Category Archives: Médiapolitika

How state funds help the miracle business of a top minister’s former wife

Szőke Dániel 2022.07.22.

We have revealed where the money comes from for Cecília Rogán-Gaál’s tabloid’s publishing house

Inside Viktor Orbán’s war for Index, Hungary’s most influential news website

Pethő András 2022.03.18.

Index had long been a primary target for Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s media crackdown. The final assault came in the disguise of a business maneuver and now the site is part of the government’s powerful media machinery.

Inside Orbán’s Fidesz party preparing for Hungary’s parliamentary election

Szabó András 2022.03.11.

For some time now, all government proposals land on PM Orbán’s desk with green, yellow, or red post-its. People with inside knowledge about the election strategy of Fidesz described the ruling party’s campaign strategy for the 2022 parliamentary elections and its conscious use of social media.

“Please, don’t report about this at all! Thanks!” – How the Hungarian state news agency censors politically unpleasant news

Wirth Zsuzsanna 2022.03.07.

Documents obtained by Direkt36 show how the government dictates the news at Hungarian state news agency MTI. Self-censorship also plays a crucial role in shaping the content of MTI.

Leaked documents show how Orbán’s circle dictates the news at Hungary’s state news agency

Wirth Zsuzsanna 2022.03.04.

According to internal letters obtained by Direkt36, one of Viktor Orbán’s closest colleagues once dictated a piece of news to the Hungarian Telegraph Office. There is also a separate instruction that not only the ministry’s announcements must be published practically verbatim, but also the statements of Lőrinc Mészáros’s group of companies.

Orbán’s media machine in the Balkans investigated for suspicious transactions

Zöldi Blanka, Szabó András 2020.02.28.

A Hungarian businessman close to the government has expanded his media empire to the Balkans. However, a high-value contract between his Slovenian and North Macedonian companies raised the attention of local authorities.

Inside the killing of Népszabadság, Hungary’s biggest opposition paper

Fabók Bálint, Pethő András, Szabó András 2016.11.17.

How the news industry’s crisis, the power games of influential businessmen, and the politically motivated redrawing of Hungary’s media landscape led to the death of the emblematic newspaper.