Exactly ten years after it was shut down, the online edition of Népszabadság, a former popular daily, was relaunched on Thursday, with the weekly print edition set to reach readers a week later, its editor-in-chief has said.
The publisher’s management announced the relaunch of the news outlet on 24 September. According to the announcement, the publication’s website, nszo.hu, will cover Hungarian and international public life and the major current affairs of society and the economy, with background pieces, analyses, reports and interviews.
A weekly print edition will follow the week’s most important topics and events, while the daily Népszava will also be part of the media group, with its content appearing in Népszabadság’s weekly edition in future.
According to the statement, the relaunched Népszabadság is published by Liberty Press, which also holds the publishing rights to Jelen and Népszava. Fully, 90 percent of the company is held by 4Sight Media Group, currently being registered, and 10 percent by Ákos Tóth, Népszabadság’s editor-in-chief. The group, founded by four Hungarian private individuals, is providing sufficient funds at launch for two years of operation.
Read Daily News Hungary’s article published on the day of the suspension of Népszabadság: Publisher of daily Népszabadság suspends paper’s operations
Tóth told MTI after the announcement of the relaunch that the paper’s motto is: “It changes with the world.” The editorial team is built largely on Népszava’s staff, which has taken on many former Népszabadság journalists, he said. Nepszava’s existing website will be restructured in the coming weeks, Tóth added.
In 2014, Austrian businessman Heinrich Pecina bought part of Ringier and Axel Springer’s Hungarian interests, including Népszabadság, and created Mediaworks Hungary.
On October 8, 2016, Népszabadság’s journalists were preparing to move offices when the paper’s owner, Mediaworks, abruptly suspended publication and switched off its website. That same month Mediaworks was bought by Opimus Press, part of the business empire of Lőrinc Mészáros, who had close ties to the former prime minister.
Mészáros said at the time that he had nothing to do with the media group’s purchase. Pecina wound up his Hungarian media interests within months. Several proceedings were launched against him in Austria, and he was eventually handed a legally binding suspended prison sentence and a fine for embezzlement and fraud in connection with a banking scandal.
If you missed it: Hungary’s oldest daily fights for survival after Fidesz-close Mediaworks halts printing and distribution of Népszava
