Pro-Orban group buys top Hungary tabloid from Swiss owner

BUDAPEST (AFP) — Swiss media company Ringier announced Friday that it has sold Hungary’s most-read tabloid and other major publications to a Hungarian group seen as close to Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s Fidesz party.

Since Orban’s return to power in 2010, many independent media outlets in Hungary have either gone out of business or been bought by his business allies and turned into pro-Fidesz organs, while public media have been forced to toe the government line.

The announcement of Ringier’s sale of its Hungarian media division to Hungary’s Indamedia group comes less than six months ahead of national elections in spring, where Orban is facing an unprecedented challenge to his 15-year premiership from an opposition leader.

Hungary’s most-read tabloid Blikk is among the titles acquired by Indamedia.

As one of the top five news sites in the Central European country of 9.5 million, Blikk reaches about 3 million online readers monthly, according to the National Media and Infocommunications Authority.

“Ringier sells its Hungarian media portfolio company Ringier Hungary Kft. to Indamedia, one of the most dynamically growing digital publishing houses in the Hungarian media market,” the Swiss company said in a statement.

The transaction was concluded Thursday, it said, along with a women’s magazine, an online health portal and other publications.

Opposition leader Peter Magyar condemned the deal, accusing Fidesz of “taking over” the remaining major media outlets.

“Orban and his allies are so terrified of losing the election, they are no longer even trying to keep up appearances,” he wrote on Facebook.

Although Indamedia is not part of the Central European Press and Media Foundation, a pro-Fidesz media conglomerate, it is still considered close to the governing party.

Its flagship publication Index — a news site with a reach similar to Blikk’s — made international news in 2020, when journalists resigned en masse over alleged political interference, months after a powerful pro-Orban businessman acquired a 50% share in Indamedia.

A completely new editorial staff has been hired since then.

In recent years, Index has published several high-profile negative stories on prominent opposition figures, including Magyar, based on anonymous sources or documents with disputed authenticity.

These later became reference points used in government campaigns against politicians.

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By Agence France-Presse