In Hungary, Media Outlets That Were the Basis of Orbán's Propaganda Have Suspended Operations and Apologized. They Will Be Reorganized
On July 7, at 4 PM, the broadcasting of the main pro-Orbán TV channel M1 was suspended. A message appeared on the screen stating that public media has no right to lie, and apologizing for having done so for many years, writes telex.hu.
Collage: codastory.com
In parallel, the pro-Orbán website Hirado.hu also ceased operations, where visitors are greeted by the same message, and on the pro-Orbán radio Kossuth, only music is playing.
"Public media has no right to lie. We apologize for having done so for many years! Now public media is being reorganized to be independent and trustworthy in the future. News broadcasting is temporarily suspended. Stay with us!" — this is the message viewers see on their screens when they turn on the M1 TV channel
According to a statement published by the MTI news agency, M1 TV channel will temporarily resume operations in the evening in a new format, with movies and without news broadcasting. Radio broadcasts will also be without news. Parallel to the formation of a new news directorate, news programs are promised to return gradually and according to plan.
This transition, it is emphasized, will not significantly affect other platforms with non-news programs; for example, sports programs will be broadcast without schedule changes.
Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar called the halt of Orbán's propaganda a historical event on Facebook.
Magyar himself and a number of other politicians from the then-opposition, now ruling Tisza party, had stated during the parliamentary election campaign that, after their victory, they would stop party propaganda in public media, which is financed at state expense. The flagship of the Fidesz party's propaganda was precisely the M1 channel, which, during the Orbán governments' rule, was reformatted by public media management into a 24-hour news channel.
It is now reported that the media management has been replaced, and some well-known propagandists have also been dismissed. After the transitional period is completed, permanent public media executives will be selected on a competitive basis.