Media1 describes the daily as “a tiny island in the Hungarian press that is resistant to changing readership habits, declining circulation numbers and the economic crisis” because it is reliant on public money to survive.

A few weeks ago, the cabinet ordered fully state-owned businesses to save 5% of their personnel expenses over four months, which they must pay to the state budget before December 15. Orbán has ensured that Nemzeti Sport will not be affected.

This is not the first time that it has become obvious that the state life-support system is very important to Nemzeti Sport. Media1 observes, pointing out that the cabinet sets aside money in the budget for 10,000 subscriptions to the sports paper.

In all, Ft 1.3 billion is earmarked this year for ensuring the operation of the daily’s publisher, N.S. Média.

Meanwhile Democratic Coalition MP Ágnes Vadai asked Orbán why the state needs the loss-making Nemzeti Sport, and why it is in the public interest to sustain it in print form from taxpayers’ money.

Orbán did not respond, but Defence Minister Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky, who also oversees sports, said the government aims to turn the nation into a sporting nation, which is inconceivable without an offline written publication to disseminate knowledge and preserve values.

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