Background Stories

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Forrás: 7/24 Hírműsor

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

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 […]

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

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

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

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

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.

(Magyar) Hogyan cserkésztem be Tiborcz Istvánt?

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