A leaked dossier exposes past media manipulation as the new government faces allegations of political interference
BUDAPEST – Over one hundred days after the inauguration of Peter Magyar’s Tisza government, the promised “liberation” of the Hungarian media remains contested.
While his new administration has moved to dismantle what was regarded as the propaganda machine of the previous Viktor Orbán era, fresh allegations of political pressure and major shifts in press ownership have raised concerns.
The most significant development in the transition from Orbán to a new era came with the publication last week of a 482-page internal dossier titled ‘PRO DOMO’. Compiled by anonymous staff at the national news agency (MTI) over a ten-year period, the document provided direct evidence of how the previous Fidesz administration maintained “manual control” over output.
The dossier catalogued thousands of emails and memos from 2015 through this April’s election, showing officials routinely dictated which stories to suppress, including reports on Russian anti-war protests and Transparency International findings on Hungarian corruption.
