{"id":27393,"date":"2019-07-19T07:39:12","date_gmt":"2019-07-19T07:39:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dev2.atlatszo.exot.hu\/?p=27393"},"modified":"2022-07-07T08:28:24","modified_gmt":"2022-07-07T08:28:24","slug":"budapest-takes-control-of-the-biggest-hungarian-county-newspaper-published-in-romania","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev2.atlatszo.exot.hu\/en\/important-en\/budapest-takes-control-of-the-biggest-hungarian-county-newspaper-published-in-romania\/","title":{"rendered":"Budapest takes control of the biggest Hungarian county newspaper published in Romania"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lehel Krist\u00e1ly, the new editor-in-chief of <\/b>Bihari Napl\u00f3<\/i><\/b> does not want to get involved too much with the daily content, but he asked the editorial staff not to publish any article about politics without his permission.<\/b><\/p>\n

At the beginning of July 2019, Istv\u00e1n Rais W. left the position of editor-in-chief of the Bihari Napl\u00f3<\/i> \u2013 the Hungarian daily newspaper of Bihor county, Romania \u2013 after more than twenty years, a uniquely long time in both Hungarian and Romanian press. The daily newspaper Bihari Napl\u00f3 <\/i>is edited and published in Oradea \/ Nagyv\u00e1rad, a city with a large Hungarian community located only eight kilometers away from the border with Hungary.<\/p>\n

Rais formally resigned, but not from his own initiative, as we learnt from our sources requesting anonymity from the editorial staff. The publisher of the newspaper did not signal any dissatisfaction with his work: last year, Rais was elected product manager of the year at the company that publishes the daily paper.<\/p>\n

Bihari Napl\u00f3<\/i>, together with several other news outlets in the Western part of Romania is published by Inform Media Press SRL, a company registered in Romania. However, important decisions are made at its parent company, the Inform M\u00e9dia Lapkiad\u00f3 Kft<\/a>. based in Debrecen, Hungary, close to the Romanian border. The majority ownership of Inform M\u00e9dia Lapkiad\u00f3 was acquired<\/a> by the Central European Press and Media Foundation (CEPMF) established by the Hungarian government. The Government of Hungary decided on the acquisition<\/a> of key Hungarian media companies on the 5th of December, 2018.<\/p>\n

The new editor-in-chief signed on by the publisher is Lehel Krist\u00e1ly,<\/b><\/h2>\n

a journalist from Szeklerland (central region of Romania where ethnic Hungarians form a majority), who settled in Budapest in recent years. According to our sources, Krist\u00e1ly does not want to give up entirely his life in Budapest and does not want to intervene in the daily content of the Bihari Napl\u00f3<\/i>, but asked the staff not to publish any political articles without his approval.<\/p>\n

\"Krist\u00e1ly
Krist\u00e1ly Lehel, the new editor-in-chief of Bihari Napl\u00f3<\/em>. Source of the photo: Krist\u00e1ly’s Facebook-profile<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Since 2018, Krist\u00e1ly is also the press officer of the biggest annual political event of the Hungarian community in Transylvania, namely the B\u00e1lv\u00e1nyos Summer University and Student Camp (aka Tusv\u00e1nyos after its location in the middle of Szeklerland, Tusn\u00e1df\u00fcrd\u0151). Throughout its 30 years of existence, the weeklong event was always supported by Fidesz, the highlight of the camp being the annual speech of Viktor Orb\u00e1n, prime-minister of Hungary.<\/p>\n

Istv\u00e1n Rais W. gives up only the editorial control of the daily paper. The fact that he remains in charge of the distribution suggests that the publisher might want to change only the editorial stance of the Bihari Napl\u00f3<\/i>: the paper fully supported the RMDSZ (DAHR \u2013 Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania) and its local leaders. Istv\u00e1n Fodor, the director of the Inform M\u00e9dia Lapkiad\u00f3 did not respond to our inquiry so our supposition about changing the paper\u2018s political direction remains unconfirmed.<\/p>\n

We reached out to Istv\u00e1n Rais W., too, but the resigned editor-in-chief invoked his confidentiality agreement and did not want to comment on the case. Lehel Krist\u00e1ly also refused our request by mentioning his obligation to ask for permission from CEPMF to make a statement, a permission that he did not receive.<\/p>\n

\n

Budapesti kontroll al\u00e1 ker\u00fclt a legnagyobb erd\u00e9lyi magyar megyei lap – \u00c1tl\u00e1tsz\u00f3 Erd\u00e9ly<\/a><\/h4>\n

A napi tartalomba nem sz\u00f3l bele, de politikai t\u00e9m\u00e1j\u00fa anyagot ne tegyenek k\u00f6zz\u00e9 enged\u00e9lye n\u00e9lk\u00fcl: ez a Bihari Napl\u00f3 \u00faj f\u0151szerkeszt\u0151j\u00e9nek, Krist\u00e1ly Lehelnek a k\u00e9r\u00e9se. Egyed\u00fcl\u00e1ll\u00f3an hossz\u00fa id\u0151, t\u00f6bb mint 20 \u00e9v ut\u00e1n t\u00e1vozott a Bihari Napl\u00f3 f\u0151szerkeszt\u0151i tiszts\u00e9g\u00e9b\u0151l Rais W. Istv\u00e1n.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n