BUDAPEST, May 15 (Reuters) - The media empire built by former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government, a key pillar of the nationalist leader's 16 years in power, is swiftly unravelling following an election last month that abruptly ended his rule.
Within weeks of the vote, which the centre-right opposition led by Peter Magyar won with a landslide, senior figures at some of the most prominent pro-Orban outlets have been pushed out and a flagship news programme was scrapped.
The tone of public service media changed overnight, with more opposition voices appearing even before Magyar formally took power, while pro-Orban influencers have practically disappeared from social media.
These are the first cracks in Orban's tightly controlled media system that is set to undergo a shake-up under the new government, sworn in earlier this week.
Magyar, who called public service media a "factory of lies", has pledged to restore press freedom, create a new media law and a new media authority.
BRUSSELS WATCHING PROGRESS ON REFORM
Veteran nationalist Orban was celebrated by conservatives in Europe and the U.S. as the mastermind of an "illiberal democracy", but voters grew weary of allegations of corruption and economic stagnation.
In the April 12 election, Magyar's centre-right Tisza party ended Orban's 16-year rule and gained a two-thirds majority in parliament needed to undo Orban's constitutional overhaul.
Leaders of the European Union are closely watching Hungary as a test case for restoring democratic checks and balances - media freedom was one of the key rule-of-law issues over which Orban's government often clashed with Brussels.
Under Orban, state media came under increasing government control as new media laws were enacted, and several private outlets were either shut down or taken over by pro-government businessmen.
Hungary fell to 74th place in 2026 from 23rd in 2010 in Reporters Without Borders’ press freedom index. Orban's government denied exerting pressure on the media and said it met EU standards on media freedom.
UPHEAVAL IN PRO-ORBAN MEDIA
Hungary's most popular TV channel, TV2, fired its news director after the election and took its flagship news broadcast off the air. Its owner, pro-Orban businessman Miklos Vaszily told news site 444.hu last week that the news programme was scrapped due to the "erosion of its brand".
TV2's news anchors had endorsed Orban before the election.
Last week, the editor-in-chief of pro-Orban news site Index was removed after the site admitted that a document it published purporting to reveal Magyar's secret programme of tax hikes was "not the economic plan of the Tisza party."
The fake document was a key element in Orban's campaign against Magyar.Index did not comment on who created it.
Meanwhile online, a group of young pro-Orban influencers called Megafon have drastically cut back the number of their short videos published on Facebook, according to a tally by fact-checking site Lakmusz.hu.
In a podcast hosted by right-wing rapper Dopeman, Orban distanced himself from "centre-right media that formerly supported us" such as TV2 and Index.
'HISTORIC OPPORTUNITY' TO RESHAPE MEDIA
After the election, state TV M1's evening news quickly showed signs of change. A study by think-tank Republikon found that its coverage overwhelmingly favoured Orbán, with opposition figures portrayed negatively, but the week after the election more diverse voices appeared and reporting became more balanced.
The shift was most visible when Magyar was invited on to state radio and TV and clashed with reporters as he questioned them on why he was not invited there earlier.
"We would like a truly balanced, objective news service... we would like its leaders to be selected in a parity-based, negotiated manner," Magyar said after the inaugural meeting of his cabinet on Wednesday.
In one of his first decrees as prime minister, Magyar on Thursday ordered a "comprehensive and immediate" review of public service media and its financing.
However, creating a genuinely balanced public service media will be a major challenge, analysts say.
Krisztina Balogh, a news reporter at the public service television between 2016 and 2018, detailed in a Facebook post how she said editors demanded that news fitted the government's narrative.
"Once I was asked to find a doctor who would say in front of the camera that migrants were dangerous because they spread disease," she wrote.
An anti-immigrant campaign had boosted Orban's popularity which helped him win three elections in a row after 2010.
Gabor Polyak, the head of Eotvos Lorand University's media department, warned that success in reshaping the media would depend as much on political will as legal reforms.
"If the political elite accepts that the job of journalism is to criticise and to keep a distance from politics, then almost any public service media can work well," Polyak said.
CUTTING OFF STATE ADVERTISING
Another pillar of Orbán’s media system was KESMA, a conglomerate of nearly 500 outlets, including all regional newspapers, set up by allies in 2018.
Magyar said he would halt the large flow of state advertising to the group and review its creation, which was exempted from competition scrutiny.
Such a move would hit KESMA hard, as major outlets like TV2 and Index could survive thanks to big audiences, but regional print papers, for example, might face closure, media expert Polyák said. The shift could also restore market competition and boost independent media revenues.
KESMA did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
(Reporting by Anita Komuves; Editing by Alex Richardson)
