Hungary is preparing a reform of state media
Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar announced the drafting of a bill intended to completely overhaul the country’s public media. The aim is to make the media more balanced following years of criticism regarding government influence.
Hungary is drafting a law that could radically restructure the state media system, making it more open and less dependent on political influence, Prime Minister Péter Magyar announced.
According to Magyar, next week the government will submit a bill to parliament that will launch what he called a “complete transformation” of state media, which during Viktor Orbán’s years in power has repeatedly been accused of excessive loyalty to the government. “Our goal is to ensure balanced coverage of events. News is sacred; opinion must be free,” the Hungarian prime minister stated.
In essence, this is an attempt to change the approach to the state information space, where pro-government narratives have long dominated, while critics of the government have spoken of restrictions on pluralism. At the same time, other developments related to the media sector are unfolding in the country: earlier, police launched an investigation into the companies of one of the most influential media moguls, who for years received major government contracts under the previous administration.
Against this backdrop, Magyar’s initiative appears to be an attempt to reset the rules of the game in the information sphere and reduce the level of political influence on state media, although the details of the upcoming reform have not yet been disclosed. He wrote about this on his Facebook page.
The Hungarian government stated that a meeting between Prime Minister Péter Mádár and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is possible under certain conditions.
Earlier, the Hungarian government commented on the massive attack by Russian drones on Transcarpathia, during which the region’s critical infrastructure was targeted. Budapest described the situation in the border region as extremely alarming and announced that it was preparing urgent countermeasures.
Transcarpathiahas suffered the most massive attack by Russia since the start of the war — Regional Military Administration.
