Hungary’s New President Urges Reborn Public Media To ‘Tell The Truth’ As Orbán Ally Quits

by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Europe Bureau Chief reporting from Budapest, Hungary

BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Hungary’s new president, András Baka, has urged the country’s relaunched public broadcaster to regain the trust of millions of Hungarians after years in which he said it spread falsehoods, as political tensions continued over the dismantling of former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s system.

Speaking ahead of Hungary’s spectacular August 20 celebrations along the Danube River, Baka said the future of a nation is shaped not only by its leaders but also by strong and lasting institutions serving its citizens.

He said public media should be among those institutions because for millions of Hungarians it remains an important—and sometimes their only—source of news.

“The public media must not lie,” Baka said, stressing that it should tell the truth and allow opposing sides to be heard.

PUBLIC MEDIA RETURNS

His remarks came as public television news broadcasts resumed Thursday, more than six weeks after the main M1 state television news service went off the air July 7 amid a restructuring of public media following Orbán’s election defeat and the subsequent change of government.

When M1 went black, viewers saw a message apologizing for years of “lying” through public media. The new government said the overhaul was aimed at making public broadcasting independent and credible.

Baka said the relaunch marked the end of one period and the beginning of another but warned that simply producing new programs or putting new faces in front of cameras would not be enough.

The most important task, he suggested, was rebuilding public trust. Baka warned that propaganda is not defined by which political side it serves, but by whether news coverage is driven by political intent.

CITIZENS’ RIGHT TO KNOW

Baka stressed that press freedom is not merely the right of journalists to report freely but also the right of citizens to receive sufficient reliable information to form their own judgments.

He said genuine change would become apparent when political interests could no longer determine what reality should look like for viewers and listeners.

“If something is true, of public interest, and has been honestly and carefully investigated, then it may not merely be published—it is a duty,” Baka said.

The president expressed hope that the relaunched public broadcaster would become a free news service respecting citizens’ freedom and ability to make informed choices.

SPECTACULAR BUDAPEST SHOW

Baka spoke before a spectacular nighttime celebration that transformed central Budapest, with lasers and light projections illuminating the Danube waterfront and the neo-Gothic Parliament building.

Hundreds of thousands of people were believed to have watched the 32-minute show, which also featured traditional August 20 fireworks and some 2,000 drones lighting up the night sky.

Earlier Thursday, Baka attended the traditional raising of Hungary’s national flag and a military oath-taking ceremony outside Parliament on Kossuth Square, among his first major public duties since taking office as president a day earlier.

The national holiday commemorates the foundation of the Christian Hungarian state under King Stephen I, or Saint Stephen, Hungary’s first Christian king, who was crowned more than a millennium ago.

HUNGARY’S HOLY CROWN

Hungary’s so-called “Holy Crown,” the official name for the historic crown that became the pre-eminent symbol of the Hungarian kingdom and its Christian monarchy, can now be seen beneath the dome of the Parliament building.

Taken to the West at the end of World War II, it was held for decades by the United States before the administration of President Jimmy Carter returned it to Hungary in January 1978, while the country was still under communist rule. U.S. Secretary of State Cyrus Vance formally handed it over in Budapest. The crown has been displayed in Parliament since January 1, 2000.

Yet the festivities unfolded against the backdrop of continuing political upheaval following the April 12 election that ended Orbán’s 16 years of uninterrupted rule.

János Lázár, a former minister and one of Orbán’s most prominent longtime allies, announced Thursday that he was resigning his parliamentary seat while sharply criticizing the new government.

LÁZÁR QUITS PARLIAMENT

Lázár acknowledged that Fidesz had made serious mistakes contributing to its historic election defeat, including reacting too slowly to concerns about corruption and ostentatious lifestyles among people associated with the former governing establishment.

However, he accused Prime Minister Péter Magyar of focusing on destroying Fidesz rather than advancing the country, while warning of what he viewed as political retribution against the former governing party.

His departure came as Magyar acknowledged discussions within his government about removing Orbán-era loyalists from important positions, part of a broader effort to dismantle elements of the political and economic system built during the former prime minister’s long rule.

Magyar has defended the changes but also warned his supporters against replacing one partisan system with another.

MAGYAR WARNS TISZA

Addressing a national gathering of his center-right Tisza Party in Budapest on Thursday, Magyar cautioned supporters against adopting the methods of their former political opponents.

“We must make sure that in the end we do not become like those we managed to defeat on April 12,” Magyar said.

He also stressed that people should not receive government or ministry positions merely because they belong to Tisza, drawing a distinction between his stated approach and the system he says developed under Fidesz.

Rights groups including Amnesty International Hungary and the Hungarian Helsinki Committee have expressed concern about rushed procedures and limited consultation, warning that rebuilding the rule of law also requires strong institutional safeguards.

SHADOW OF 2006 TRAGEDY

The concerns underscore the challenge facing Magyar as his government moves rapidly to dismantle Orbán-era structures while seeking to demonstrate that restoring the rule of law will not result in another concentration of political power.

Thursday’s national celebrations also came exactly 20 years after Budapest’s August 20 fireworks ended in tragedy.

On August 20, 2006, a violent thunderstorm struck an estimated 1.2 million people gathered along the Danube while the fireworks were underway, killing five people and injuring hundreds as powerful winds, torrential rain and hail swept through the capital.

Two decades later, lasers and other visual effects played a much larger role alongside the traditional fireworks as Hungary celebrated Saint Stephen’s legacy under dramatically changed political circumstances.

For Baka, the national holiday also provided an opportunity to argue that Hungary’s democratic renewal will ultimately be measured not only by who governs the country but by whether its institutions—including its powerful public broadcaster—can regain public confidence and operate without political interference.

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