Journalism/Media in Hungary By: Hannah Soderstrom, Lauren Dressler, Marley Jungles

Section 1: History, Geography, Population, Language, Government, Current Media Climate

Overview

Hungary, a country located southwest of Ukraine, is home to 9,705,000 citizens. Their capital is Budapest, and a majority of their population follows the Christian religion. The native language is Hungarian. The country is landlocked and bordered by Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, and Croatia.

History

Hungary has a long and complicated past story that dictates what we see today in the country. The state of Hungary was founded in 1000 by King Stephan 1. Around 200 years later, the Mongols invaded Hungary and caused massive dismantling of the country. Many Hungarians were killed, and others were sent into slavery. This invasion caused the current king to redesign their castles to prevent another attack from occurring. In 1526, a Turkish army defeated Hungary and caused the country to split into three parts. The Hungarian Kingdom remained, but was now joined by the Turkish dominion and the Habsburg dominion.

It wasn’t until 1711 that the Hungarians took back some control after a treaty of peace was signed, but they were still under the Habsburg dominion. By the 1800s, Hungarian had become the official language, but this was the time frame when Hungary wanted to drive out the Habsburgs to regain full independence. By 1867, they were partially successful in doing so, and the Austria-Hungary monarchy was created which allowed a somewhat equal balance of power between the two. This allowed Hungary to also have a monarch, but it was Francis Joseph, who was also the Austrian emperor. He remained the emperor up until his death in 1916.

The heir to the throne was Archduke Franz Ferdinand, whose assassination was the cause of World War 1. Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, who turned to Russia for help. Russia’s allies were France, Great Britain, Italy, and eventually, the United States, which brought all of these countries into the war as well. Austria-Hungary was allied with Germany and the Ottoman empire. The war was tough on the Austro-Hungarians as they were essentially subordinates of Germany. The end of the war marked the end of duality of the empire due to the tolls that it took on the country both back at home and on the battlefield. However, the split did not alleviate the issues going on. The Treaty of Trianon split the land up, and Hungary had now gone from a population of 20 million to 8 million.

In the second World War, Hungary began by fighting with Germany, but eventually attempted to fight with the Allies. This betrayal of Germany caused massive destruction to Hungary and led to many Hungarians being placed in German concentration camps. Once the Allies won the war, Russia drove the Germans out of Hungary and took over the land. Hungary was then a part of the Soviet Union and it remained that way until 1989 when they gained their independence. In 1999, Hungary joined NATO and they were accepted into the European Union in 2004.

*This information was synthesized from the Embassy of Hungary, Brittanica’s summary on Austria-Hungary, Brittanica’s Hungary overview, and History's recount of Austria-Hungary starting war on Serbia.

Government

The Hungarian government has also changed quite a bit since its inception. In the 19th and 20th centuries, Hungary had an autocratic style of government, but according to Brittanica, “between 1867 and 1948, they had a functioning parliament with a multiparty system and a relatively independent judiciary.” When the Soviet Union took over, so did the communist style of governing, but that also ended with the fall of the Soviet Union. In 1989, Hungary reestablished their constitution allowing for a multiparty parliamentary system that was much more democratic. That constitution was amended again when Prime Minister Viktor Orban came to power. As Prime Minister, he maintains a majority of the power as the president is limited only to the commander in chief of armed forces.

Media Climate

Hungary’s media climate has changed drastically in the last century. In the early 90’s, Hungary was just barely getting out of Soviet ruling and they were actually one of the forerunners for a more democratic style of media. They publicized the newspapers and radio stations. Freedom House named Hungary a ‘free press country’ at this time. However, about ten years later, the 2008 economic crash along with multiple scandals in the ruling socialist party led to change.

