Hungary’s public news broadcasts have been suspended to eliminate Oban’s propaganda

Hungary’s main public television station has stopped broadcasting news, while the state-run radio station has been banned entirely in order to make the media “neutral and credible”.

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

Media reform was a key campaign promise of Hungary’s new prime minister, Peter Majir, who described the announcement as “the end of propaganda.”

Both television station M1 and Kossuth radio station temporarily stopped broadcasting on Tuesday afternoon, with the former saying: “Public media should not lie. We are sorry for taking so long.”

The message, displayed in white text on a black screen, continued: “Public media will now be reformed, independent and trustworthy. Our news program is currently suspended. Stay tuned!”

Kossuth’s frequencies were instead broadcasting the classical music station Bartók Radio, AFP news agency reported.

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

The websites of both M1 and Kossuth were down on Tuesday afternoon, AFP added.

MTVA, which operates M1, said in a statement that the channel would temporarily relaunch with a new format without news programs, while commercials were gradually introduced with a new editorial team.

Following the announcement, Magyar described it as “a historic day when the spread of propaganda on public media platforms has come to an end.”

“They lie by night, they lie by day, they lie on every wavelength, that’s over now,” he added.