Denials and divisions in Hungary’s press

The liberal weekly Élet és Irodalom recently caused further upheaval in the already stormy political life of Hungary.

According to a journalist’s investigation, the former Hungarian conservative (Fidesz) foreign minister, János Martonyi, was an informant of the secret police. Martonyi admitted that the codename in the archives was indeed his, that he was the author of reports on trips in which he participated throughout the 1960s in Western countries, covering meetings with Hungarian emigrants, but he denied causing any damage to the ‘subjects’ themselves and denied being a recruited agent.

The liberal press quoted experts who gave a less clear-cut picture, underlining that the evidence available goes against Martonyi’s arguments, the attributions clearly proving that he was a collaborator as codenames were only given to ‘regular’ agents.

The conservative media played down the case, its reporting on the story being conveniently fragmented and in some instances only published in the form of a short rebuttal interview with Martonyi. The most important and closest paper to Fidesz, Magyar Nemzet, also stifled the story.

This was understandable. Martonyi, an active Fidesz politician, was well-known for his political speeches attacking the current government of Ferenc Gyurcsány, using arguments with an implacable moral foundation. These ideas were difficult to align with what has emerged of his past and the damage was done to Martonyi’s reputation. Partly because, shortly after taking office in 2002, the head of the previous Socialist-Liberal government, Ferenc Medgyessy, was also forced to admit his role as a secret agent, albeit on a larger scale. The pressure on him to step down went on for months - to no avail. The main difference in coverage between the two episodes was that while the pro-government press at the time did not spare Medgyessy, there was not a single article in the opposition press that condemned Martonyi.

The Gyurcsány government has been under fire from the opposition over its proposed new reforms and the dubious election campaign of last year, but the liberal-socialist press is still seeking to establish its credibility to cover and comment on the shortcomings of the government policies and politicians. Élet és Irodalom is a refreshing exception. The weekly has earned a reputation for having the most cutting commentators, never sparing public figures from criticism, regardless of their political affiliation.

On the other hand, Népszabadság, a Socialist newspaper, with the largest circulation among the ‘quality’ dailies, failed to give a clear account of the saga of the recent intimidation by the secret police of two Magyar Nemzet journalists. The journalists had been investigating construction works carried out on the private residence of György Szilvásy, head of the prime minister’s office and in charge of, among other things, national security. Their harassment was a clear threat (orchestrated by Szilvásy’s department) and Népszabadság failed to do its homework. But that newspaper did something unusual for the Hungarian press: it commissioned two ‘press ombudsmen’ to evaluate its coverage of this episode. The findings of the ombudsmen were damning, but while Népszabadság made a point of reporting on the criticism it received, such a gesture always fails to finds its way into the conservative press.

While the overwhelming majority of Hungarian dailies are in the hands of foreign investors, this is not the case with the right-wing dailies. The first western investors rushing into the Hungarian market arrived in the early phase of post-communist rule. The front-runner, German Axel Springer, recognised the importance of the regional dailies in 1989 and to date has bought eight of them. Today Springer also owns one of the main economic daily papers, Világgazdaság. It has been followed by the Swiss Marquard, which managed to acquire the once-reputed daily Magyar Hírlap, which has since gradually turned to the right, lost its readership, become insolvent only to be finally saved by a Hungarian entrepreneur - though it continues to produce losses with minimal circulation. Népszabadság was first bought by Bertelsmann in 1990 and was sold in 2005 to Ringier AG, which today controls 68% of the country’s dailies. The German WAZ press group is active in the regions, but also owns the best political weekly, HVG. The Finnish group Sanoma’s presence is concentrated in the magazine market and has a further eight internet portals.

• Tamás Gordon is a freelance journalist based in Brussels.

The liberal weekly Élet és Irodalom recently caused further upheaval in the already stormy political life of Hungary.