The Fidesz party was elected in 2010 bringing Viktor Orban into office. They re-privatized the media and took ownership of many of the major outlets. They did those both explicitly and implicitly through a few media oligarchs. Tons of pro-government propaganda was put out, while opposing viewpoints were silenced. According to Media Landscapes, the pro-government outlets today include TV2, Echo TV, Karc FM, Radio 1, Magyar Idők, Magyar Hirlap, Riposzt, Demokrata, Figyelo, Lokál, Origo.hu, 888.hu, and Ripost.hu. The only outlet available to the public that criticizes the government is RTL Klub. However, investigative journalism is widely popular, but transparency is still low. The Hungarian constitution says that Hungary should recognize and maintain freedom of press. However, it also states, “The right to freedom of speech may not be exercised with the aim of violating the dignity of the Hungarian nation or of any national, ethnic, racial or religious community.” This is a roundabout way of saying that citizens only have freedom of expression if they are expressing views that are in line with the government agenda.

Today, Freedom House says Hungary has a ‘party free’ media landscape.

By: Lauren Dressler

Section 2: Current news/media issues and most-used news publications

The most known publications in Hungary consist of index.hu, origo.hu, 24.hu, blikk.hu, and startlap.hu. These are all the top news and media published websites within Hungary that received the highest rankings as of October 2022. These are all Hungary-based news publications, but sites such as Britannica, Reporters Without Borders, and BBC World News also provide reliable information for Hungary.

The Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán, has been called a press freedom predator, and has also built a “media empire” that follows his party’s orders. This causes pressures within various aspects that all have impacts on Hungary. According to Reporters Without Borders, the media landscape within Hungary is strongly concentrated within the KESMA Foundation, which also serves the government. This foundation owns around 500 local media and national media organizations. Some of these include the popular website 24.hu and TV network RTL Klub, and the newspaper Népszava.

Economic context also plays a large role in the media issues within Hungary. The country has a medium-sized media market overall, which is not entirely accustomed to the monetization of all content. With the government being so controlling on what is in the media, stable financing for independent media is often “threatened by discriminatory allocation of state advertising for the benefit of pro-government outlets,” according to RSF.

Safety for journalists within Hungary also has a big impact on what is published and how much they decide to stray outside of the rules. Physical assault and unjustified police interrogation are uncommon in Hungary in comparison to some of the other Eastern European countries, but Hungary is the only EU member which is “suspected of having arbitrarily monitored journalists using Pegasus software,” according to RSF. Pegasus software is a type of spyware which can be programmed to infiltrate mobile phones and more, turning them into surveillance devices. There are currently no journalists or media workers being held in prison in Hungary, and there have also been zero killed since January 1, 2022.

While Hungary is a country that has limited independent media, it still exists. With that being said, the Hungarian government practices market-distorting and systemic discrimination to cause a limit to their reach and their financial stability, according to the International Press Institute. “Hungary’s public service media have been deformed into an audiovisual propaganda tool of the ruling party,” according to IPI. Because of this, governmental control leads to almost no editorial independence for public radio, TV, news programming and more.

Orbán has been in power since 2010, when he began unceasingly attacking media pluralism and independence. De facto control has been seized by 80%, public broadcasting is a propaganda organ, and lots of private media has been silenced or completely taken over. According to RSF, there have also been purchases of new organizations from friend oligarchs. Legal framework also adds some trickiness to the media and publication. According to RSF, “regulatory agencies – totally under Fidesz control (Hungarian Civic Alliance, a right-sided populist and non-conservative Hungarian political party)– absolve themselves of responsibility to deal with the concentration of ownership of private media and with Fidesz control of public media by claiming lack of jurisdiction.” At one point, the Hungarian government has also used the pandemic as a way of criminalizing dissemination of false information, which included independent media, and restricted citizens' access to public information. It is additionally necessary to be careful as many cases against journalists and their content are seen as being too liberal for Hungary and their conservative forces.

The Broad Overview

The Hungarian government has worked to dismantle the media independence of the country, freedom, and pluralism, as well as manipulating the media market and overall dividing the journalist community within Hungary as a whole. From this, they have achieved a “degree of media control unprecedented in an EU member state,” according to the European Federation of Journalists. On a positive note, the country has avoided physical harm, jail time, and murder of journalists although the government tries to silence the press through “manipulation of the media market – engineering the forcible closure or effective government takeover of once-independent media – and through the delegitimization of journalists,” European Federation of Journalists. There are two main types of media within Hungary, the pro-government media, and the independent media. These have now been skewed into being a left-wing and right-wing media in Hungary, where independent media is labeled as political activists, “Hungary-haters”, or traitors. Public resources, harassment of private advertisers, and more are all being abused as the state and government are shoving loads of taxpayer money into their own media, all according to European Federation of Journalists.

