At an editorial meeting of the Hungarian investigative media outlet Atlatszo on February 10, journalists discussed ways to raise funds after their grants from the USAID intermediary were suspended due to US President Donald Trump's efforts to close the agency, Reuters reports.
"Without these funds it would be very difficult to maintain independent media here (in Hungary)," Atlatszo's editor-in-chief Tamás Bodóki told Reuters, adding that they would try to find new donors and increase funding through crowdfunding.
Atlatszo, a non-profit media outlet founded in 2011, has published numerous investigations into corruption, Hungarian oligarchs close to the government, and the spending of EU funds, among other things. Bodoky said that USAID indirectly funded about 10-15% of their budget in 2023 and 2024.
Trump's decision - first to freeze most of the funds paid to USAID for 90 days and to send most staff on forced leave, and then to ask billionaire Elon Musk to cut the agency - has caused chaos for NGOs and humanitarian projects around the world.
While the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) distributes billions of dollars in humanitarian assistance, it is also involved in numerous other projects, including those aimed at strengthening civil society and democracy around the world.
USAID launched new programs in Central Europe in late 2022, supporting local initiatives to strengthen democratic institutions and independent media – much to the dismay of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, an ally of Donald Trump, who supported his moves against the agency.
While the fate of many USAID programs remains uncertain, the Trump administration has signaled that it does not consider support for journalism in countries where human rights groups say press freedom is under threat a good use of American taxpayer money.
"The American radical left is using American taxpayer money to fund radical-left political parties and media outlets around the world," Musk wrote on X.com on January 29. Both Musk and Trump have labeled USAID as "corrupt," without offering any evidence.
Trump's moves against USAID prompted Orban to declare on February 7 that he wanted to eliminate all "foreign networks" of NGOs and media outlets critical of his rule, raising fears that this would embolden him, like other illiberal governments, to increase pressure on media outlets they consider hostile.
"Money from abroad must not influence Hungarian politics, and we will enforce this legally, and those who are complicit will face legal consequences," said Orban, who faces a challenging election in 2026 as the country's economy falters.
Orban has transformed Hungary's media landscape over the past 14 years. State-owned media outlets have been placed under full government control, and several private media outlets have been closed or taken over by owners sympathetic to the government.
Strict control of the media has helped Orban win convincing victories in the previous three election races.
FREEDOM OF THE MEDIA
In 2024, Hungary ranked 67th on the World Press Freedom Index, up from 2010rd in 23, when Orban came to power. Its current position is significantly worse than that of Poland or the Czech Republic.
Georgia and Bosnia – two Eastern European countries hit hard by Trump’s efforts to shut down USAID – ranked 103rd and 81st on the press freedom list last year.
The Sarajevo-based Umbrella Association, which brings together 13 non-profit media outlets dedicated to investigative journalism in the Balkans, is one of the organizations waiting to find out whether USAID donations will continue after Trump's 90-day funding freeze.
"If American donations to the media in Bosnia and Herzegovina were permanently suspended, some of them would be forced to reduce the scope of their work... which would mean fewer serious stories about corruption, organized crime and abuse of power," said Umbrella director Milica Samardžić.
Paulina Milewska, a researcher at the European University Institute in Warsaw, also warned that media outlets that lose USAID funding could be forced to reduce in-depth analysis and investigative stories.
Although the US government has long funded media organizations around the world, Eastern Europe has always been a key region, dating back to the Cold War, when the CIA helped establish media outlets with the aim of influencing public opinion against communism.
On February 9, Musk called for the closure of Radio Free Europe (RFE) – which has been funded by the US budget independently of USAID since 1950 – saying it was a “relic of the past.” In an emailed response to Reuters, RFE declined to comment.
Following the freezing of USAID funds, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) called on European institutions and foundations to mobilize in support of media pluralism and independent journalism, stating that Trump's move will cause "chaos in the media ecosystem of more than 30 countries around the world, including many European countries."
Among them is Georgia, where tens of thousands of people have been protesting for months against a government they see as pro-Russian and authoritarian, and which has suspended negotiations to join the European Union.
Among the media outlets affected by Trump's decision is the English portal "OC-Media", which lost funding for three projects supported by USAID.
"Without independent journalism, there will be no one to hold the government accountable," said its co-founder Dominik Cagara.
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