Hungary’s public news broadcasts halted in bid to scrap Orban-era propaganda

Hungary’s main public television channel has halted news broadcasts, while a state-run radio station has been suspended altogether, in a bid to make its media “independent and trustworthy”.

The country’s former prime minister, Viktor Orbán, who was ousted in April after 16 years in power, had tightly controlled state media.

Reforms to media were a key campaign promise of Hungary’s new Prime Minister Péter Magyar, who described the announcement as “the end of propaganda broadcasts”.

Both TV channel M1 and Kossuth radio station temporarily halted transmission on Tuesday afternoon, with the former displaying a message that read: “Public media should not lie. We are sorry for doing it for so long”.

The message, which was shown in white writing on a black screen, continued: “Public media now will be reformed so it will be independent and trustworthy. Our news programme is currently suspended. Stay tuned!”

Kossuth’s frequencies were instead broadcasting classical music station Bartok Radio, according to AFP news agency.

As Hungary’s main public radio station, Kossuth usually focuses on news, current affairs, sports, and culture.

Websites for both M1 and Kossuth were also down on Tuesday afternoon, AFP added.

A statement from MTVA, which runs M1, said the channel would temporarily restart in a new format without news programmes, with bulletins gradually introduced alongside a new editorial team.

Following the announcement, Magyar described it as a “historic day” which “marks the end of propaganda broadcasts on public media platforms”.

“They lied at night, they lied during the day, they lied on every wavelength. That is now over,” he added.

Orbán said the move was “another example of Tisza [Hungary’s ruling party] tyranny”, in a Facebook post on Tuesday.

He encouraged his followers to instead watch the Hir TV channel, which is affiliated with his political party Fidesz.

Magyar promised Hungarians “regime change” when he swept to power in a landslide victory earlier this year, having broken away from Orbán’s party in March 2024.

He previously said that a majority of Hungarian media had been requisitioned by Orbán allies, insulting him and his party with lies and not allowing him an appearance on state TV since September 2024.

But days after winning the election, Magyar appeared on both Kossuth radio and M1, confirming his aim to suspend their news coverage and form a new broadcast authority to ensure press freedom.

TV2, a commercial broadcaster aligned with Fidesz, has also seen its main news anchors and its news director exit since Magyar came to power.