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The Hungarian who will shape Europe in 2019

According to the American political journal Politico, Márta Pardavi, the biggest “enemy” of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, will “shape, shake and stir Europe” in 2019. She is Disruptor #7 on their list of the 28 most influential people in the European political scene.

Every year, Politico compiles a list of 28 people who will shape, shake and stir Europe the following year. This year’s list, the Politico 28 Class of 2019, features one influential Hungarian: Márta Pardavi.

This year, they also ranked the people in three different categories: doers, dreamers and disruptors. The 28 people were chosen from 28 countries. On the list, we can find politicians, activists, artists and businessmen and businesswomen alike.

The only Hungarian on the 2019 list is Márta Pardavi, who was chosen as Disruptor #7 on the list.

Márta Pardavi is the co-chair of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, which provides legal assistance to asylum seekers and Hungarian citizens in prison or pre-trial detention, who claim to have lost their jobs due to their critical views of the Orbán government.

Pardavi said that their organisation was the only one that “spoke up for refugee protection” in Hungary.

[button link=”https://dailynewshungary.com/unhcr-life-civil-organisations-made-difficult-hungary/” type=”big” color=”lightblue” newwindow=”yes”] UNHCR: Life of civil organisations made difficult in Hungary[/button]

She leads the organisation’s work in the field of refugee protection. She also serves on the board of PILnet Hungary Foundation and Verzio International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival. She was also a member of the board, and later vice-chair, of the European Council on Refugees and Exiles in 2003-2011.

Politico calls Pardavi “one of the Hungarian government’s most prominent critics — and one of its primary targets.”

Which is not an exaggeration at all. Pardavi said that their organisation receives many hateful phone calls, and staff members’ names have appeared on an “enemies list” in a government-controlled magazine.

[button link=”https://dailynewshungary.com/orban-and-governments-huge-media-unites-as-one/” type=”big” color=”black” newwindow=”yes”] Orbán and government’s huge media empire unites as one[/button]

It is not the first time that a Hungarian name is featured on Politico’s list of the most influential people in European politics.

Viktor Orbán (in 2016), Lajos Simicska (in 2018) and György Soros (in 2017) have all been featured on the list in different years.

The No. 1 on this year’s list is the Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Affairs; Matteo Salvini.

You can check out the complete list with all 28 people who will shape, shake and stir Europe next year here.

Featured image: www.helsinki.hu

December 5, 2018

Trump criticised because of Hungary!

A letter has been going around recently, criticising Donald Trump’s stance towards Hungary – reports index.hu. 22 Democrats have signed the letter, and its main point of criticism is that the sum of 700 000 dollars dedicated to supporting Hungarian independent journalism was withdrawn back in July.

The letter addressed to the U.S. Department of State’s department of European and Eurasian Affairs was penned by Marcy Kaptur, leader of the Hungarian Caucus. The primary question raised in the letter inquires as to why the US government decided to withdraw the designated support.

They also note that Hungarian independent journalism is becoming more and more suppressed, while the Hungarian government uses public funds to finance media outlets that report news by sources like Russia Today or Sputnik, widely known as mouthpieces of the Russian government.

According to Politico, Marcy Kaptur said in a statement that

“Independent media in Hungary has come under fire from the government. Media consolidated in the hands of a few is a weapon against liberty.”

The 22 Democrats who signed the letter believe that independent journalism in Hungary is under severe threat, so the US should take some measures. Both the U.S. Department of State and the Hungarian embassy in Washington were asked to comment on the issue but both declined to answer any questions.

The spokesperson of the Department of State defended their silence by stating that “We do not comment on congressional correspondence. We respond to congressional inquiries through appropriate channels.”

Back in August David Cornstein,

the new U.S. ambassador in Budapest, stated that he has not experienced any signs of infringements on freedom in Hungary so far.

However, he said that if he noticed anything, he would speak out.

US VALUES HUNGARIAN POLICIES, SAYS ORBÁN CABINET

As we wrote today, the Hungarian government’s policies are increasingly understood and appreciated in the United States, Zoltán Kovács, the government spokesman, said at the end of a four-day official visit that included discussions at think-tanks and media outlets, read more HERE.

For more news, check out this article about an American journalist’s opinion on Hungary.

Featured image: MTI/EPA/Shawn Thew

October 12, 2018

Guardian: breach in Hungarian media & press freedom due to government take-over

According to the prestigious online magazine, The Guardian, Hungarian media landscape is at least concerning under Viktor Orbán’s illiberal regime. After the fall of Lajos Simicska, who had some control over the media, no single person can stop Orbán.

