Magyar Hírlap

Magyar Hírlap (meaning Hungarian News in English)[1] is a Hungarian daily newspaper owned by entrepreneur Gábor Széles. It is known as a supporter of political parties of Hungary with conservative and traditional values, whereas it was formerly known for a liberal stance.

Magyar Hírlap
TypeDaily newspaper
FormatCompact
Owner(s)Gábor Széles
Founded1968 (1968)
Political alignmentConservative
LanguageHungarian
Websitewww.magyarhirlap.hu

History and profile

Magyar Hírlap was started in 1968 as a newspaper of the Hungarian government. It was privatized after the political changes in 1989,[2] and quickly became known for backing liberal causes. In 2000 it was bought by Ringier AG. Due to falling circulation and an investigation by the Economic Competition Authority which found Ringier to have an excessive share of the Hungarian newspaper market, the title was axed in 2004. It was quickly relaunched by its editorial staff, and purchased by Széles in 2005.

Attempts to change the paper's political direction were resisted until September 2006 an audio recording surfaced in which the then Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány admitted to having concealed the true state of the nation's public finances during that year's election campaign. This fatally weakened the Hungarian Socialist Party – Alliance of Free Democrats coalition government, of which the paper had been a supporter. Széles then made his move, replacing the entire editorial staff with right wingers.

The paper is regarded as part of conservative media which intensified in the country in 2010.[3] It is published in compact format.[4]

Circulation

The circulation of Magyar Hírlap was 107,000 copies in January 1989 and 78,000 copies in January 1991.[5] The paper had a circulation of 75,000 copies in July 1992 and 65,000 copies in March 1993.[5] Its circulation was 41,000 copies in 1998.[6] The paper had a circulation of 27,769 copies in 2009, making it the sixth most read daily in the country.[7]

Controversial publications

In 2013 the paper published an opinion piece by Zsolt Bayer, who referred to the killings of Marian Cozma and Gergely Sávoly, where Roma were suspected of involvement,[8] and wrote that many gypsies are "animals... unfit to live among people" and "potential murderers [who] should not exist."[9][10][8] The article generated negative reactions in Hungary and throughout Europe.[10][8] A Fidesz spokeswoman said that Bayer's views were his own, while Fidesz communications chief Máté Kocsis said critics of Bayer's article were "siding with" Roma murderers.[8] The Hungarian Media Authority fined the journal 250,000 Forints and ordered the content removed from the internet.

Political activity

A publicist of Magyar Hírlap, Zsolt Bayer, was one of the leading figures in the pro-government march held in January 2012 in Budapest, which was attended by more than 400,000 people.[11]

References
  1. Miklos Vamos (30 September 1991). "Eastern Europe's New Press Lords". The Nation. 253 (10). Retrieved 6 December 2013. – via HighBeam (subscription required)
  2. Marina Popescu; Gábor Tóka (April 2000). "Campaign Effects in the 1994 and 1998 Parliamentary Elections in Hungary" (PDF). ECPR. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  3. Daiva Repeckaite. "Independent Journalism under Increasing Threat in Hungary". Equal Times. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
  4. "Magyar Hírlap (1968-)". Magyar Médiatörténet (in Hungarian). 30 November 2014. Retrieved 7 December 2019.
  5. Marina Popescu; Gábor Tóka (2000). "Campaign Effects in the 1994 and 1998 Parliamentary Elections in Hungary" (Conference paper). ECPR. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
  6. Mihály Gálik; Beverly James (1999). "Ownership and control of the Hungarian press". The Public. 6 (2). Archived from the original on 12 November 2014. Retrieved 12 November 2014.
  7. "Communicating Europe: Hungary Manual" (PDF). European Stability Initiative. December 2010. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  8. Der Spiegel. Blurring Boundaries: Hungarian Leader Adopts Policies of Far-Right
  9. "Ki ne legyen?, Magyar Hírlap, 2013. január 5". Archived from the original on 7 January 2013. Retrieved 21 August 2016.
  10. Deutsche Welle. Moving right in Hungary
  11. Al-Jazeera news; January 2012
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