State secretary Kovács: Hungarian government policy not influenced by Western media
Hungarian government policy is not influenced by what is said about it in the Western media, the state secretary for international communication and relations told a conference on Thursday.
The “media attacking Hungary” aim to “completely stymie and quarantine the government that has won four consecutive two-thirds majorities,” Zoltán Kovács told the Nezopont Institute’s event on Hungary’s image in the international media. Kovács said there had been “no chance to change this narrative” over the last 14 years, arguing that “the other side … has no interest in such a dialogue”.
The state secretary said Hungarian politics and the Hungarian narrative “rest on reality”.
He said the government aimed to pursue policies based on national interests even if its decisions did not align with what other countries or those working at European institutions thought.
Kovács said it was unlikely that there would be fewer conflicts between Hungary and the Western media in the future, mainly because of Hungary’s pro-peace position on the war in Ukraine, the European Parliament election campaign and Hungary’s upcoming European Union presidency.
Bank Levente Boros, the Nezopont Institute’s director for political analysis, said that according to a study analysing 19,153 mentions of Hungary in 100 politically relevant media platforms of 18 countries, Hungary has been getting more and more media attention in recent years.
He attributed this to Hungary’s pro-peace stance on the Russia-Ukraine war, adding that increasingly often, a neutral perception of Hungary tended to become either positive or negative. In the Anglosphere in particular, news stories about Hungary now tended to be more critical in tone compared with a more neutral view in the past, while most Russian news stories now tended to mention Hungary in a positive context.
Boros said the number of positive pieces written about Hungary had increased slightly in French, Spanish, English and Italian-speaking territories, while the number of Polish-language pieces with a positive tone had decreased last year.
In a panel discussion about perceptions of Hungary in the Western media, German journalist Georg Gafron said there were more critical opinions of Hungary than positive ones. He said journalists should present reality instead of being “propagandists” or “philosophers”, adding that four-fifths of German reporters covered the news from the perspective of the Greens and the Social Democrats.
As regards Hungary’s pro-peace stance on Ukraine, Gafron said more than two-thirds of Germans were in favour of supporting Ukraine and “very afraid of the Russians”, which was why it was harder for them to understand Hungary’s position.
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Any government which has won “four consecutive two-thirds majorities” by definition does not exist in a democratic country. A country that does not have a strong opposition that can put out its’ message on a daily basis in the national media is not a democratic country. In democracies there is always a strong opposition that exists a constant alternative government waiting in the wings. This has not existed for years. Hungary is a one party state. An historical example would be the PRI which controlled Mexico for 71 years from 1929 to 2000. Mexico was a sham democracy just as Hungary is now.
A rule of thumb would be that the best before date for any government is about eight years. In the US no president can stay in power for longer than that period (two terms). The framers of the constitution were wise to realize that this term limit would act to prevent a dictator from staying in power as has happened in Hungary. Once any government gets a second majority term in virtually every case it will become corrupt. Minority governments are the best at holding any government to account for its’ actions. If it acts corruptly the opposition will force a confidence vote and trigger an election giving voters the chance to decide. If the opposition is seen to use this confidence vote without adequate reason the public will react against the opposition in an election. In the vast majority of cases minority governments work well or even best. There are a couple of exceptions and that would be periods of chaotic government in Israel and Italy. Hungary is not a democracy and has become incredibly corrupted with the government blocking opposition from any exposure in the national media. Marki-Zay had 10 minutes on national television in the last election and there is never any televised leaders’ debate for dictator Orban to be subject to questioning by an opponent.
Larry, there could be another 5 or 6 more FIDESZ governments. If the government serves the interests of the people that government will be reelected. Socialists Gyurcsanyi sold all Hungarian companies; rumor goes that he and his cronies kept the cash. Communist dictatorship was totally unacceptable, like all dictatorships. The population prefers a Christian conservative government.
Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau held that position for 15 years, he was elected more than 4 times. Canada was never considered a dictatorship nor was Canadian election results ever challenged. The Canadian voters preferred his radical middle-of the road policies and this was supported by election after election. Change for the sake of change is “Silly”.