Viktor Orbán is in power in his third term, just a few months after the presidential elections in April. Currently, the government is busy with the alleged ‘Soros plan’ of the EU, migration quotas, and also with the re-establishment of the Hungarian media landscape.

Long way down?

The Guardian writes about the good friendship between Simicska and Orbán that started to deteriorate in 2015 when the businessman turned on the prime minister in a dramatic public dispute. Although formerly they settled the media empire and Fidesz-business connections together, later Simicska became one of Orbán’s biggest and most feared enemies.

“Without Simicska, Orbán would never have become prime minister and without Orbán, Simicska would never have become a billionaire,” wrote Orbán’s biographer Paul Lendvai.”

As the Guardian reports, one can only guess why the two friends started to diverge: some argue that Simicska was too critical of the PM’s continuous approach to Vladimir Putin, while others claim that the counteract was the result of a banal dispute over the shares of the gained assets.

Nevertheless, one thing became certain: that Simicska is the opposition’s best hope against Orbán. Before the 2018 presidential elections, it seemed almost sure that Lajos Simicska, the former friend of Viktor Orbán would drop the ‘atomic bomb’ that liberal Hungarian voters have been longing for.

However, this moment never came, and Orbán could continue the cultural and political reform that he started during his second term in office.

What happens now?

The media empire temporarily taken over by Simicska has been divided and parcelled out. According to a close associate of Simicska, the businessman had no other choice but selling the media outlets. The first breach in Hungarian media freedom was the fall of the newspaper Magyar Nemzet. Secondly, Lánchíd radio station closed, followed by Heti Válasz. The third, and – by now – last measure was the redeeming of Hír TV, a formerly conservative-leaning, but lately Fidesz-critical TV station.

The take-over was quite dramatic and swift as the names of the people to be fired were announced on a piece of a read-out-list, including Olga Kálmán, presenter and editor of a news discussion show.

This was followed by the repeated play of a recent Orbán speech without any intermittence, as a show of power, as suggested by Balázs Láng, the producer.

And what might be the future?

The Guardian suggests that worrying tendencies are taking place in Hungary. The article does not fail to remind readers that Orbán won the elections with his plan to build a new era in forming collective beliefs and new social customs. Following the elections, the OSCE Election Observation Mission for Hungary and Al Jazeera have also been concerned about the current status of media and press freedom in Hungary.

The newspaper claims that besides the take-over of the media, another sign of the populist, traditionalist government is the recent ban on gender studies in Hungary.

Featured image: MTI Photo, Veres Nándor.

August 16, 2018

The aftermath of the Hungarian election: The biggest opposition newspaper shuts down

According to 24.hu, two members of the media empire belonging to Lajos Simicska, Magyar Nemzet (mno.hu) and Lánchíd Radio, will be closed down this week.

The last issue of the historic Magyar Nemzet (Hungarian Nation) will be published tomorrow, while its online version will not be updated anymore, it will function as an archive. Lánchíd Rádió (Chain Bridge Radio) will be shut down at midnight.

The staff of the two mediums found out about the decision this morning.

Lajos Simicska, the former economic key figure of Fidesz turned against Viktor Orbán publicly on a day, referred to as G-day (G stands for a Hungarian swearword), in February 2015. In the past three years, he financed his oppositionist media empire from his private fortune that he acquired through Közgép.

Based on the information of 24.hu, HírTv will not be affected by the decision, the television channel will survive the post-election rationalisation with a cutback.

According to the most recent data, the number of issues sold of Magyar Nemzet was 13,608. This is approximately one-third of the sales produced around the G-day.

There is no public data available regarding the viewership of HírTv. However, 65 thousand people (over the age of 15) listened to Lánchíd Radio between October-December, 2017.

Based on the sources of 24.hu, Heti Válasz is set to become independent and look for a new investor.

It is also believed that an offer has been made for Magyar Nemzet, but negotiations have not started yet.

For that matter, the broadcasting permission of Lánchíd Radio obtained seven years ago would have expired at the end of this October.

Featured image: www.mno.hu

April 10, 2018

Hungarian people still obtain information from TV and advertising papers

As Index.hu states, Publicus Institution conveyed a survey on Sunday due to the assignment of Vasárnapi Hírek: in this representative survey, they asked 927 people of voting age about their media consumption habits.

Television is still the main source of news

People making up half of the sample obtain information mainly from television, while 36 percent from the internet. Radio and printed press are behind with 4 percent each. While two thirds of the people under 30 and graduates mostly obtain information from the internet, two thirds of people above 60 and those with only primary school studies obtain information from the TV.

