The Hungarian media has been criticized for being centralized and creating a ground for misinformation. As the political landscape in Hungary is changing, people’s frustrations with the media become clear.

The European Union has condemned Russia’s war in Ukraine. Although Hungary is a part of the EU, Viktor Orbán’s (Hungary’s leader) stance on the matter remains controversial. When looking at Hungarian media, which is mostly controlled by the ruling party Fidesz, it is not hard to see messages adjacent to the Kremlin’s narratives.

Although this type of information has a wide reach on Hungarian audiences, the recent appearance of a political challenger, Péter Magyar, has highlighted people’s frustrations with the media. Two months ago, a few thousand people gathered in Budapest in a protest, led by the politician, to condemn the government’s involvement in the media.

I come from Lithuania, a country which has condemned Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Therefore, I went to Budapest to see what the extent of pro-Russian narratives are on Hungarian journalists and locals.

Hungarian-made Pro-Russian narratives

First, it’s important to discuss the state of Hungarian media. For this, I interviewed Dorka Takácsy, a researcher with a passion for politics in Russia and the Central and Eastern Europe regions.

Dorka Takácsy. 02/12/24. Photo source: Ona Šniukštaitė

About 480 media outlets are controlled by the Central European Press and Media foundation (KESMA), established in 2018. According to Dorka Takácsy, many media outlets fell under KESMA’s control due to the owners ‘voluntarily’ giving them away.

This means that if a message is put on a state-owned media channel, it is going to be repeated by others alike. Outlets under KESMA’s rule broadcast pro-government information which often contains pro-Russian sentiments.

Hungarian media before and after KESMA. Source: Atlatszo. “Infographic: Explore the media empire friendly to the Hungarian government”, by Attila BÁTORFY

Pro-Russian narratives in Hungarian media became more prevalent in 2022. The same year that Russia started the large-scale war against Ukraine, Hungary was holding its parliamentary elections. 

According to Dorka Takácsy, since then, Fidesz has started portraying themselves as ‘the guarantors of peace’, meanwhile the opposition has been portrayed as ‘wanting to pull Hungary into the war’.

Pro-Russian narratives have also been used to explain the inflation. According to the researcher, the government has dubbed the terms ‘war or sanctions’ inflation’ to explain the high inflation rates in Hungary.

“The government didn’t take responsibility for this, but they started to scapegoat Ukraine and started to scapegoat the war,” explained Takácsy.

This has proven to be effective because many Hungarians knew nothing about Ukraine prior to the war: “there was this void, and this was super easy to fill with all kinds of blatant lies.”

Because pro-Russian narratives are adjacent with pro-Orbán messages, they are made in Hungary, by Hungarian media companies.

“Russia does not really have to invest in propaganda in Hungary because the Hungarian government does it for them for free,” said Dorka Takácsy.

Russia is usually shown as a superpower and sometimes as a ‘white bear’ that should not be angered, and therefore, respected. The country is also juxtaposed to the ‘decaying West’ by being portrayed as a moral stronghold for Christian and traditional values. 

Another key narrative that is used in the Hungarian media is cheap Russian gas.

“Cheap Russian gas, obviously, is a myth if we compare it with the statistics of the regional countries. Hungary does not receive gas any cheaper than anybody in the region, so all these symbolic gestures to Russia are absolutely useless in this aspect.”

“But this is very prevalent in the Hungarian government propaganda – our good relations with the ‘white bear’ are very beneficial for the people, so we should maintain them,” said Dorka Takácsy.

Here are some articles that you can find in newspapers that are sold in convenience and grocery stores or given away for free at train stations.

The media landscape in Hungary not only affects media consumers but journalists as well.

To find out the realities of working as a journalist in Hungary, I interviewed three journalists from independent news media companies.

Smear campaigns, political pressure, and the unknown future

Márta Kovács, a journalist from 24.hu, one of Hungary’s largest independent newspapers, has been in the field for eight years.

Márta Kovács. 04/12/24. Photo source: Ona Šniukštaitė

When asked about the risks of journalism in Hungary, she doesn’t think she’d be targeted since she doesn’t work with political topics. However, she mentioned uncertainties: “You don’t know what the future holds… But we hope that we’ll have it as we have it today.”

Despite challenges, Kovács expressed that she felt lucky to be working at 24.hu: “We are one of the last remaining places where you can have freedom. Nobody is going to tell you that you should write about that, and you shouldn’t write about that.”

The situation changes when journalists work with political topics. Mátyás Endrey is a political editor at Partizán, an online independent Hungarian media outlet.

Mátyás Endrey. 05/12/24. Photo source: Ona Šniukštaitė

Partizán editorial office. 05/12/24. Photo source: Ona Šniukštaitė

“It’s very important to stress that we aren’t censored. Journalists don’t fall out of windows in Hungary. That is not the kind of methods that the regime operates with,” said Endrey when asked about being a journalist in Hungary.

