{"id":38976,"date":"2022-07-06T13:35:22","date_gmt":"2022-07-06T13:35:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dev2.atlatszo.exot.hu\/?p=38976"},"modified":"2022-07-07T07:06:12","modified_gmt":"2022-07-07T07:06:12","slug":"positive-light-on-viktor-orban-no-light-on-the-opposition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev2.atlatszo.exot.hu\/en\/english\/positive-light-on-viktor-orban-no-light-on-the-opposition\/","title":{"rendered":"Positive Light on Viktor Orb\u00e1n, No Light on the Opposition"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The online Hungarian daily press from Transylvania covers the preparations for the elections in Hungary in an utterly one-sided manner: while negative news about the Hungarian government are extremely difficult to find, the opposition is either missing, or is only about Gyurcs\u00e1ny.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Hungarian government was almost always mentioned in a positive context in the Hungarian online press from Transylvania during the period leading up to elections in Hungary in early April. News regarding the opposition were either ignored or presented in a fully negative and discrediting language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, topics which are embarrassing for the Hungarian government were almost completely absent from the Hungarian online press in Transylvania, and voices critical to the government are also very hard to find.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It comes as no surprise, in fact: the majority of the Hungarian press in Transylvania is funded by either the Hungarian government or it recent main ally in Transylvania, the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians from Romania (DAHR).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In order to have a methodical look on how the Hungarian online press in Transylvania presents the election, we analysed around 700 articles \u2013 news, analyses, interviews and editorials \u2013 published in the Hungarian online press from Transylvania from the end of August 2021 to 11 February 2022, the official beginning of the election campaign in Hungary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Search for keywords<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Our data collection methods were simple: we searched for keywords relevant for the topic (e.g. \u201cM\u00e1rki-Zay P\u00e9ter\u201d, \u201cOrb\u00e1n Viktor\u201d, \u201cregisztr\u00e1ci\u00f3\u201d [registration]) in the search field of the most popular Hungarian online press products, and collected, structured and categorised the results by topics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The websites analysed: Sz\u00e9kelyhon<\/a>, Kr\u00f3nika<\/a>, F\u0151t\u00e9r<\/a>, Erdon<\/a>, Maszol<\/a>, Transindex<\/a>, Nethusz\u00e1r<\/a>, Szatm\u00e1ri Friss \u00dajs\u00e1g<\/a>, H\u00e1romsz\u00e9k<\/a>, Szabads\u00e1g<\/a>, itthon.ma<\/a>, erdely.ma<\/a>, szekelyf\u00f6ld.ma<\/a>, Erd\u00e9lyi Napl\u00f3<\/a>, Sz\u00e9kely H\u00edrmond\u00f3<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The analysis focused on the most popular websites. However, we have no data on how many readers the articles had, or how many readers they reached in social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is important to note that the number of the results was dependent on the search engines of the individual sites. We suspect that we might not have found all articles due to the faulty operation of the search engines on some sites, although we did try to use alternative search terms to add to the results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Positive Light on Viktor Orb\u00e1n, No Light on the Opposition<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It can be said about the collected articles in general that they present the Hungarian government and Prime Minister Viktor Orb\u00e1n most often in a positive, or less often in a neutral light. The opposition politicians are most often presented in a negative, less often in a neutral context, if they appear at all. It is clearly visible that the opposition of the Hungarian government gets very little space on Transylvanian online platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, events that were uncomfortable for the Hungarian government were completely left out of the news. There is no coverage, for instance, about the corruption case of P\u00e1l V\u00f6lner<\/a>, state secretary in the Minister of Justice, also involving \u00c1rp\u00e1d J\u00e1nos Pot\u00e1pi<\/a>, state secretary for national policies, who often visits Transylvania.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Hungarian press from Transylvania, which has always been closely following the events in Hungary, also failed to cover last year\u2019s record budget deficit and the resulting restrictions<\/a>, just as the Pegasus spy software surveillance<\/a> was completely omitted in the news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scandals related to Hungarian communities living outside Hungary are also hardly present<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Scandals related to the Hungarian government parties are not in the news in Transylvania even if they concern the funding of Hungarian communities living outside Hungary or even if their main protagonist is an official of Transylvanian origin. We found no mention of the case which involved the Odorheiu-Secuiesc-born L\u00e1szl\u00f3 Veress, Head of Cabinet of L\u00e1szl\u00f3 K\u00f6v\u00e9r, Speaker of the National Assembly of Hungary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His family lives in a luxury villa<\/a> bought by a foundation which supports Hungarians outside Hungary for 240 million HUF. However, another article on L\u00e1szl\u00f3 Veress\u2019s villa in the village of Tibod near Odorheiu Secuiesc resulted in an outraged article published in response<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Orb\u00e1n the good, M\u00e1rki-Zay the bad guy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Viktor Orb\u00e1n appears in the majority of the articles in a positive or neutral light. Most news about him are positive and inspiring, he himself is presented as a strong-willed, self-possessed politician, who resists (western) trends but looks after the interests of the Hungarians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

P\u00e9ter M\u00e1rki-Zay, the opposition\u2019s Prime Minister candidate, appears in just the opposite light: he is weak (Gyurcs\u00e1ny\u2019s puppet), his campaign is funded by L\u00e1szl\u00f3 Bige, the \u201cred baron\u201d, he makes statements perceived as negative by most of the voters (criticises the governmental decrease of utilities costs), has negative gestures (offends Hungarians living outside Hungary with his statements), or the opposition coalition is doing badly in the polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Orb\u00e1n\u2019s speeches are quoted at length, the words of the opposition candidate are usually cited outside their context, and often accompanied by malicious or inappropriate comments. For example, Gyurcs\u00e1ny\u2019s name is also often included in the article, regardless of the subject of M\u00e1rki-Zay\u2019s original statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sekler media trust keeps completely silent about the opposition<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There is a spectacular difference in how the media outlets belonging to the two large media empires close to the Hungarian government \u2013 the Association for Transylvanian Media Space and the KESMA \u2013 treat the Hungarian opposition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The three news portals Sz\u00e9kelyhon, Kr\u00f3nika and F\u0151t\u00e9r, owned by the Association for Transylvanian Media Space which has been funded in the past couple of years with 20 million euros by the Hungarian government<\/a>, rarely publish content related to the opposition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
Two-a-penny: 5 million euro per year for the Hungarian language media trust in Transylvania<\/a><\/blockquote>