Radio is mostly popular among people over 60 and skilled workers (7 and 6 percent), while printed press is the source of news for people over 60 and those with basic studies (9 and 6 percent). The difference is minimal between the supporters of different parties, but mostly voters of Jobbik (53 percent) obtain information from the internet, according to the survey.

There is a lack of balance

The respondents consider the MTVA channels, Echo TV and TV2 as obviously or rather transmitting Fidesz’s opinion (61, 60 and 42 percent), 444.hu as transmitting the left wing’s opinion (34 percent), while they see HVG.hu, Index and 24.hu as the most balanced sources of news (58, 54 and 52 percent).

A quarter of the respondents think that Origo reflects Fidesz’s opinion, one percent think that it is related to the left wing, while 43 percent think that it is balanced. In the case of Index, 7 percent think that it transmits Fidesz’s opinion, 17 percent think that it is connected to the left wing, while 54 percent think that it is balanced.

Concerning TV2, 42 percent think that it is related to Fidesz’s views, one percent think that it is close to the left wing, while quarter of the respondents think that it is balanced. In the case of RTL Klub, 13 percent think that it is rather related to Fidesz, 18 percent think that it is close to the left wing, while 35 percent consider it balanced.

In the case of Hír TV, 19 percent think that it is related to Fidesz, 14 percent think that it is related to the left wing, and 13 percent think that it transmits Jobbik’s views, while third of them think it is balanced. Concerning ATV, 7 percent connect it to Fidesz’s opinion, third of the respondents connect it to the left wing, while 44 percent consider it balanced

Young people do not care about different opinions

56 percent of the respondents obtain information from a medium connected to an opposing political view at least once a month, but only half of these do so regularly. Mostly MSZP voters are open for channels from a different point of view (61 percent), while Jobbik voters do so the least (53 percent).

There is an interesting phenomenon concerning the age groups: the younger generations are less open to different opinions.

Under 45 years, only 14-17 percent consume such content, while double of this do so over 45 years (28-30 percent).

Printed press? Advertisement papers!

Half of the respondents consume free printed press products, but only 34 percent read papers that deal with public issues. Two thirds of the consumers read advertisement sheets and local or municipal papers, half of them read advertising newspapers, a quarter of them read Lokál that is distributed in public transport intersections.

It is interesting that Lokál, which is part of the Habony press, is read mostly by MSZP voters (28 percent), while this rate is 22 and 24 percent among Fidesz voters and uncertain people, respectively. The popularity of local papers and Lokál is the highest in Budapest (73 and 53 percent), and it is the lowest in the settlements (47 and 9 percent).

Half of the consumers of free public issue papers consider the contents credible, and it is only Budapest where people who think that these papers are rather less credible are in slight majority (44 percent against 41 percent). People from the countryside consider these papers credible in a 71 percent rate, and only 15 percent of people from settlements have doubts about them.

Source: Index.hu

Ce: bm

May 25, 2017

The greatest media moguls of Hungary

They are the aces of the Hungarian media

Chairman of RTL became the most influential media personality again
Gabriella Vidus is the most influential Hungarian media personality.

According to Index.hu, RTL Hungary’s chairman Vidus Gabriella has been chosen as the most influential person in the Hungarian media industry for the third time in a row in Marketing&Média’s top list, which was concluded the tenth time this year. The owner of TV2 Group Andy Vajna kept his second place, while a new person arrived in the third place. Lőrinc Mészáros, who is the fifth richest person in Hungary and the mayor of Felcsút, debuted at the third place as the owner of Mediaworks Hungary and Echo TV.

Árpád Habony fell back to 11^th place after being third last year. Leader of New Wave Media István Száraz, who purchased Origo, got the 33^rdplace, while the new owner of Figyelő Mária Schmidt became 46^th.

The list with 50 members was compiled by a jury of experts. As in the years before, RTL Klub’s dominance was significant, four personalities represent the commercial channel altoghether. Atmedia’s influence is also great: this is the company that commerces the advertising time of TV2 and MTVA’s channels.

About half of the list consists of top managers, another 30 percent are leading experts, and 14 percent are owners. Marketing&Média also notes that the influence of people who create content has decreased this year, and it is marked by the fact that only leader of Index Gergely Dudás made it to the Top 50, though editor in chief of Bors (Ferenc Pallagi) and 444 (Péter Uj) were also among the most influential personalities last year.

It was also revealed concerning the 10 year jubilee that Gabriella Vidus, József Bayer, Péter Kolosi, Zsolt Somlói, Béla Németh and Levente Málnay B. have been the most influential during the past 10 years, as they ranked on all the lists so far.

