Hungarian opposition leader Peter Magyar, after defeating Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his populist Fidesz party in the elections, announced today the suspension of news broadcasts on state radio and television programs.
"One of the first steps after the formation of the government will be to suspend the news programs of these propaganda media," said the Hungarian this morning during an appearance on state-run Radio Kossuth, the dpa agency reports.
Later today, using almost the same vocabulary and in a very combative manner, he repeated the announcement on M1 television, which, like Radio Košut, is part of the MTVA broadcasting holding company.
To the M1 anchor's remark that canceling news programs would be against the law, the Hungarian responded: "You are the ones who did not respect the obligations of media laws. When you now accuse me of breaking the law, it's like a shoplifter calling the police for help."
Dpa writes that the media law designed in 2010 by Orban and his Fidesz party declared all media institutions that were part of MTVA to be institutions of public law.
By law, they are required to report in a balanced and impartial manner, but in practice this has never been the case, as Orban has always been presented as a positive figure, and the opposition, especially Magyar and his Tisza party, as negative figures.
This was especially evident in the election campaign when the Hungarian was not even given the opportunity to speak in the state media, and numerous obviously false news were spread about him, writes dpa.
In the new parliament, the opposition party Tisa will have a two-thirds majority, which means it will be able to change Orban's media laws. The constituent session of parliament is due to be held by May 12, and the formation of Peter Magyar's government is expected by the end of May.
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