Hungary\u2019s prime minister-elect has vowed to suspend state media news coverage, describing it as a \u201cpropaganda machine,\u201d when his government takes office around mid-May.<\/p>\n
P\u00e9ter Magyar, whose landslide election victory on Sunday brought an end<\/a> to Viktor Orb\u00e1n\u2019s 16 years in power, detailed his plans for the suspension as he gave two tense interviews to public radio and television on Wednesday.<\/p>\n The appearances marked his first invitation to take part in state media in 18 months, Magyar said, in sharp contrast to Orb\u00e1n\u2019s regular appearances.<\/p>\n The incoming leader used the interviews to confront the outlets over their coverage, accusing them of spreading fear and lies and comparing their coverage to propaganda from North Korea and Nazi-era Germany. \u201cEvery Hungarian deserves a public service media that broadcasts the truth,\u201d Magyar told Kossuth state radio.<\/p>\n He said his government would pass a new press law and create a media authority with the aim of allowing state media \u201cto actually do what it is meant to do\u201d.<\/p>\n The state media authority hit back at Magyar\u2019s claims of being shut out during the campaign, saying it had extended multiple invitations to Magyar and his party.<\/p>\n Reporters Without Borders has consistently raised concerns about the media landscape in Hungary, where loyalists to Orb\u00e1n\u2019s Fidesz party control an estimated<\/a> 80% of the country\u2019s media and state media have long been used as a government mouthpiece for Orb\u00e1n.<\/p>\n Magyar posted to social media after the interviews: \u201cWe have just witnessed the last days of a propaganda machine. After the formation of the Tisza government, we will suspend the news services of the \u2018public\u2019 media until its public service character is restored.\u201d<\/p>\n The PM-elect also reiterated his call<\/a> for the Hungarian president, Tam\u00e1s Sulyok, an Orb\u00e1n supporter, to resign during a meeting between the two on Wednesday. \u201cI repeated to him that, in my eyes and in the eyes of the Hungarian people, he is unworthy of embodying the unity of the Hungarian nation, incapable of ensuring respect for the law,\u201d he told reporters, adding that Sulyok had agreed to \u201cconsider\u201d his arguments. \u201cI told the president \u2026 that Hungarian people have voted for a change of regime.\u201d<\/p>\n Hungarian president Tam\u00e1s Sulyok was urged to resign by the PM-elect because of his support for Viktor Orb\u00e1n. Photograph: Bogla\u0301rka Bodn\u00e1r\/EPA<\/p>\n The state media interviews and the meeting with the president offered a glimpse of the challenges that lie ahead for Magyar as he seeks to use his landslide victory to dismantle Orb\u00e1n\u2019s \u201cilliberal democracy\u201d. During his time in power, Orb\u00e1n\u2019s Fidesz party stacked the<\/a> Hungarian state, media and judiciary with loyalists, prompting questions as to how they will respond to a Tisza-led government.<\/p>\n Magyar said Sulyok had told him that the new parliament would be convened around 6 or 7 of May, meaning his government could be sworn in by mid-May or perhaps earlier.<\/p>\n Donald Trump, one of Orb\u00e1n\u2019s staunchest global allies, has appeared to brush off the loss in his most recent comments on the vote. \u201cI think the new man\u2019s going to do a good job \u2013 he\u2019s a good man,\u201d he told ABC News\u2019 Jonathan Karl.<\/p>\n Trump and those around him have long cited Orb\u00e1n as an inspiration and seemingly sought to follow Orb\u00e1n\u2019s playbook as they use state powers to pursue rivals, embrace dark rhetoric to demonise political opponents, and purge \u201cwokeness\u201d from institutions.<\/p>\n In the lead-up to Hungary\u2019s campaign, the US president directly intervened several times, calling on Hungarians to vote for Orb\u00e1n. On Friday, two days before Hungarians were set to cast their ballots, Trump reiterated his endorsement of Orb\u00e1n and vowed to bring US \u201ceconomic might\u201d to the country if Orb\u00e1n was re-elected.<\/p>\n JD Vance, the US vice-president, also turned up<\/a> in Budapest last week to rally behind Orb\u00e1n, with Vance dialling up Trump at one point so that he could offer a glowing endorsement of the Hungarian prime minister via speakerphone. \u201cI love Hungary and I love that Viktor,\u201d Trump told the crowd. \u201cHe\u2019s done a fantastic job.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump told ABC that he did not know if the outcome of the election would have been different had he travelled to Hungary in Vance\u2019s place. \u201c[Orb\u00e1n] was behind substantially,\u201d said Trump. \u201cI wasn\u2019t that involved in this one.\u201d<\/p>\n He noted, however, that Magyar was a former member of Orb\u00e1n\u2019s Fidesz party and had similar views on migration. \u201cI think he\u2019s going to be good.\u201d<\/p>\n Since the election Vance has portrayed his two-day visit to Budapest as a show of support for a loyal ally.<\/p>\n \u201cWe certainly knew there was a very big chance that Viktor would lose that election,\u201d Vance told Fox News earlier this week. \u201cWe went because it was the right thing to do to stand behind a person who had stood by us for a very long time,\u201d citing Orb\u00e1n as one of the few European leaders who had sought to protect American interests within the EU.<\/p>\n Vance described Orb\u00e1n\u2019s legacy in Hungary \u2013 which in the past year included an attempt<\/a> to ban Pride events, accusations<\/a> of sharing confidential EU information with Russia and efforts to further clamp down on independent media<\/a> and NGOs \u2013 as \u201ctransformational\u201d.<\/p>\n While Vance said that he was certain the US administration would work \u201cvery well\u201d with the next prime minister of Hungary, he said Orb\u00e1n had been a \u201cgood partner\u201d to both him and Trump personally. \u201cI\u2019m sad that he lost.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hungary\u2019s prime minister-elect has vowed to suspend state media news coverage, describing it as a \u201cpropaganda machine,\u201d when…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":533608,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-533607","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=533607"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533607\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/533608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=533607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=533607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=533607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}