I didn’t know much about Hungary’s situation before, so I did some research, and honestly, it made me realize how serious the situation is. Of course, the fact that this journalist was accused of spying is pretty scary, but what shocked me more is that media control in Hungary seems much deeper and more systematic.
(By the way, according to the journalist’s social media, the Hungarian police have now dropped the case due to a lack of evidence. He has now been cleared of all charges. )
Victor Orbán first won the election in 1998, but he actually lost his re-election bid in 2002.
However, when he returned to power in 2010, he made sure to overhaul the government and establish new laws that worked in his favor.
It seems that controlling the media was one of the key policies he used to solidify his political base.
A lot of newspapers were taken over by his business allies, and some were simply shut down.
This allowed him to create a national echo chamber where the public media functioned as a megaphone for the ruling party. There still seems to be some independent media trying to report accurate information.
I watched an interview on YouTube with another journalist from an independent outlet.
He said that independent media organizations are under surveillance by the authorities, so they print their newspapers in Slovakia and even rely on a French company to distribute them on the streets to avoid being watched by the government.
Interestingly, he said that their official subscriber numbers are quite low because people are afraid of being put on a government watch list.
Instead, many prefer to buy newspapers on the street, since they can do it anonymously.
ハンガリーがEUであり続ける理由
What surprised me most about media control in Hungary is that it’s actually a member of the EU.
I always thought EU countries were basically democratic. But you could argue that the Viktor Orbán administration has become somewhat authoritarian.
On top of that, it’s widely known that Hungary has close ties with Russia.
Hungary has also opposed policies that support Ukraine, even though the EU has had a hard-line stance against Russia. and because of that, funding from the European Union has been suspended for a long time.
So my question is: why did the Orbán government still choose to remain in the EU, even though it seems to be leaning in a pro-Russia direction?
I’m not very familiar with politics, but my guess is that Orbán knew the membership of the EU was exactly why Russia found Hungary so useful.
He understands the strategic value of staying in the EU.
Because he could share sensitive information and block decisions from the inside.
It’s ironic—he accused journalists of spying, but we could argue that he himself was acting like a spy for Russia.
What I find interesting is how the new prime minister, Peter Magyar, managed to defeat Orban's massive media machine.
I read that he built a massive grassroots campaign that bypassed traditional news outlets. Instead of relying on TV ads, he traveled across the country, visiting small towns and rural areas.
He spoke directly to voters in the streets and used social media to broadcast his message in real-time.
He proved that even if the government controls the megaphone of national media, a leader can still win by creating a direct, personal connection with the voters.
It's a really inspiring example of how digital tools and physical presence can overcome systematic media oppression.
To me, these two events—the new prime minister’s landslide victory through a grassroots campaign and the collapse of the charges against the journalist—highlight something really important.
They suggest that the old regime’s tools of intimidation may finally be losing their effectiveness.