They are this year’s Top 10:

Gabriella Vidus (RTL Hungary)
Andy Vajna (TV2 Media Group)
Lőrinc Mészáros (Mediaworks Hungary, Echo Tv)
Zoltán Varga (Central Media Group)
Péter Kolosi (RTL Hungary)
Dirk Gerkens (TV2 Media Group)
Christopher Mattheisen (Telekom Hungary)
Csaba Lukács (Atmedia)
Dr József Bayer (Ringier Axel Springer)
János Gulyás (MEC Hungary)

Photo: RTL Klub

Ce: bm

May 8, 2017

2/3 of Hungarians think that the freedom of the press is very limited

The Publicus Institution conducted a survey on the commission of Vasárnapi Hírek between the 11^th and 13^th of October, in which they analysed people’s attitude towards the freedom of the press and the suspension of Népszabadság. They asked 1000 people in the representative opinion poll. It turned out that the majority of Hungarians question the freedom of the press in the country.

The majority of respondents believe that the press is not independent from the government in Hungary, while 9 out of 10 people believe that this is an important value. 85% of Hungarians heard about the suspension of Népszabadság, but only 1/3 knew that it is now under the influence of an enterprise close to Fidesz. Almost every second respondent read the printed or online form of Népszabadság more or less frequently.

Most respondents think that the reason behind the suspension is that the newspaper criticised the government and the politicians of the governing party, and that Fidesz limits the Hungarian freedom of the press. 2/3 believes that currently Fidesz has the biggest influence on the operation of the media and almost this many think that the governing party has a great influence on the press as a whole. Almost 2/3 of the pollees believe that the freedom of the press is very limited in Hungary, and that public service media broadcasts one-sidedly.

The majority of the respondents believes that the press is not independent from the government in today’s Hungary. On a scale from 1 to 5, the domestic situation of the freedom of the press got 2.7 points, which belongs to the “not free” category. Mostly MSZP voters find that the press is not free, nor independent: the average of the points they gave was 2.1. On the other hand, only Fidesz voters find the press freer: the average of their points is 3.4.

Meanwhile, 9 of 10 respondents (87%) think that the press should be free and independent from the government. All social classes think the same way about this question.

85% of Hungarians heard about the suspension of Népszabadság, but only 1/3 knew that it is now under the influence of an enterprise close to Fidesz. Almost every second respondent (43%) read the printed or online form of Népszabadság more or less frequently. The printed version was mostly read by MSZP voters, people over 60, and professional classes. The online version was read by MSZP and Jobbik voters, people under 45, and people with a diploma or high school diploma.

Most respondents think that the reason behind the suspension is that the newspaper criticised the government and the politicians of the governing party (29%), and that Fidesz limits the freedom of the press (23%). 2 out of 10 (22%) listed loss-making as a reason.

However, the latter reasoning was only notable among Fidesz voters (37%), the MSZP, Jobbik and indeterminate voters all believe that the main reason behind the suspension is that the paper had a critical approach towards the government, its party, and its members (53%, 35% and 28%). Except for Fidesz voters, every surveyed social class thinks that the second most important reason behind the suspension is the limitation of the freedom of the press (between 22% and 28%).

2/3 believes that it is currently Fidesz that has the biggest influence on the operation of the media, and only 2% believe that it is the left-wing that has. All surveyed social classes think similarly about this matter. The voters for Jobbik and MSZP find Fidesz’s influence the biggest (77% and 72%), while it is the MSZP and Fidesz voters who find MSZP’s influence the biggest (8% and 5%).

Almost this many (59%) think that the governing party has a greater influence on the press as a whole now than at the time of the MSZP governments (16%). MSZP voters are quite sure about this (75% against 20%), but, surprisingly, Fidesz voters think similarly (46% against 25%).

Almost 2/3 of the respondents (59%) believe that the freedom of the press is very limited in Hungary, and that public service media broadcasts one-sidedly. They think similarly in the case of news resources reaching the most people (58%).

The slight majority of Fidesz voters agree and find that the freedom of the press is very limited in the public service media (45% against 43%), while the overwhelming majority of MSZP, Jobbik and indeterminate voters (70%, 69% and 60%) are on this view, as well.

Copy editor: bm

October 20, 2016

Charlie Hebdo: “Hatred makes Hungarians happy”

Charlie Hebdo, the French satirical magazine known for its disrespectful, outrageous caricatures is now mocking at Hungary. According to pestisracok.hu, the magazine, which recently made fun of the victims of the Italian earthquake, focuses on Trianon, gypsies, immigration, the government and our relation with our neighbours. The caricature also suggests that we think that everyone in the world wants to kill us while we’re sleeping and that hatred makes Hungarians happy.

