In a recent press conference, the CÖF-CÖKA presented facts on the basis of which the question was rightly raised whether Átlátszó can continue the so-called investigative work. As a result, we sent a data request to Átlátszó, in which we asked the organization to state, for example, whether Átlátszó has ever observed or conducted investigative work against Hungarian organizations from a foreign source, or whether the right to privacy of a Hungarian citizen may have been violated by the Investigative work financed by transparent foreign money.
The NGO sent its answers to our inquiry today. It says that it is
"Transparent does not monitor anyone and does not conduct investigative work against Hungarian organizations" , but at the same time they admit that "their aim is to publicize violations of economic or political actors", which in turn generates further requests, since it is not clear on what basis Átlátszó classifies anything as a violation of law , when he does not have such authority.
They state that "Az Átlátszó does not report on anyone's private life" , but in the same sentence they write that "unless there is a compelling public interest." Here we have more questions, since in our opinion, the classification of the trace as something of public interest is not the business of a civil organization.
The statement "Our partners are journalistic organizations, they publish the information they receive from us publicly like us" is quoted here only because they support the kind of network nature that we regularly talk about.
At the same time, they end their response by saying that they plan to continue their investigative work in 2024, "part of our operating costs will be covered by international grants and tenders this year as well".
Based on all of this, the CÖF-CÖKA assesses that Átlátzzó did not substantively refute what we presented, and even generated additional questions with their answers. Based on this, we believe that the work of our fact-finding working group is important and necessary from the point of view of Hungarian interests.
Management of CÖF-CÖKA
Photo: civilek.info
