Hungarian Conservative

The overwhelming majority of Hungarians support transparency in the foreign funding of media outlets. Recently, there has been an increase in foreign attempts to interfere in Hungarian domestic politics, with the media being a primary target. In response, the government established the Office for the Protection of Sovereignty. This move, however, could prompt Brussels to penalize the country with another rule of law mechanism.

Although the outcome was not what Hungarian fans had hoped for, the national team’s first group match against Switzerland at the tournament in Germany was still exceptionally popular.

CEO of MTVA Dániel Papp expressed that during the most challenging times, it was sport that Hungarian society could cling to, as it provided a sense of freedom.

The Hungarian daily Magyar Nemzet talked to József Horváth, senior security policy fellow at the Center for Fundamental Rights, about former CIA agent and whistleblower John Stockwell’s revelations about the American intelligence agencies’ nefarious practices and collaborations with the mainstream media.

The annual analysis of media consumption showed that in 2023, the attention of news readers was primarily captured by events such as the papal visit, the earthquake in Turkey, the uprising of the Wagner Group, the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, and the death of Hungarian mountaineer Szilárd Suhajda.

Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó was the guest speaker at the latest event of the International Speaker Series organized by the New York Young Republican Club on 7 February. After addressing the challenges Europe has been facing lately regarding the war, migration, and shrinking competitiveness, the minister answered several questions from the audience.

Despite the surge in online streaming services, the study emphasizes, it is premature to underestimate the significance of films screened in theatres. In 2023, film distributors in Hungary reported a successful year with ticket revenues reaching nearly 22 billion forints and a total audience exceeding ten million. In Hungary, the study reveals that on an average Saturday evening between 8 and 10pm, over four million people tune in to television, with nearly three million supporting various musical talent shows.

While the supposed freedom of a materialistic culture will tend to undermine any sense of the sacred, we can be aware of the false idols and choose to tend to our souls. Scruton, indeed, left us a final work on this very topic.

Reflecting on the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting this week, the left-leaning news portal decided to make an explicit statement about their perceived—and desired—reality by creating a ranking of the ‘do-gooders’ and the ‘dirty dozen’ of the world leaders gathered in Davos—and, of course, a Hungarian politician just had to be included in the selection.

After Poland’s left-wing government launched an overt campaign against the country’s public media, Spanish Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is attempting to ban opposition journalists from parliament. The left’s attacks on critical right-wing voices are intensifying, and the Hungarian opposition would certainly not shy away from emulating the Spanish and Polish examples.

According to a study conducted by the National Media and Infocommunications Authority (NMHH), printed weekly newspapers have lost the most readers, registering a 25.2 per cent decline in readership. Monthly or periodically published periodicals saw a decrease of 23.5 per cent, while daily newspapers experienced a 5.7 per cent decline.

The press release indicates that the television audience has aged more rapidly over the past two and a half decades than the general Hungarian population. In 2022, those sitting in front of the screen were, on average, ten years older than the overall population, whereas 25 years ago, this difference was merely four years.

The Tucker Carlson Network launched this Monday on the former Fox News host’s website. Subscriptions cost $9 a month, and the paid content will feature interviews, documentaries, and analysis; or, ‘facts and honesty every day’, as Tucker Carlson put it.

‘During his presentation at the media authority’s conference on the regulatory challenges of child protection, Levente Nyakas highlighted the importance of shared interpretations of media content and the world in a parent-child relationship. It is essential that parents understand and are aware of the content their children consume.’

In the new, 2024 Disney adaptation of the classic fairy tale, Snow White will be played by Latina actress Rachel Zegler despite her name and the former popular depictions of the princess. The dwarfs are also removed due to ‘ableism’. The Disney Corporation has been putting out some ‘woke’ films lately, and it seems it’s not going well for them in the box office.

The PM, speaking at the Tranzit festival, pointed out: the first thing young people need to clarify is whether there is a homeland, and whether being Hungarian matters. According to Orbán, one needs to ask oneself the question whether being Hungarian is the result of a biological coincidence, or that by being born Hungarian, one entered a situation, a context, a flow. Once a person has clarified this, it is possible to stand firmly on the ground, he declared.

The Hungarian National Media and Infocommunications Authority (NMHH) has produced a publication titled Are our children good when they play? — A Knowledge Base on Video Games for Parents and Teachers. The magazine-style knowledge base, based on fresh research materials, aims to address parents and educators with informative messages to help them better understand and become familiar with the gamer world.

Days after he was let go, the 53-year-old cable news star, one of the few in the Western media to cover Hungarian issues in a fair way, finally broke his silence and posted a video to his Twitter feed. He did not directly address his firing, but he did have some solemn things to say about the current state of American media and politics.

Despite the continual support and humanitarian aid provided by Hungary, serious anti-Hungarian voices and resentment of Hungary still appear in the Ukrainian media.

On Day 2 of MCC’s ‘The Future of Publishing’ conference, a panel consisting of Israeli influencer Yair Netanyahu, German journalist Roland Tichy and Megafon founder István Gergely Kovács discussed the success stories of their online enterprises.

The overarching topic of the day was the changing media landscape in the digital age. However, speakers also tackled the issue of the left-wing bias in mainstream media today.

There is evidence that the news website Nyugati Fény (which, ironically, translates as ‘Western Light’) is being funded by a foreign left-wing entity.

While the internationalisation of news has created an environment where major international events are always top news, from a conservative standpoint, it is the local challenges a particular political unit faces that should be prioritised.

The fundamental question of the media war whether the public broadcast media should be critical or supportive of the government, still holds relevant questions for today.

While Brexiteers argued that the EU is a threat to democracy, Hungarian conservatives were fixated on what might happen to the stock exchange if the UK leaves the EU.