Hungary’s public broadcaster M1, the equivalent of Turkey’s state broadcaster TRT, has apologized for broadcasting false information for years during the tenure of former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
In Hungary, public broadcaster M1, which was widely seen as serving as the mouthpiece of former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government, suspended its broadcasts for several hours on Tuesday. During the interruption, an apology message was displayed on screen.
On M1, the screen went black in the afternoon, and the following message appeared in white text on both its television and online broadcasts:
“Public service broadcasters must not lie. We apologize for having done so for many years. Public service media are now being restructured so they can become independent and trustworthy in the future. News broadcasts have been temporarily suspended. Please stay with us.”
Accusations of propaganda
Until Orbán and his Fidesz party lost the election, M1 was known for its pro-government coverage. In Hungary, the channel was at times described as a “propaganda machine.”
During the election campaign, Peter Magyar, who recently succeeded Orbán as prime minister, and other politicians from the Tisza Party repeatedly pledged to put an end to such programming and to the generous public funding provided to the broadcaster.
Magyar promises independent public broadcasting
Magyar also commented on the broadcast blackout and the apology message. In a statement posted on Facebook, he said:
“Today is a historic day. As of today, propaganda broadcasts on the platforms of the public service media have come to an end. They lied at night, they lied during the day, they lied through every channel they could reach. That is now over.”
Magyar also stressed that his government would work with independent experts to ensure that public broadcasting once again becomes independent, impartial and objective.
After an interruption of approximately four hours, M1 resumed broadcasting with a film. For the time being, the channel is expected to continue airing entertainment programs, television series and movies. No news programming is expected to return in the immediate future.