Full Review Ordered of HUF 165 Billion Public Media Budget in Hungary
- 19 May 2026 5:52 AM
A full review of the operations of MTVA and public service media will begin, government spokesperson Vanda Szondi announced at a press conference following Monday's cabinet meeting.
She said the constitutional and democratic role of public media should have been to provide every Hungarian citizen with reliable, balanced, and comprehensive information, but it had been evident to all that MTVA-affiliated media had failed to meet these criteria in recent years.
The government's position, she said, is that public media cannot serve a single party, a single political side, or a single centre of power. As MTVA is funded by Hungarian taxpayers, it must be accountable to them, she added.
Szondi noted that the public media's annual budget had multiplied since 2010, reaching 165.6 billion forints in 2025, "while it fulfilled virtually no public service function".
The government will therefore review MTVA's financial management, contract portfolio, leadership decisions, procurement, news editing practices and institutional relations with Duna Media Service Provider and the NMHH media authority.
The goal, she concluded, is to create a public service media that genuinely fulfils public service tasks: one that investigates, educates, and provides balanced information for every Hungarian.
Photo: Pixabay.com
Source: MTI – Hungary’s national news agency since 1881. While MTI articles are usually factual, some may contain political bias, and readers should be aware that such content does not reflect the position of XpatLoop, which is neutral and independent.
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