Gáspár Miklós Tamás primarily focuses on the topic of Trianon in the report-like article. The smoking philosopher wearing suspenders says in the cartoon-like writing that the detachment of our territories is the biggest tragedy of the Hungarian nation, thus being the symbol of hatred, which gives us a handle to hate the north, east, south, west, USA, EU, orthodox, immigrants and even the Russians.

They also write that we think that everyone in the world wants to kill us while we’re sleeping and that hatred makes Hungarians happy. The philosopher also talks about how surprised he was at the anti-democratic approach of the right-wing and he recalls an old argument, in which he was called a cosmopolite.

Government spokesman Zoltán Kovács is also depicted in the caricature and he talks about how the government doesn’t want to generate arguments, but it will protect the country even if it causes trouble. Naturally immigrants are also mentioned here along with the border barrier and they compare Viktor Orbán to Nicolas Sarkozy.

They also touch on the subject of the referendum, the constitutional amendment and the opportunity of cooperating with neighbouring countries. Slomó Köves talks about gypsies and the expansion of the right-wing: the orthodox rabbi calls the expression “gypsy crime” the creation of extremists and states that it happens due to misery and hopelessness, in which the biggest minority of Hungary lives. He says that there’s no similar condemnation in connection with Jews yet, but if extremist views gather ground, this will change.

Gergely Kovács, the founder of the Hungarian Two-tailed Dog Party, talks about Donald Trump and says that he could only take the Republican presidential candidate seriously as a comedian. It’s not clear why the notorious magazine started mocking at Hungary now, but one thing is for sure: if they insulted everyone only this much, then half of the world probably wouldn’t be angry at them.

Photos: www.pestisracok.hu

Copy editor: bm

October 14, 2016

A Hungarian article in New York Times?

Mno.hu writes that a Hungarian article was published on The New York Times’ website on the 12th of October. The article is titled A Holokauszt túlélők szükségletei egyre nőnek, a segítség azonban kevés (The needs of Holocaust survivors are growing, but the support is not enough).

The Budapest report written by Melissa Edy, with the photos of Ákos Stiller, was originally published in English on the 18th of September, while its Hungarian version was published in the leftist-liberal New York Times four days after the close-down of Népszabadság.

It’s quite interesting that the Hungarian version can be found on the Europe sub-page among solely English articles. Moreover, the report was even posted on New York Times’ official Facebook page.

Besides the English section, the American newspaper has a Spanish and Chinese section, the latter was started in the June of 2012. Even the experienced colleagues of mno.hu dealing with foreign affairs can’t recall anything similar, namely a NYT article published in Hungarian.

This is why mno.hu asked the editorial office of the American medium to find out whether this is a unique case, a signal, or, possibly, a new trend. The Hungarian portal promises to return to the phenomenon as soon as they get an answer.

Photo: www.mno.hu

Copy editor: bm

October 13, 2016

What the international press writes about the outcome of the referendum

Several illustrious media of the international press expressed their opinions on the result of the Hungarian referendum on migrant quotas. Most articles emphasized Viktor Orbán’s failure and some even reported on the events among the leading articles. Index.hu collected some of them.

Guardian: Hungary’s refugee referendum not valid after voters stay away – “Orbán himself put a positive spin on the low turnout. He argued that while “a valid [referendum] is always better than an invalid [referendum]” the extremely high proportion of no-voters still gave him a mandate to go to Brussels next week “to ensure that we should not be forced to accept people we don’t want to live with in Hungary.”

BBC: Hungary PM claims EU migrant quota referendum victory – “Mr Orbán urged EU decision makers to take note of the result and said he would change Hungary’s constitution to make the decision binding.”

Telegraph: Hungary referendum: 98 per cent of voters say ‘no’ to EU migrant quotas – “Hungary has voted emphatically against accepting EU migrant quotas, exit polls suggest, in a cry of defiance against Brussels that is likely to cement the country’s status as the leader of a “counter-revolution” against the bloc’s central powers.”

CNN: Hungary voters reject EU migrant-resettlement plan, but low turnout invalidates results – “This is a piece of international PR,” said John Dalhuisen, the Europe director for Amnesty International. “This is international marketing. He’s selling himself as the ideologue of a radically different migration policy. You’d characterize (German Chancellor Angela) Merkel as being ‘let them come’ — he’s saying the solution to the refugee crisis, to the migration issues in Europe, is ‘let no one come.'”

Franfurter Allgemeine Zeitung: Ungarn verweigern Abstimmung über Flüchtlingsquoten – Orbán’s invalid referendum on migrant quotas is a failure according to FAZ online. The Hungarian government started an unexampled campaign to mobilise voters, in which they connected the topic with criminalism and terrorism. From this point of view, the invalidity of the referendum means a sensitive loss for Orbán.

