Not surprisingly, only a quarter of Hungarians trust the state news services
A recent survey has unearthed startling insights into how Hungarians stay informed about events in their country and the world. Notably, Hungary’s media consumption diverges significantly from other European nations. A mere quarter of the population places trust in state news services, a markedly lower figure compared to other EU countries.
Trust in state news services
As Népszava reported, in Europe, 48% of citizens trust the state news services over other sources. However, this number is much lower in Hungary, only 25%. This percentage makes Hungary the country with the least people trusting the state news on the list of 27 EU countries. Even Poland is ahead of Hungary, with its 26%. Greece and Malta also ranked the lowest with their 39%. Conversely, Finland (71%), Portugal (65%), and Sweden (63%) lead the chart with the highest levels of trust.
Saying goodbye to traditional news sources
While in the other countries, the state news services are considered the most trustworthy source, it is not the case in Hungary. As it appears, Hungary is turning away from the national news sources. Many people get informed through social media, friends, groups, blogs and podcasts. In Hungary, Facebook has a sky-high number of users that get up to date on the social media platform. 83% of Hungarians confessed that they have used the app in the last seven days. WhatsApp is highly popular in EU countries, as 62% of people use it. Surprisingly, in Hungary, only 13% use this app.
What topics interest Hungarians?
The survey delved into the topics that capture Hungarians’ attention the most: local, European, sport, culture or science. A significant 44% of Hungarians prioritise European news, diverging from the European norm where most citizens prefer local news. While 70% of Europeans follow the news daily, a higher 15% of Hungarians consciously avoid certain topics. Unfortunately, the survey did not explore the specifics of disliked topics.
The most popular TV channels in Hungary
62% of people follow ATV’s news, while 56% watch the daily news on RTL. The survey revealed that only 31% gather information from state-operated television programmes. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the majority of those tuning into these programmes align with the governing party, with around 60% supporting Fidesz. Opposition voters, constituting 63%, gravitate towards RTL’s news, known for its critical stance on the government. Additionally, four out of ten governing party voters also engage with government-critical programmes.
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6 Comments
This survey is a ray of light in the dark world of overwhelming media control and propaganda that Fidesz has imposed on Hungarians. ATV having the highest rating is interesting because it is the least Fidesz aligned channel being neutral to at times critical of the government. I would not be surprised if Fidesz at some point uses its’ mafia methods to put ATV out of business. Unilingual Hungarians live in a world where 90% of available information is pumped through a very tightly controlled Fidesz filter. Those who are fluent in other languages can at least obtain information from outside this Fidesz controlled prison. The lack of trust by Hungarians also reflects a dissatisfaction with the Fidesz government. People are clueing into the fact that they are being deceived by Orban.
Control of the media, by the Orban Government.
Known FACT.
Manipulated and censored that if breaches are made, the media outlet will be “scorned and battered”.
Media Control by a Government, is not part of Democracy.
Why would millions of Hungarians want to read, listen and view media coverage that is INTERFERED with – altered in Factuality of events, that “veils” or covers up, the TRUTH being exposed exhibited to Hungary.
The Orban Government, over 14 plus years just not in-side Hungary, but Europe and Globally, inclusive of the European Union, they are known for there wrongful practice, not in line with Democracy of Media Control.
Propaganda & Media Control, the “flooding” of Propaganda that we live with in Hungary, has far greater impact, through the Governments Control over the media, which is WRONGFUL.
In anderen Ländern ist es nicht anders, dass Medien manipuliert werden. Es wird halt nicht so offen gezeigt.
Deutschland ist ein gutes Beispiel dafür, das Massenmanipulation funktioniert.
Manche Ungarn kommen mir vor wie damals die Ossis in Deutschland. Wollen unbedingt zu den “Wessis” gehören bis es soweit war. Dann merkten sie, dass es gar nicht so schlecht war was sie hatten aber rückwärts ging es nicht mehr. Nur noch bergab.
Ungarische Bürger sollten sich überlegen ob sie auch die Richtung “down” einschlagen wollen.
The worrying thing is that people see Facebook and a number of other outlets as “news”, whereas it is often opinion rather than news, with another issue being fact checking (or making sure the data actually holds up). I happen to like data and facts, and notice that many outlets, state influenced or otherwise, are more than happy to just rebroadcast indiscriminately.
Also, attention spans are limited, the titles are more clickbait than anything else… Cannot get my folks to focus on reading a text longer than 2 pages, ideally with some catchy pictures or graphs without much detail. This means any report needs a very robust “executive summary”, notwithstanding all the detail, nuance, etc. are laid out in the 30-300 pages of actual facts, research, explanation, and the like. Videos cannot be longer than 2 – 6 minutes, 8 minutes is considered excessive, somehow. Very unfortunate.
The 25% who don’t trust government-sponsored news are most likely those who, like their foreign woke counterparts, vote left. Western mainstream media lie about the government’s control of media when there are at least two dozen including RTL and other foreign-owned news outlets spewing fake news on a daily basis.
Fortunately, the majority of Magyars support their government as witnessed by the supermajority mandate achieved by Fidesz in the last few elections. The weak and scattered opposition has its share of useful idiots and Orbán has the envy of every politician: the majority support of his people.
“The 25% who don’t trust government-sponsored news”
Not much of a reader, are you? Only 25% trust Fidesz-sourced news.