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| - An independent Hungarian radio station is set to lose its licence after the NMHH media regulator said it had "repeatedly infringed" the rules, raising fresh press freedom concerns in the EU member state. Klubradio's seven-year operating licence expires next February and will be put up for tender rather than extended, said NMHH in a statement sent to the Hungarian news agency MTI. Despite the infringements, the station can re-apply for the frequency which broadcasts mainly in the capital Budapest, NMHH said. Klubradio -- whose news and talk content is often critical of Prime Minister Viktor Orban's right-wing government -- had to fight a series of legal battles to stay on air soon after he came to power in 2010. For several years, it operated on rolling short-term licences, which the station said made attracting advertisers difficult. The powerful NMHH, whose heads are close to Orban's ruling Fidesz party, insists it is not politically driven. The latest decision stoked growing concern about political pressure on independent media. "Another day, another serious blow to media pluralism in Hungary," said opposition politician Katalin Cseh on Twitter. In recent years most independent outlets have either gone out of business or been bought by government allies while receiving lucrative flows of state advertising. State media meanwhile, have been turned into a government propaganda organ. Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders dropped Hungary 16 points in its 2020 World Press Freedom Index to 89th place. pmu/jsk/bp
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