Spiegel: Orbán scheitert mit Referendum über Flüchtlingsquote – Hungary’s much debated referendum on migrant quotas ended up being invalid. The referendum was initialised by the right wing-conservative government. The long anti-strangers campaign and the assaults against the leaders of EU and Germany predestined the definite win of the referendum.

Le Monde: The referendum on migrant quotas ended with the win of “no”-s, but it turned out to be invalid because Viktor Orbán didn’t manage to mobilise enough people. Despite this, Orbán talked about “a great success”, while Jobbik asked him to resign.

Le Figaro: The referendum is invalid despite the win of “no”-s. 99,2% were against the quotas, but only 39,8% of the entitled voted, which makes the result invalid. However Viktor Orbán only paid respect to the first number. From an internal political view they believe that the weight of “no”-s could help Orbán along the way to the 2018 elections.

Le Point: The referendum on migrant quotas failed due to the non-appearances.

La Libre Belgique: The Belgian paper believes that despite the referendum being invalid Orbán is going to start a counter-attack.

Le Soir: There wasn’t enough voters to make the referendum valid but the majority of attendants were against the solutions suggested by EU.

Tanjug: The Serbian news agency reported on the Hungarian referendum among the leading articles. They dealt with Orbán’s evaluation separately and highlighted the change of the constitution.

RTS: The Serbian civil service radio and television reported on Hungary in a quite illustrious spot and emphasized the invalidity of the referendum.

Photo: MTI

Copy editor: bm

October 3, 2016

“Why did Hungarians become such Orbáns?”

According to mno.hu, two German newspapers published articles about Hungary in connection with the October 2 referendum on migrant quotas. The two papers, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (FAS) and the Bild am Sonntag, are quite popular opinion leaders in Germany.

In FAS’s They already know the answer article the author, Stephan Löwenstein emphasized: Hungary is having a referendum on migrant quotas but the “result is certain” so the question of the reason behind the referendum arises.

In the report, where he asked the opinions of analysts and dwellers of Harsány and Lyukóvölgy, government spokesperson Zoltán Kovács said that according to the predictions of the government, the migrational pressure will strengthen from Syria and Turkey, therefore the referendum will help the government’s work politically and legally.

The author noted that there’s a “cliff, which could wreck the proposition” and this is the participation rate, which is currently predicted to be somewhat under the level needed for validity. However, analysts reckon a “final spurt” in the “Fidesz campaign”.

We seclude ourselves

The German Bild am Sonntag, a countrywide Sunday paper of the biggest circulation, published a compilation titled Why did Hungarians become such Orbáns? in their Travel around Europe report series. The author highlighted that the article presents a country, which “secludes itself from strangers”.

He added: when Germans think about Hungarians, the first thing that comes to their minds is the 1989 border opening and that the German constitution is the base of the “operative Hungarian constitution since 1989”. But they also remember last year’s photos of refugees at Keleti railway station and that Hungarians protect the Serbian and Croatian border with barbed-wire fences to keep refugees away.

The author asked – among others – a 22-year-old student who thinks that the referendum is senseless. This is followed by the statement that this student is “an exception”.

He also explains that the transparency of businesses is not evident and that the government previously had corruption scandals, “but Hungarians still voted for Orbán”. He came up with an interesting metaphor: the Rubik’s cube can be solved in 20 steps but in his opinion Hungary will need a few more steps to solve the issues that pose a problem for the country.

Photo: MTI

Copy editor: bm

September 26, 2016

There will be no more Metropol newspapers

Index.hu reports that Tuesday (June 14) is the very last day Metropol newspaper is released. Based on the information of Népszabadság, the site writes that Károly Fonyó, owner of Metropol, made the decision to shut down the newspaper because of financial factors.

The information ending the publication of Metropol was confirmed by director Péter Hivatal. He also told that further information will be shared by the company’s liquidator. It is said that Fonyó decided to do so in order to avoid debts, as he aimed to pay off all of his employees and suppliers.

However, Index writes that, according to Népszabadság, the real reason of ending the daily newspaper is that none of the business plans made for this year could operate profitably, moreover, they had already made a deficit of 233 million HUF last year.

Also, recently Árpád Habony started a free newspaper called Lokál, which became rival to Metropol and won the support of the government as well: it has been full of government advertisements, the Szerencsejáték Zrt., for example, spends nearly 500 million HUF on the Lokál daily and weekly newspapers. These are given to people at crowded points in the city, as well.

