I think you're playing a bit of a semantics game here. Obviously media, NGOs and academia can be detrimental to democracy. So can elections or the judiciary too

I think you're playing a bit of a semantics game here. Obviously media, NGOs and academia can be detrimental to democracy. So can elections or the judiciary too (e.g. Hitler's rise to chancellor of Germany was legal and Democratic). When one calls these institutions Democratic it's because they do represent opposition and thus a control mechanism. This does not mean that they're infallible or act for the good of society by definition but if they do not exist the government operates - de facto - in a completely uncontrolled framework. Unsurprisingly this is why many governments do try to dismantle these institutions in the first place. >[..] but that Hungary and other countries are the subject of foreign imperialist ideological bullying is not an open question as far as I am concerned. I agree that this is worthy of a discussion however I don't think this is the topic in question at all.