Category Archives: Background stories

“A story like out of a spy movie,” personal reports by two surveilled Direkt36 journalists

Panyi Szabolcs, Szabó András 2021.08.03.

Two Hungarian journalists Szabolcs Panyi and András Szabó share their personal reports of how it felt to find out they were surveilled through their mobile phones for weeks and months.

How we exposed a secret conflict involving Russia, the United States, and Hungary

Panyi Szabolcs 2019.03.24. 1 Comment

How we did our investigation into a story about two Russian arms dealers who were arrested in Hungary as the result of a US-led sting operation, and about how the Hungarian government extradited the two Russians to Moscow, infuriating the Americans.

How I found out that an opposition politician teamed up with the government’s allies

Szabó András 2019.03.17. 1 Comment

After Viktor Orban’s party won the latest election by another landslide, we looked into the allegations of some opposition politicians secretly working with the allies of the government.

How we told the inside story of the oligarch who turned against Viktor Orbán

Pethő András 2019.03.09. 2 Comments

Lajos Simicska and Viktor Orbán were friends and allies for decades. Together they turned Fidesz, now the governing party, into Hungary’s dominant political force.

How we exposed some of the deepest secrets of Hungary’s controversial golden visa program

Zöldi Blanka 2019.03.03.

Through a residency bond scheme run by the Hungarian government, several foreigners were granted residency in spite of potentially posing serious security risks for Hungary and the European Union. Blanka Zöldi recalls how we found out about these people.

How we teamed up with The Washington Post to expose a secret conflict between the U.S. and Hungary

Pethő András 2018.05.10.

A few weeks ago we reached out to The Washington Post and told them that we are working on a story that might be of interest for them as well. It turned out that it did.

A message from Orbán’s son-in-law and an investigation into phantom offices

Vorák Anita 2018.03.07.

I have covered the businesses of István Tiborcz, the son-in-law of the Hungarian Prime Minister, for years. Last year I didn’t write that much about him, since he retreated to the background in business as he sold his shares in the notorious company, Elios Ltd. in 2015. However, I got the biggest surprise of the Read More

How did we investigate the businesses of the Orbán family? And what did it have to do with running and cycling?

Pethő András, Zöldi Blanka 2018.02.25. 1 Comment

The story was the result of a complex months-long investigation. Here is the five most interesting episodes of our reporting.

How we investigated the death of Népszabadság, Hungary’s biggest daily

Pethő András 2017.04.12. 3 Comments

Last November, we published a behind-the-scenes account of the closure of Népszabadság, Hungary’s biggest daily newspaper. András Pethő, who led the reporting team, is explaining how the story was made.

Hogyan cserkésztem be Tiborcz Istvánt?

Vorák Anita 2017.03.26.

Vorák Anita már régóta szeretett volna feltenni pár kérdést a miniszterelnök vejének. Végül egy szakácsversenyen sikerült megközelíteni.

Mit adunk mi a Direkt36 támogatóinak?

Pethő András 2017.03.25.

Sorry, this entry is only available in Hungarian.

Ministers usually avoid investigative reporters. But this one wanted to meet me

Szabó András 2017.03.20. 1 Comment

András Szabó tells the backstory of his investigation into the the activities of an influential figure in the liquidation business.

I got used to politicians being angry with me. But this was different

Wirth Zsuzsanna 2017.03.19. 6 Comments

Zsuzsanna Wirth tells the inside story of her reporting that infuriated state minister László Tasó.

How we looked behind the scenes of Jobbik

Fabók Bálint 2016.04.13. 2 Comments

What led us to write about the architect of Jobbik’s rise? And why did our reporter have to have so many meetings in shopping malls?

How we got to the bottom of a mysterious corruption case

Pethő András 2016.03.31.

It started as other investigations. There was something that simply didn’t make sense.

Robinson’s island

Weyer Balázs 2016.03.29. 1 Comment

I’ve never watched an Oscar ceremony all along before but this year I had two very good reasons. Son of Saul and Spotlight, respectively. This pairing could be the starting point of a lot of philosophy on the similarities and differences of the roles arts and journalism can play in digging out the truth and Read More

Így derítettük ki, hogyan találkozott a politika és a prostitúció

Zöldi Blanka 2016.03.23.

Tavaly ősszel írtuk meg, hogy a rendőrség feltárt egy luxusprostitúciós hálózatot, de a politikus kuncsaftokra nem voltak kíváncsiak. Zöldi Blanka meséli el annak a kalandos történetét, ahogy hozzájutott a nyomozás több ezer oldalas iratanyagához.

How we investigated the son-in-law of Hungary’s prime minister

Vorák Anita 2016.03.21. 2 Comments

Baljós körülmények között kezdődött az a találkozó, amely Vorák Anitának, a Direkt36 újságírójának megadta a kezdő lökést az Orbán Viktor vejét érintő nyomozásához. Most elmeséli a cikksorozat készítésének részleteit.

„Semmit nem szabad elhinni” – így készült a letelepedési kötvényes cikkünk

Csonka Anna 2016.03.19.

Sorry, this entry is only available in Hungarian.