Furthermore, neither BKV nor MÁV (Budapest Public Transportation and Hungarian State Railways) extended their contracts with Metropol. Besides, there is no public procurement by BKV for the contract with them, which, according to Index.hu, is quite contradictory, for they did not renew the contract with Metropol partially because of the new tender that would have been required.

Earlier, Fonyó said that they would keep on operating until the elections in 2018, while Hivatal claimed that Lokál would belong to the tabloid press, hence it would be the rival of Blikk just as much as of Metropol.

Sadly then, Metropol is leaving the Hungarian market of media after 18 years. Its newspapers were printed 330 thousand times and spread at public places of Budapest, in all of the county towns and in dozens of other towns.

Photo: facebook.com/Metropol.hu

Copy editor: bm

June 14, 2016

The Hungarian press received a low qualification from an American organization

Freedom House, a non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C. published its yearly report on Wednesday, and found that the freedom of the press has been getting more restricted everywhere in the world, including Europe, figyelo.hu writes.

According to the report, Turkey’s and Middle Eastern countries’ press freedom was the most restricted: journalists in these countries are forced to take sides, and the governments and several activist groups apply the “you’re either with us or without us” mentality. Those who do not obey the rules are often attacked and abused.

Jennifer Dunham, leader of the research group said that many European countries have introduced stricter measures in the past year, and journalists have to face terrorist threats, constant monitoring, and tighter national security laws. Dunham named Poland and Serbia as the two European countries where politicians are aiming to have a greater influence on the country’s media.

Dunham emphasized that Chinese and Syrian journalists are in an extremely dangerous position; during the research she encountered highly censored articles, and noted that several journalists were imprisoned, and were forced to make false confessions on television. However, many journalists continue their work, such as those in Syria, or the investigative journalists in Mexico, Brazil, and Colombia.

According to the organization, only 13% of the world’s population lives in a country where the press is not restricted at all, 41% lives in a partly restricted country, and 46% lives in a country with no press freedom at all.

The freedom of the press suffered the most restrictions in Bangladesh, Turkey, France, Serbia, Yemen, Egypt, Macedonia, and Zimbabwe, and Poland and Hungary were also mentioned. The report says that the new right-wing government in Poland adopted laws which allow the government to fire the state media’s management and hire new ones. The acts reminded the researchers to the measures Viktor Orbán has recently taken, and which resulted in an almost absolute control over the state media, as it was visible during the 2015 refugee crisis.

Hungary was listed in the “Partly Free” category, but France, Spain, and the United Kingdom were equally criticized. All three countries tightened their media laws in 2015 (as an excuse for protecting public order); France and Spain have already passed the restrictions, but they are still being examined in the United Kingdom.

Copy editor: bm

May 2, 2016

New York Times violated its own principles

According to magyaridok.hu, The New York Times violated its own ethics manual when it published untrue and unverified allegations in connection with Hungary, citing anonymous sources – the internal rules of the American paper revealed. An employee of the newspaper wrote – referring to a Syrian woman – that a Hungarian prison guard severely assaulted her because she rejected him. The Hungarian Prison Service denied this information. They said there could be no immigrant women in the Hungarian prisons, so they could not get into contact with any prison staff.

The Hungarian Consulate-General in New York has formally initiated the newspaper to correct the false allegation of the article. The fact of the failure was also justified by Katrin Bennhold – author of the article – who admitted that she had not verified the veracity of the claim. Thus she violated the ethics manual of the American newspaper.

According to the code the main value of the paper is credibility, and the editorial staff has to do everything to strengthen that. The key objective is to ensure impartiality and neutrality. The code also mentions the necessary distancing in case of anonymous sources. The journalists have to provide the most complete information possible. If they make a mistake, they have to fix it immediately, magyaridok.hu wrote.

Miklos Szantho, head of Fundamental Rights Institute said that Western editorial offices easily ignore their ethical and professional self-regulating standards – recently in the case of Hungary as well – since they are not legally bound by these provisions.

Katrin Bennhold, author of the article clings to her story: she thinks the case happened in “one of the detention centers”. According to her the sister of the victim reported it, who witnessed the crime. The journalist could not tell additional details, like where or when the woman was assaulted. Her excuse for the lack of further information is that “Muslim women are hard to open up”.

Bennhold thinks Syrian women fear to be stigmatized by their families, if these stories become revealed. Bennhold admitted to vs.hu that she cannot verify any of these stories.