By: Marley Jungles

Section 3: How to verify news sources/Well-known, reliable journalists

Verifying News in Hungary

The majority of the fake news produced by Hungarian news sites that propagate Russian disinformation narratives is derived from articles published by "Western" media outlets. To verify news from Hungary, one should look at the sources provided by the media, always click the link provided by the media to ensure that it links to what they explained and check the text for internal contradictions.

When verifying news sources, look for contact information, developer/owner information, author credentials/qualifications, clear about the site's purpose, articles that match the stated purpose, external links to verifiable sources, and be timely and accurate.

According to Atlatszo the two biggest Hungarian disinformation websites are oroszhirek.hu and vadhajtasok.hu. These websites contain articles from Russian sources that have been banned in the EU for spreading false information are published on these websites. The disinformation "news sites" exploit the qualitative shortcomings of Hungarian journalistic practice.

Misinformation Problem

False information that is presented as a fact is misinformation, and disinformation is intentionally false information that is intended to deceive or mislead. The media's dissemination of false information is a problem in many nations. This kind of corruption is widespread in Hungary.

In Hungary, disinformation has become a huge problem because most pro-government media operations have joined forces, creating a massive pro-government media. According to the CEU Democracy Institute, this has resulted in a situation in which critical and independent media outlets are in a financially precarious position, and the government has a voice that is even more powerful and centralized than that of any other media outlet. Fact checking ought to be an important part of how Hungarian media readers read.

Fact checking should play a major part in the reading process of Hungarian media consumers. Fake news and misinformation can sway your opinion and inform your actions, and lead to unintended consequences. Misinformation and fake news often try to make you feel a certain way and appeal to your feelings. If you base your actions on false information, you can easily make the wrong decisions and lead to unintended consequences. With Hungary’s massive pro-government media they can set up elections where disinformation is spread causing the results of an election to be altered to their advantage.

A leading pro-government newspaper in Hungary is using video clips and out of context quotes to smear independent journalists and civil society activists in time for the 2022 national elections. Magyar Nemzet, a leading pro-government newspaper in Hungary, published articles on Feb. 16 claiming that independent journalists and civil society activists are plotting to control international media coverage of Hungary.

Reliable Journalists

Even though misinformation and disinformation are prominent in Hungary, there are still trustworthy journalists within their media.

One journalist that is highly respected is Csaba Lukacs who is known for being the managing director of Magyar Hang. According to Global Voices Lukacs helped found Magyar Hang in 2018 to help stop the spread of disinformation caused by the Hungarian government. Lukacs has faced many challenges with the Hungarian government due to his independent weekly magazine that covers real news that is not being broadcasted.

While Lukacs is not the only reliable journalist in Hungary many like him have not spoken up due to the control that the government has over the media. Independent journalists working in central and eastern Europe are facing pressures from politicians and other journalists. Reliable journalists in Hungary face threats such as attacks from politicians, lawsuits, and media capture.

The Hungarian government can put enormous financial pressure on media organizations and bully opposition newspapers, radio, and television channels into self-destruction. It was accounted for by Dissent that the Hungarian government burned through shocking measures of cash on a xenophobic mission about the risks of giving transients access to the nation, and the mandate was at last nullified because of countless purposefully invalid votes and an exceptionally low support rate. Despite severe infringements on press freedom, opposition forces do find ways to get their messages to the public. However, the absence of national, independent media hinders these efforts.

Journalists are being silenced, confined to isolated areas of big cities, the apartments of intellectuals, and opinion blogs that only reach a few thousand people as a result of oppression. Press freedom may never exist in Hungary unless the government changes. This is why it's so important to find out whether a source is reliable in today's world.

By: Hannah Soderstrom