"We have switched." - Uncertainty and loss of trust in the Hungarian media

Abstract

This essay approaches the issue of trust in the Hungarian media from the perspective that the last decade or so has brought constant and unpredictable changes in the media system. We argue that these changes were motivated solely by party politics linked to the Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán and were not market-driven at all. In effect, the owners of some media outlets and their worldviews have been undergoing rapid and radical changes. The essay illustrates these changes with specific examples and shows how this leads to a severely negative self-evaluation of journalism and a total loss of trust on the part of the public.

Keywords

• hungary
• media transformation
• illiberal media policy
• media ownership
• trust