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Journalists at Hungary’s most-read newspaper have expressed shock after a media group seen as close to nationalist prime minister Viktor Orbán’s party, Fidesz, bought the tabloid from its previous Swiss owners.
The purchase, which comes as Hungary gears up for crucial elections next year in which Orbán faces an unprecedented opposition challenge, is widely seen as another attempt to increase government influence on the media.
A pro-Orbán media group, Indamedia, said on Friday it had bought a collection of Hungarian titles from Ringier, including Glamour magazine and Blikk, a popular tabloid whose news site reaches about three million online readers monthly.
Blikk’s outgoing editor-in-chief, Ivan Zsolt Nagy, said on Monday that he and another senior manager were leaving in “mutual agreement” with the new owner.
They had been hired seven months ago to reposition Blikk, “focusing not on sensationalism but on interesting stories” and to be “more public-oriented, covering politics, economics, and culture”, he said on Facebook, AFP reported.
Staff at Blikk said they were shocked. “I almost had a heart attack when I heard the announcement,” said one reporter, who asked to stay anonymous. “For me, this is morally unacceptable.”
Blikk has announced a new editor-in-chief, Balázs Kolossváry.
Many journalists who have decided to stay say they are in a difficult position as there are not many other outlets left to which they could apply. Over the past 15 years Orbán has been able to use a sprawling pro-government media landscape to boost his image and polls.
While major media transactions have tended to take place either after elections or during a quiet political period, the purchase of Ringier Hungary comes less than six months before April’s general election. Blikk was seen as a prime target for Orbán and his party at a time when polls are signalling that they have a real challenger for the first time in more than a decade.
The opposition leader, Péter Magyar, whose Respect and Freedom, or Tisza, party is campaigning on promises to root out deep-seated corruption, has been outspoken about Orbán’s “propaganda factory” and the damage he says it has done to Hungary’s democracy.
He has criticised the Ringier Hungary deal, saying it represents another attempt by Orbán to cement his control over Hungary’s media outlets.
Though Blikk is a tabloid, famous for its gossip column and over-the-top headlines, in the past few years it has also published many pieces on alleged corruption. Ágnes Urbán, director of the Mérték Media Monitor watchdog organisation, said its readers were “very important to Fidesz”.
“Blikk is by far the most read daily newspaper in Hungary, a market leader,” said Urbán. “Its online site has become surprisingly popular in recent years, becoming the fourth most read online site in Hungary. If propaganda appears in such widely read and popular media, it will have an impact on the public.”
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For more than a decade now Hungary has served as a model for other “illiberal democracies” around the world. Donald Trump and his allies have long praised Orbán’s Hungary even as it plunges in press freedom rankings. In 2022, Orbán told a conference of US conservatives, CPAC, that the path to power required “having their own media”.
In 2010 Orbán’s government passed a law that asserted government control over the main media regulator and placed the state broadcaster in the hands of loyalists.
Indamedia is 50% owned by Miklós Vaszily, a pro-government businessman who is also CEO of a pro-government private channel, TV2.
In a statement, Indamedia’s other co-owner and CEO, Gábor Ziegler, said: “Through the acquisition of Ringier Hungary, the group is gaining a well-performing media company of similar size to Indamedia, with strong market positions and successful brands that play a defining role in the Hungarian media landscape.”
Ringier said in a statement sent to AFP over the weekend that its decision to sell was “based solely on strategic economic considerations and our focus on our core digital activities in Hungary”.
A government spokesperson was approached for comment.