Photo: Haxorjoe/Wikimedia Commons

Copy editor: bm

January 12, 2016

Orban on the cover of The Economist

According to nepszava.hu, Viktor Orban got into a bad company: he was portrayed on the cover of The Economist next to the American Presidential Candidate Donald Trump and Marine Le Pen – who leads the increasingly stronger Front National of France, which is no longer referred to as an extreme right-wing party by MTI (Hungarian News Agency).

According to the article of the paper, right-wing populist forces play on people’s fear both in America and Europe, saying their governments (or in the case of the EU, Brussels, the center) are unable or unwilling to protect them. In Europe, populist right-wing is in power in Hungary and Poland, but it is also the member of the government coalition in Finland and Switzerland as well. It is written: “Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban vowed to build an “illiberal state” and he considers Vladimir Putin’s Russia as a model” The Economist wrote.

based on the article of nepszava.hu

Photo: economist.com
Copy editor: bm

December 13, 2015

Foreign press on Hungary – Romanian, Serbian, Polish, French, German, Austrian, British and Belgian papers on the migrant crisis

The editor of the Polish conservative newspaper WSieci, Lukasz Warzecha believes in his commentary published on the news portal of the paper that Hungarians should not be “lashed out” for what they did in the migrant case, in fact thank goes to them. He explained: Hungary, which is much smaller than Poland, “undertook an enormous burden within its capabilities”, while endeavoring to comply with the proper procedures. Wazecha says the Hungarian closing of borders “is not cruelty, but the protection of Europe from the invasion”. The author believes the migrant crisis was provoked by the “irresponsible policy” of “the countries accepting migrants for years, providing them a generous support and asking from them nothing”, gazdasagportal.hu said.

According to the editorial article of the British conservative newspaper The Daily Telegraph, Hungary is just reacting by its steps taken to protect the European Union’s external borders that the EU failed in the management of mass immigration.

Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission said last week that the EU should make more efforts to protect its external borders. Hungary – as the only member state – just fulfilled this wish by constructing the border fence, and now EU leaders chastise the Hungarian government because of it.

On the Tuesday’s edition of the Austrian newspaper Die Presse, the commentary of Andreas Molzer has been published with the title Europe’s scapegoat: Viktor Orban is right. According to the author, the Prime Minister can feel himself justified by the German procedure. He thinks the Hungarian head of government adopted measures which were urged by the German Minister of Interior as well before the German border control, such as the strengthening of the external borders of the EU and the registration of asylum-seekers., gazdasagportal.hu said.

The online edition of the German conservative Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) published a criticism about a television debate where Minister Zoltan Balog was the guest. Michael Hanfeld wrote the criticism called The tone is sharpening, emphasizing that Hungary representatives have a hard time in German talk programs nowadays, because all participants of the programs attack them, in the analyzed talk show, even the moderator joined the attackers. The author wrote about the national public television ARD’s late Wednesday program called Anne Will: the Hungarian government’s representatives are only invited to make them “scapegoats”.

Le Soir, a left-wing liberal newspaper in Brussels wrote that the European Christian democracy defends Orban. According to the article the Hungarian Prime Minister has been the subject of widespread criticism because of the measures taken in the refugee case, but there are barely voices against Viktor Orban can be barely heard in the party family of Fidesz, the European People’s Party.

In the blog section of the Romanian liberal Adevarul, Teodor Raileanu sharply criticized both the Hungarian and the Romanian Prime Ministers. The authors thinks fence building is a pointless, extreme solution in a transit country. He declared the explanation of Orban, according to which he does not want Hungary’s ethnic-religious composition to change, a “Nazi” position. The author thinks Victor Ponta incites tensions in order to gain votes, gazdasagportal.hu wrote.

The other author of Adevarul, Marius Dorin Lulea thinks Ponta has no moral foundation to lecture Hungary because of the closure of the border, all the more so this is the “end of the romance”, the violent migrants violated the country’s sovereignty.

In the conservative Romania Libera, Sabina Fati criticized the Budapest and Bucharest cabinets for the controversy between the two countries.

The Serbian newspapers dealt with special attention to the clashes at Horgos-Roszke. Daily newspaper Kurir called it war, while Vecernje Novosti wrote that Serbian police protected the migrants. Belgrade newspaper Politika thinks there is a lot of misinformation, so the migrants commute between the two border crossings hoping that one of them will be opened.

TheFrench left-liberal newspaper Le Monde published a commentary with the title Viktor Orban created a schism within the European Union. According to it the migrant crisis made the breakline clear between the political Christianity represented by Russian President Vladimir Putin and the evangelical Christianity, which turns to the poor, announced by Pope Francis. Angela Merkel also represents the latter one, Le Monde wrote.

based on the article of gazdasagportal.hu
translated by BA

Photo: MTI

September 18, 2015