Hungary for truth about the media

14.06.2007 / 00:00 CET

Your correspondent Tamás Gordon's article on the Hungarian media (‘Denials and divisions in Hungary's press', 24-30 May), appears quite persuasive, but only at first sight. His story about János Martonyi's alleged links to the communist era secret police is based on assertions that have been wholly undermined by material in the Hungarian press not cited by Gordon.
Nor does he seem to realise that stories of secret police connections surface regularly in the Hungarian media, overwhelmingly because of all the former communist states, Hungary has been the slowest in bringing secret police files into the public sphere. This makes it easy for the left-wing government to float derogatory stories about its political opponents.
Another omission is any mention of the very deep cleavage between left and right that is necessarily reflected in media treatment and coverage.
This left-right divide is far deeper than in any other European country and produces a no-holds-barred approach to journalism that would be unacceptable elsewhere.
It might also have been useful for your readers to know that around four-fifths of the media is firmly in the hands of the left, meaning that the ownership of papers (Gordon devotes his last paragraph to this) is effectively irrelevant.
Moreover, the previous prime minister is Péter Medgyessy, not Ferenc.

György Schöpflin MEP
Brussels

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