The Hungarian government and Prime Minister Viktor Orbán have long faced accusations from the opposition and its affiliated media of granting interviews only to right-wing press outlets. This claim has been refuted numerous times, including when Chief of Staff to Viktor Orbán Antal Rogán—often portrayed as untouchable—stood before the cameras of the progressive outlet 444 this summer.
Recently Balázs Orbán, political director to the Hungarian prime minister, pushed back against similar accusations from the opposition outlet Telex. In a lengthy article published on Wednesday, the outlet complained that it had been trying to reach Viktor Orbán with questions for two weeks without receiving a response.
‘Two weeks ago we asked our readers to help us find the prime minister, who is hiding from the press. Although we were allowed to attend his year-end press conference, we were not permitted to ask our questions,’ Telex wrote about Viktor Orbán’s traditional year-end international press event.
However, the claim that they were ‘not allowed to ask questions’ is a significant exaggeration, if not a distortion of reality. While it is true that Telex did not get the opportunity to ask their questions within the two-hour timeframe, prominent international and left-leaning outlets such as Financial Times, Euronews, Associated Press, and Bloomberg were all granted substantial portions of the available time. Similarly, Hungarian opposition-affiliated media, including 24.hu, ATV, and RTL, were also able to participate. Therefore, it is not that they were ‘not allowed’ to ask questions, but simply that there was not enough time for every media outlet to do so.
How It Really Happened
In response to Telex’s request, Balázs Orbán sent an email answering the questions originally addressed to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. However, Telex still found this unsatisfactory. In an article, the outlet listed the questions they had submitted on various topics and, in each case, highlighted in italics that they had ‘not received an answer’.
According to Balázs Orbán, however, every question was answered—it was simply that the opposition outlet did not like the responses or who they came from. ‘Even Telex receives answers to everything; they just may not be the ones they want, or not in the format they prefer. This clearly frustrates the “independent” journalist,’ Orbán wrote in a post on his Facebook page.
Orbán also published the full interview, which clearly demonstrates why government politicians are not more frequently seen, read, or heard in opposition-affiliated media. Most of the questions focused on issues that had either already been resolved or were in the process of being addressed. Keeping such matters on the agenda and shaping them into narratives serves as a tool for destabilizing the Hungarian sovereignist government—one that is under constant pressure from the progressive mainstream to conform to its agenda.
In the wake of US President Donald Trump’s purge of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which allocates the majority of US foreign assistance—including funds funnelled through grants to Hungarian opposition media and NGOs—it is hardly a question whose interests these outlets serve.
At Kyiv’s Services
Another notable coincidence in the timing of Telex’s smear article is that it was published just one day after Hungarian governing party Fidesz’s parliamentary group leader Máté Kocsis announced an international operation launched against Viktor Orbán by Ukrainian secret services. Citing an intelligence report, Kocsis stated that Kyiv aims to undermine the Hungarian prime minister’s international image and weaken Hungary’s ability to defend its interests by orchestrating a global smear campaign.
According to Kocsis, the operation involves Hungarian and foreign journalists and media outlets publishing articles and materials—potentially including false information—designed to negatively influence international public opinion. He also revealed that Ukraine has allocated a significant sum of money for the campaign.
It has been reported in Hungarian media that one of the outlets taking part in the operation is Direkt36, a so-called independent investigative portal, which operates on none other than Telex’s platform. Direkt36 journalist Szabolcs Panyi has already begun sharing segments of an upcoming documentary alleging corruption surrounding Viktor Orbán and the Hungarian government.
Direkt36 is also deeply embedded in George Soros’s network of NGOs and media outlets, through which the Hungarian-born American billionaire—and the globalist elite he represents—exerts influence over foreign politics. Additionally, it is a recipient of USAID funding, further linking it to the same structures that have long been accused of interfering in Hungary’s domestic affairs.
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