numerous press outlets were denied entry, and those allowed in were soon shown the door — Kronika Online reports. Among them was our own colleague.
As Magyar Nemzet reported earlier, both our newspaper and the staff of Hir TV — who were also expelled — were placed on the blacklist after publishing the first article noting that hardly anyone was attending the event.
On Saturday, it emerged that the list of blacklisted outlets was even longer: journalists from the Székelyhon and Maszol news portals, as well as from the Romanian public television channel TVR, were also denied entry to the camp in Nagyadorjan, Kronika Online recalled. Later, the organizers offered Szekelyhon's reporters access only on condition that they leave their cameras and laptops behind.
Sabin Gherman: Where Is the Respect for Others?
This shocking treatment of the press caused bewilderment even among the Romanian participants of the Community Dialogue Camp, as the event is theoretically devoted to dialogue and joint reflection. This, however, seems to be nothing more than an empty slogan.
Cluj journalist Sabin Gherman sent a strong message to Peter Magyar.
The moment you start questioning a journalist’s orientation and refuse them entry to your event, I begin to have serious doubts. If Peter Magyar’s team is honest, one must ask why they barred certain Transylvanian Hungarian journalists and probed their orientation. If they are not honest — and the case of the journalists kept outside the gates of the Nagyadorjan camp suggests they are not — then this same staff is simply undermining everything the Tisza Party proclaims in Hungary. Where is the respect for those who come to learn about your ideas, and where is the freedom here?
– the journalist asked, stressing that he does not wish to reproach Peter Magyar for the ban, but he cannot remain silent about it. In his view, this is more than a mere incident — it raises the specter of an infringement on freedom of expression.
It is also a glaring contradiction that while several journalists were refused entry to the camp, inside there was a panel discussion on press freedom, the role of the media, and freedom of expression. “This should not happen; it left me with a bitter taste (…) After this incident, I have strong doubts about the Tisza Party being the pro-Europe, pro-NATO, center-right party it claims to be,
– Mr. Gherman stated. The journalist also voiced skepticism about the prospect of Peter Magyar becoming the next prime minister of Hungary, and called it “sad” that at the Nagyadorjan camp, the Tisza Party leader read his fifteen-page speech “like Fidel Castro.”