According to Endrey, there are things that he and his colleagues are concerned about.

“There’s a risk of you saying something that sounds bad out of context in public that can be the basis for some kind of smear campaign. It has happened to at least two of my colleagues here. In one of our videos, they said something that was, somehow, good material to use out of context and it’s just very intimidating to see your face in videos that are mocking you or trying to humiliate you,” said Endrey.

Blanka Zöldi is the editor-in-chief of Lakmusz, a fact-checking news media outlet. She started as a political and economic reporter ten years ago at Origo, a daily news website. After a few months, the newspaper came under political pressure.

“All of the journalists, including me, felt that we had to resign because we were not able to continue our job independently as we used to do. And actually, that was the first instance when I experienced how in Hungary politics can take over a formerly independent media outlet,” said Zöldi.

Big newspapers being turned into channels used to broadcast pro-government narratives and restricted access to press conferences are a few issues the editor outlined while talking about the reality of being a journalist in Hungary.

“Working in Hungary is not as bad as working in Russia, for example. I always say that we don’t want to cry too much about the situation. At the same time, ever since Fidesz, the current leading party, came to power in 2010, we have seen quite an ever-tightening grip on the Hungarian free media landscape,” said the editor.

Pro-Russian narratives through the eyes of journalists

While discussing how journalists approach pro-Russian narratives in Hungarian media, many emphasized the importance of verifying claims. Márta Kovács noted that after the war began, pro-Russian narratives became a ‘political weapon’. She expressed frustration with public media not serving the public interest.

“You read complete nonsense and lies about what’s happening in Ukraine. Then you see the sources – it’s Russian propaganda. It’s widely spread in public media and most pro-government outlets,” said Kovács.

Journalists also face challenges distinguishing pro-Russian narratives from pro-government messages. Reflecting on the impact of Russian misinformation, Mátyás Endrey said: “Disorienting. Definitely. Their purpose isn’t for you to believe them but to make you not know what to believe. Even as a journalist, I feel it’s effective.”

Blanka Zöldi shared her experience of analyzing social media ads ahead of the European Parliament elections. The Fidesz campaign’s main message was: “European ‘pro-war’ politicians want to drag Hungary into the Third World War.”

“This was mostly done with techniques such as depicting European politicians in this evil way, with dramatic music, with bombs blowing up in the background,” said the editor.

Old habits die hard

According to journalists and experts, people who live in the countryside get affected by pro-Russian narratives the most. This happens because people get their news  from the morning newspapers or watch the evening news. In other words, they consume information made by state-owned media companies.

According to Blanka Zöldi, although online independent media outlets have the highest readership in Hungary, government-tailored information still has a wide reach on audiences. A person does not necessarily have to be a conscious news consumer to be affected by pro-government messages. Just going outside and seeing government-made posters are effective in shaping people’s outlook on certain issues.

National consultation posters in Budapest. 05/12/24. Photo source: Ona Šniukštaitė

The effect of propaganda is difficult to see in Budapest. Therefore, my contact Marcell and I went to Nagymaros – a small town, settled next to the Danube River, less than an hour away from Budapest. People in Nagymaros mostly vote for Fidesz.

Nagymaros. 07/12/24. Photo source: Ona Šniukštaitė

In Nagymaros, we talked to five locals. Most of them got their news from state-owned media outlets. When asked about the war, most of them said they wanted peace. 

Ágnes, who we met at the train station, expressed fears of a World War, and thought that Hungary should get along with every country. She also expressed some concerns about funding the war: “We shouldn’t be funding arms as much as the EU wants us to either. This country, as I know, doesn’t want to spend money on weapons but for people to live better.”

At the centre of Nagymaros, we talked with two best friends – Krisztina and Ilona. Krisztina works in city management and Ilona is a lawyer.

Krisztina watches and reads the news five times a week from state-owned media channels. According to her, there is a balance between Western and Russian narratives. She justified the approach towards Russia in the media because ‘if things would go south, Hungarians in Ukraine would not have to take the consequences’.

But Ilona had a different outlook. The interview was conducted in Hungarian but for a moment she turned to me and said this in English: “I hate Orbán and his politics and I think Russian politics are terrible. In one or two years Orbán should go.” After this, she turned to Marcell and continued in Hungarian. In her opinion, there was a lot of bias for Russia in Hungarian media and politics as well.

During this interview, while one would speak, the other one would walk away and joke: “I cannot listen to this because I will start an argument”. After the interview, they walked away together into the town square, chatting about their lives.

Endnote

The future of Hungarian media remains uncertain, but pro-Russian narratives fuel skepticism about supporting Ukraine’s war efforts and heighten fears of a World War III.

Meanwhile, journalists from independent media outlets continue working. 

“At the end of the day, why is it worth it?”

“If I can put my little contribution, let it be as small as any, then, it actually makes a lot more sense to get up in the morning. So I think it’s just super good to put your efforts into something that you believe is useful,” said Blanka Zöldi.