One of Hungary’s biggest news outlets has folded after 20 years of breaking news.
The broadsheet Nepszabadsag, has suspended publication of the daily newspaper and has taken its extensive digital archives offline, meaning two decades of stories have now gone for good.
The company that recently took on the publishing lease, Opimus Press Zrt., said it was going to “consider the options” of the independent paper when it took over last month and announced this week that it had come to the decision there was “neither rational possibility nor economic basis” for allowing the left-wing publication to continue operating.
Opimus Press Zrt., a publicly traded company recently registered on the Budapest Stock Exchange and linked to Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s close friend Lorinc Meszaros, acquired the 60-year-old broadsheet’s publisher, Mediaworks, and has ceased trading the paper within just two weeks of taking over.
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Opimus is run by Gabor Liszkay, who is the owner and publisher of pro-government print daily Magyar Idok (“Hungarian Times”) which regularly sees government advertising appear within its pages, something that did not happen within Nepszabadsag.
It is estimated that around 17 billion HUF (£45.3 million) was spent by the government advertising “public service announcements” across pro-government media platforms warning of the “threat posed by migrants.”
The sudden suspension of Nepszabadsag (“Folk Freedom”) has resulted in warning bells being rung by critics who say there is no longer a “neutral voice” being printed.
Critics have stated Hungary’s “Fundamental Law” which says pluralism must be maintained has now gone. It has been said that there is now no longer a newspaper to hold the government to account as all of the major media outlets are now controlled by the Prime Minister or his close “inner circle” of friends.
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