Thousands of Hungarians gathered outside the headquarters of the country’s state television on Saturday, protesting against what they described as the government’s “propaganda machine” and calling for an independent public service media.
The protestors, from the opposition TISZA party, say that the state broadcaster MTVA is running biased propaganda, featuring only politicians from Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s party and government, and analysts repeating their narrative.
The centre-right TISZA party, led by media-savvy political newcomer, Peter Magyar, is posing the biggest challenge to right-wing nationalist Orban since he swept to power in 2010.
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While the public media primarily serves as a government mouthpiece, private media is largely controlled by allies of Orban’s Fidesz.
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The UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression Irene Khan has said there was “a distorted media environment in Hungary where pluralism, diversity and independence of media is being questioned.”
Of course he won’t, they aren’t trying to convince Orban, they are trying to convince the people of Hungary to vote him out in the next election
Does Hungarian democracy (ie voting) still work though?
Yes, it largely does. Orbán so far worked through rewriting the rules, not breaking them. To be honest, I am not sure that he has enough support to break them, he’s relying on nobody giving a shit.
The government still has outsized influence, but Péter Magyar, who organized this protest, accumulated enough support to actually credibly challenge the government. He went from 0 to 37% in 5 months, with the government being a steady 40%.
So good question, there is a lot of entrenchment Orbán has, like the fact most public and private property in the country is concentrated in private funds he ultimately owns. So an election victory would only be the beginning, but still, it can happen.
Orbán is funding his empire with public money, even closing off the EU grants are having dramatic effects. If he loses even Hungarian public funds, his people will definitely revolt. The problem with all the stolen property is that none of it brings any revenue, because they are all run by idiots, since Orbán can’t trust someone smarter than himself.
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What should Hungarians do to prevent a further drift into dictatorship? Sitting at home and watching propaganda TV?
Those protesting are what might saves Hungarian democracy long-term regardless of success, but their success would only count short-term if elections themselves aren’t rigged, which I cannot prove or disprove.
Cute of you to think they still have a functioning and fair election, or that people are going to be convinced by this when they actually want exactly what they have.
Elections in Hungary are still free (although not very fair), Orban has held on largely through state propaganda (what they are protesting) and the fact that previous opposition groups have been incompetent and unpopular, while the new Tisza group is much more united and popular