Staff of Index gives up castle without fight

Szabolcs Dull, the former editor-in-chief of the Hungarian news outlet Index regularly consulted with left-wing politicians, PestiSracok.hu has learnt.

WORLD JULY 26. 2020 16:25

„In Hungary, the owner changed the editor-in-chief of a privately owned medium. And you are asking me, the representative of the state, what I think about it? So you think that the state should interfere in a private owner s decision to change the editor-in-chief of a medium in his ownership? I refute the supposition. How would a state dare to interfere with the decision of a privately owned medium? I don t know if it is accepted in Germany or Portugal, but in Hungary, it is definitely not.” This is how Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto reacted to a question whether a country can be free if there is no complete freedom of the press. The journalist s question concerned the case that the management of the Hungarian news portal Index has recently replaced the editor-in-chief Szabolcs Dull.

The foreign minister added: „Regarding the state of the freedom of press in Hungary: I am tired of these deceitful accusations, and I always demand those making these up to mention a concrete case. When was a journalist unable to publish his thoughts? Which law undermines free press in Hungary? There is no such law. And no one can answer these questions. Dear madam, you cannot name one field of media in Hungary, which is not dominated by an anti-government medium. The biggest online news outlet is massively anti-government. The biggest television channel is massively anti-government. The most read weekly is massively anti-government. Are there any more questions?”

https://v4na.com/nagyvilag/a-konkurencia-a-legnagyobb-nyertese-a-magyar-hirportal-bukasanak-40841/

A demonstration was held in Budapest on Friday, organised by a political party, for the independence of Index and for the freedom of Hungarian press. However, the Hungarian news site PestiSracok.hu has learned from sources close to Index that the dismissed editor-in-chief had a daily contact with influential politicians of the left-liberal side, and immediately after his dismissal, he called the wife of former Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany, the current MEP Klara Dobrev, with whom he talked for half an hour.

However, it is not only Gyurcsany s wife who appears behind the scenes, Pesti Sracok writes, citing sources close to Index that say that the dismissed editor-in-chief consulted with Istvan Nyako, a background man for the Hungarian Socialist Party, several times a day lately. Thus, it can be concluded that he had daily discussions with influential left-liberal personalities.

Laszlo Bodolai, chairman of the foundation that owns Index, shared a comment on a non-public platform, saying „I ve learnt that Szabolcs [Dull] regularly consulted with high-ranking left-wing party politicians. I gradually began to feel that the real goal was not to make an agreement, but to blow up Index.” 

In the post Mr Bodolai adds that the editor-in-chief stoked up a rebellion in the editorial staff. „Now our rivals are laughing and the left-liberal parties are trying to blame the whole thing on Orban, while I m facing a well-structured smear campaign, just because I ve made an unavoidable employment decision.” 

The staff of Index „gave up the castle without a fight,” the editor-in-chief of Atlatszo.hu, a liberal news outlet, wrote in a message, coming to the defence of Mr Bodolai.

The editor-in-chief voiced his opinion that Index could work as an independent and critical news outlet for years under the oversight of Bodolai „and even now there seemed to be no convincing evidence of political interference. The editorial staff deserves great respect for standing up, in unison, for what they presumed to be the truth but with this move, they gave up the castle voluntarily, without a fight. And building a castle is far more difficult than getting offended and abandoning it, I say it from experience.”

WORLD

Tags:

Hungary, index, press