Hungary's Magyar promises to suspend state media broadcasts, ensure press freedom
Hungary's Magyar promises to suspend state media broadcasts, ensure press freedom
By Krisztina Than and Anita KomuvesWed, April 15, 2026 at 6:43 AM UTC
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Peter Magyar, leader of the opposition Tisza Party, speaks during a press conference a day after the parliamentary election, in which Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban conceded defeat, Budapest, Hungary. REUTERS/Marton Monus
By Krisztina Than and Anita Komuves
BUDAPEST, April 15 (Reuters) - Hungary's election winner Peter Magyar said on Wednesday his government will suspend state media broadcasts, pass a new media law and ensure press freedom after his cabinet takes power.
"Every Hungarian deserves a public service media that broadcasts the truth," Magyar said on Kossuth state radio, where outgoing Prime Minister Viktor Orban had been a weekly guest for the past 16 years while opposition politicians rarely got invited.
"We will need a little time to pass a new media law, a new media authority and setting up the professional conditions for state media actually do what it is meant to do," Magyar added.
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Magyar's TISZA (Respect and Freedom) party won a landslide victory in Sunday's election, ending Orban's 16-year rule.
Critics say public media served as a government mouthpiece under Orban and accused him of presiding over the undermining of independent media as allies of his Fidesz party took control of private outlets - charges he denied.
Orban's landslide defeat handed Magyar a strong majority in Hungary's 199-seat legislature, opening the door for an overhaul of a system that critics in the European Union said subverted democratic norms.
(Reporting by Krisztina Than and Anita Komuves; Editing by Sonali Paul and Andrew Heavens)
Source: “AOL Breaking”
